Tag: Brent Pry

Virginia Tech HC Brent Pry: ‘I tell recruits and families all the time that this place was Clemson before Clemson was Clemson’

Was Virginia Tech Clemson before Clemson was? Tech head coach Brent Pry believes so.

Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry recently spoke with college football analyst Josh Pate and had some interesting things to say about Clemson.

During the Late Kick with Josh Pate interview, Pry uses Clemson as a comparative piece when discussing the Hokies program and their history in college football. It’s an interesting recruiting pitch and one that Pry delved deeper into during the interview.

“I tell recruits and families all the time that this place was Clemson before Clemson was Clemson. Truly,” said Pry. “And in the same breath, seven conference championships in about 15 years. Seven conference championships in 15 years. Who does that sound like? Ohio State, Alabama – like, who’s winning those kind of league championships that frequently, and that was Virginia Tech.

“And then the second piece of it is, I was here for a Sugar Bowl championship, I was here for an Orange Bowl, I was here for two conference championships. So were several members of my staff. We know what it looks like to win championships here. I would never have left Penn State and James Franklin if I didn’t believe we could do it here, if alignment wasn’t here, if administration and the powers to be didn’t recognize what I recognized about things we needed to do to get this program headed back in the right direction.”

I get the sentiment here and what Pry is trying to deliver… it’s just a weird recruiting pitch in my eyes. It’s basically like saying, “We were Clemson, but now we aren’t.” Again, I understand the point; it’s just not the message I personally would send as a recruiter.

Pry, now in his third season as head coach of Virginia Tech, brings a 10-14 overall record into the 2024 season. Prior to leading the Hokies, he spent eight seasons as defensive coordinator/linebackers coach at Penn State. Pry’s connection with Virginia Tech runs deep, having served as a defensive graduate assistant for the Hokies from 1995-97 under head coach Frank Beamer and defensive coordinator Bud Foster.

Virginia Tech, since joining the ACC in 2004, boasts four conference football titles, the most recent being in 2010. On the other hand, Clemson, led by Dabo Swinney, has dominated the ACC with eight championships since 2011. Swinney, with an impressive 6-0 record against Virginia Tech, will lead the Tigers against Pry’s Hokies on Saturday, Nov. 9, marking their first meeting.

Big week on tap for former Penn State defensive coordinator Brent Pry

Former Penn State defensive coordinator Brent Pry has Virginia Tech in a position to grab the inside track to the ACC Championship Game.

After slumping out to a woeful 1-3 start and falling to 2-4 after getting blown out by Florida State, the Virginia Tech Hokies are suddenly in a spot with a golden opportunity to compete for an ACC championship this season. Former Penn State defensive coordinator [autotag]Brent Pry[/autotag], the head coach of the Hokies, is heading into the biggest week yet as a head coach in Blacksburg, and a win would put his program on the inside track to a spot in the ACC Championship Game.

Virginia Tech plays on the road at Louisville, which will not be easy. But if the Hokies can come away with a win against the Cardinals, then Virginia Tech will take sole possession of second place in the ACC’s overall standings. Florida State will start the week with a clean 6-0 ACC record, but Louisville is 4-1 and Virginia Tech is 3-1 in conference play. A road victory by the Hokies will hand Louisville its second loss in the ACC and move the Hokies to being the only 1-loss team in the conference.

And the rest of Virginia Tech’s schedule could be pretty favorable, all things considered.

Pry and his Hokies will have a road game at Boston College (5-3), a home game against NC State (5-3), and a road game at rival Virginia (2-6) to close out the regular season. Getting through that run without a loss will still be a challenge, but it is manageable, especially with a head-to-head tiebreaker in hand against Louisville.

For Virginia Tech, it is simple. Win this weekend and then the path to the ACC Championship Game is theirs to lose. It won’t matter what Florida State does the rest of the way.

The Hokies will be an underdog at Louisville this weekend, but these Cardinals also lost to Pitt. So beating Louisville is not impossible.

And keep this in mind as well. If Florida State eventually goes on to play in the College Football Playoff, then Virginia Tech could slide into position to represent the ACC in the Orange Bowl. And the Orange Bowl could still be a possibility for Penn State at the end of the season.

Pry is in his second season as the head coach at Virginia Tech. He previously was one of [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag]’s longest-tenured coordinators dating back to their time together at Vanderbilt.

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Four-star LB Kaveion Keys commits to Penn State

Penn State lands four-star linebacker commitment from Kaveion Keys in Class of 2023

Penn State got a nice little early present this holiday season a week before the opening of the early signing period on Friday morning when four-star linebacker [autotag]Kaveion Keys[/autotag] announced his commitment to the Nittany Lions, Keys will join Penn State’s Class of 2023, most of which is expected to officially be signed during next week’s early signing period for college football.

Keys is from Richmond, Virginia, giving Penn State another recruit from the state in its Class of 2023 haul. Keys is joined by fellow Virginia recruits Alex Birchmeier (Ashburn, VA), Tony Rojas (Fairfax, VA), Carmelo Taylor (Roanoke, VA), Mathias Barnwell (Fredericksburg, VA), and Anthony Donkoh (Aldie, VA) from the state to join Penn State’s latest recruiting class. As it stands now, Penn State’s two linebackers in the recruiting class each hail from Virginia with Keys and Rojas.

Keys is a four-star recruit according to his profiles on 247Sports and On3, although Rivals and ESPN both rate him as a three-star prospect. But according to each of the composite recruit rankings calculated by 247Sports and On3, Keys rates out to a four-star prospect.

Keys was previously committed to North Carolina but he backed off his commitment a little more than a week ago. Penn State immediately became the frontrunner as the Nittany Lions and Virginia Tech were each hoping to take advantage of the reopening of his recruitment. Virginia Tech head coach [autotag]Brent Pry[/autotag] had started recruiting efforts on Key when he was Penn State’s defensive coordinator, and Keys would have been a nice recruiting win for Pry and the Hokies. Instead, Keys will leave the state behind for a chance to play for Penn State.

College football’s early signing period opens on Wednesday, December 21 and runs through Friday, December 23.

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Manny Diaz nominated for Broyles Award

Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz was nominated for this year’s Broyles Award.

Penn State defensive coordinator [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] is officially in the running for the nation’s top assistant coaching award, the Broyles Award. The Broyles Award released its list of 52 nominees for this year’s award, with Diaz one of seven Big Ten assistants up for the award. Every Big Ten assistant up for the Broyles Award is a defensive coordinator.

Diaz has had a solid season in his first year at Penn State. The Nittany Lions are among the best in the nation in recording tackles for a loss and Penn State is coming off a shutout of Maryland that limited Taulia Tagovailoa to fewer than 80 passing yards.

Diaz joined the Penn State coaching staff shortly after he was removed as head coach at Miami. Diaz filled the vacancy created when longtime [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] assistant [autotag]Brent Pry[/autotag] left his position as defensive coordinator to become the head coach at Virginia Tech.

Penn State has never had a Broyles Award winner, so Diaz is looking to become the first to claim the award. The Broyles Award has a stellar history of seeing its winners go on to become head coaches as well, which is something many expect could be a possibility rather quickly for Diaz. Some notable previous winner of the Broyles Award inlcude Lincoln Riley, Kirby Smart, Steve Sarkisian, Mike Locksley, and, Pat Narduzzi.

Last year’s Broyles Award winner was Michigan offensive coordinator [autotag]Josh Gattis[/autotag], a former assistant under Franklin.

The Broyles Award will cut its list of 51 nominees down for a semifinalist cut on Nov. 22, and finalists will be announced a week later on Nov. 29. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, Dec. 6.

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Suspension of Virginia Tech football player is proof the NCAA’s sports betting rules are outdated

Self-reporting is officially out of the question.

The NCAA fancies itself as some kind of beacon of morality meant to protect the well-being of student-athletes. In reality, it’s just a soul-less cash cow whose udders spew utter nonsense.

The latest example is the case of Virginia Tech football player Alan Tisdale, who was suspended nine games of his senior season for placing bets on NBA games.

The NCAA wouldn’t have known about the violation if Tisdale didn’t self-report in August after learning that his bets on the NBA Finals were against the rules. But did the NCAA show leniency to the athlete it claims to care about for being so forthcoming? Not at all.

As reported by The Athletic, Tisdale missed half of this season (his suspension was reduced to six games on appeal), all because the NCAA remains slow to adjust to changing landscapes and inflexible in its application of antiquated rules.

Change the Rule

Current rules ban student-athletes from earning anything, cash or not, from wagers on any sport the NCAA sanctions, no matter the level. So it didn’t matter that a college football player was betting on professional basketball, it broke the rules.

It’s an incredibly outdated restriction when you consider that sports betting is now legal in over 30 states, including Virginia where Tisdale placed the bets from his mobile phone. The ability to do so is literally at the fingertips of millions of people, and millions more to come.

The NCAA has to know that a good chunk of its athletes are placing bets, and most of them aren’t self-reporting. The priority should be ensuring athletes aren’t betting on the sports they play. Limits could even be placed on all college betting if necessary to uphold the integrity of contests.

But to remain so rigid as to prohibit student-athletes from potentially winning a meal or prize on Super Bowl squares or $20 on an NBA player prop bet — things becoming more recreational and less taboo by the day — only stands to unnecessarily jeopardize the futures of more athletes.

Reward Honesty

By the NCAA’s own research, 24% of male and 5% of female student-athletes wagered on sports within the last year. More than 80% of student-athletes who bet on sports placed their first bets before entering college. Those numbers are only going to increase in the future, and you’ll never know who any of the betting athletes are.

Tisdale, who placed several bets for a total of $400 to win $41, is one of the few who actually did what the NCAA encourages. Once he learned of the violation while attending Virginia Tech’s annual compliance department meeting before the season, he told head coach Brent Pry.

“We try and do things right,” Pry told The Athletic. “And even though the kid was wrong, he didn’t know he was wrong. And as soon as he realized he might be, he came forward. And I just don’t think there was enough consideration given for how things shook out.”

If the NCAA can’t give the one athlete who came forward a break, then what’s the incentive for anyone else to do so. The decision to suspend Tisdale for so long only threatens to make collegiate gambling more underground than it needs to be.

But the one thing it’s not going to do is stop. The NCAA desperately needs to adjust its rules to acknowledge that.

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Ricky Rahne tops Brent Pry in matchup of former James Franklin assistants

Ricky Rahne and Old Dominion topped Brent Pry and Virginia Tech in a Week 1 showdown between former James Franklin coordinators

It was quite an eventful head coaching debut for former Penn State defensive coordinator [autotag]Brent Pry[/autotag] on Friday night. Pry, now the head coach at Virginia Tech, found himself matching wits against his former colleague, [autotag]Ricky Rahne[/autotag], as he coached the Hokies on the road against underdog Old Dominion. And after a night on which his assistants were stuck in an elevator long enough to delay the start of the second half and watching his Hokies turn the football over five times, Pry was on the losing end in his head coaching debut. Rahne, on the other hand, celebrated a major win for his program.

Nothing came easily for Pry’s Hokies, but they did own a 17-10 lead going into the fourth quarter. A short field goal by Old Dominion early in the fourth quarter cut the Virginia Tech lead to 17-13 and a one-yard touchdown run with 33 seconds remaining in the game helped deliver Old Dominion to its second biggest win in program history, and both have come against Virginia Tech. The game-winning touchdown was set up by a deep pass two plays prior, putting the Virginia Tech lead in serious jeopardy.

Rahne’s Monarchs were out-gained 340-245 in total offensive yards, but the Hokies turning the football over five times led to 17 Old Dominion points on the scoreboard, including a wild botched field goal snap that was returned for a touchdown by Old Dominion to take a lead in the second quarter.

Old Dominion’s game-winning touchdown also came following a Virginia Tech turnover when Grant Wells was picked off by Ryan Henry on 3rd and 13 at the Old Dominion 41 with 2:58 left to play. Nine plays later, Old Dominion scored the game-winner. A more conservative approach in that situation to keep the ball on the ground and force Old Dominion to burn a timeout before potentially punting the ball away may be armchair quarterbacking a bit, but it will be a decision that will be reviewed by Pry in reviewing the film.

Rahnecontinues to be doing some terrific work for a program that sat out the entire 2020 season in his first year on the job. After starting the 2021 season with a record of 1-6, Old Dominion won five consecutive games to earn bowl eligibility and has now won six of their last seven games going back to last season. And on Friday night, maybe Old Dominion put the rest of the Sun Belt Conference on notice.

Also, obligatory love for Old Dominion’s biggest fan, Hudson. He is a dog that wears crocs!

Rahne replaced Joe Moorhead as Penn State’s offensive coordinator when Moorhead left the Nittany Lions to become the head coach at Mississippi State. Moorhead has since made a stop at Orgeon as the offensive coordinator and is now back to being a head coach again in 2022. Moorhead coached Akron to an overtime victory on Thursday night against Saint Francis, 30-23.

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Four-star receiver sets decision date; Penn State in Top 5

Penn State made the top 5 for this wide receiver target out of Virginia with a decision date locked in.

Penn State has been busy this summer putting together one of the best recruiting classes in the Big Ten and in the nation for the Class of 2023. After an eventful and rewarding month of June, Penn State is hoping to keep the good news flowing throughout July. Toward the end of the month, one key recruiting target will announce his college decision, and Penn State is considered to be in the mix.

[autotag]Carmelo Taylor[/autotag], from Roanoke, Virginia, announced on his Twitter account that he will be sharing his college decision with the public on July 25. In that announcement, Taylor revealed his top five schools as the decision looms. Penn State was among those in the final running, with Maryland, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia being the others.

Taylor made two official visits in the month of June, with Penn State getting the last opportunity for an official visit on campus. Taylor’s other official visit was to South Carolina. Judging strictly by his Twitter feed, the trip to Columbia went pretty well, which is part of the reason the Gamecocks are considered one of the top contenders for Taylor’s commitment.

While there are no crystal ball predictions currently on file at 247Sports, the On3 prediction machine gives fairly even chances to Virginia Tech (37.0%) and South Carolina (32.3%) to receive Taylor’s verbal commitment later in the month. Penn State is third in the running according to the On3 prediction machine with a 27.7% chance of securing the commitment. We may get a better read on things once any crystal ball predictions are formally submitted, but Penn State does appear to be on the outside looking in down the stretch.

There would be nothing current Virginia Tech head coach and former Penn State defensive coordinator [autotag]Brent Pry[/autotag] would love more than to “dominate the state” by keeping Taylor close to home and away from the Nittany Lions (and Gamecocks).

Here is a look at this Class of 2023 wide receiver that could be flying under the radar for many out of Virginia.

Rich Rodriguez plucks Penn State analyst for Jacksonville State staff

Penn State loses analyst to coordinator job with Rich Rodriguez and Jacksonville State.

It seems like so long ago that Rich Rodriguez was the hottest name in college football, lifting up West Virginia to heights they never imagined. He rode that momentum all the way to a big payday from Michigan but the Big Ten quickly humbled him and his wave of momentum. He finds himself back in the Big Ten though, not to coach, but to get a coach for his new staff.

Rodriguez took over the job at Jacksonville State in November of last year. The FCS program has seen recent success and Rodriguez’s offense is a reason for further optimism. To help run his offense he decided the best man for the job was on [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag]’s staff, [autotag]Rod Smith[/autotag].

Rodriguez had a short term in the Big Ten coaching Michigan going 15-22 in three seasons before being fired. Michigan had themselves on quite the carousel after losing the once-hot commodity, it seems they are now more than happy with Michigan alum, Jim Harbaugh.

As for Rod Smith, he joined Penn State’s staff just this year after being an offensive analyst for Bronco Mendenhall’s staff at Virginia. Once Mendenhall resigned, Smith drove north and got a job with Franklin. In a short time frame, he turned that into an even bigger role now with Rodriguez.

Smith will be the new offensive coordinator for Jacksonville State in 2022  but Rodriguez didn’t just promote some offensive analyst. Smith is actually reuniting with Rodriguez. The two worked together at Glenville State, one of Rodriguez’s first head coaching jobs that helped him mold his offensive flair with a no-huddle offense.

His quarterback at Glenville State? Rod Smith.

Smith also served as an offensive coordinator for Rodriguez when Rodriguez was the head coach at Arizona. Smith was also a part of Rodriguez’s coaching staff at West Virginia and Michigan before that.

Even though he was only on staff for a short time, we can add another name to the James Franklin coaching tree. James Franklin has long had success being a pit stop of sorts for college coaches and Smith proved to be no exception.

Just this year, Franklin has had to replace two coordinators in [autotag]Brent Pry[/autotag] and [autotag]Joe Lorig[/autotag] on the defensive and special teams. He brought in coach looking for a rehab stint of sorts in Manny Diaz to be the defensive coordinator., It remains to be seen just how long Diaz will be sticking around.

The bottom line here is Franklin will always be sending coaches off to promotions and he will always find more than suitable replacements. This is a trait that should not be overlooked when analyzing how we view Franklin.

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Former Penn State linebacker joins Virginia Tech coaching staff

Reports states Virginia Tech is adding former Penn State linebacker to its staff

Former Penn State defensive coordinator [autotag]Brent Pry[/autotag] continues to assemble his first football staff since becoming the head coach at Virginia Tech. The newest addition to his staff in Blacksburg has a bit of a Penn State flavor to it.

According to Rich Scarcella of The Reading Eagle, former Penn State linebacker [autotag]Jan Johnson[/autotag] is joining the Virginia Tech program as a defensive analyst.

Johnson had been trying to keep his professional football career going with the USFL after a brief taste of the NFL in the last two years. But Pry is taking advantage of Johnson’s desire to get into coaching. Serving as an analyst is a good first step for the former Nittany Lion linebacker.

Johnson is a former two-sport standout at Penn State, walking on for the football program and contributing to Penn State’s national championship wrestling program. On the football field, Johnson recorded 64 tackles in his final season at Penn State in 2019, including four in Penn State’s Cotton Bowl victory over Memphis. He had a season-high 14 tackles earlier in the season against Buffalo and 11 tackles in a road game at Minnesota, including three tackles for loss.

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A look back at James Franklin’s first staff at Penn State, where are they now?

Where is every member of James Franklin’s first Penn State staff today?

[autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] has become known as a pipeline of sorts for sending members of his coaching staff to open jobs all over the country. Whether it be coordinators to head coaching roles or position coaches to coordinators. No matter the role, James Franklin has shown he not only raises his players, but also his staff.

For example, the return of offensive coordinator [autotag]Mike Yurcich[/autotag] this year will be the first time since 2018-2019 that the Nittany Lions have had the same offensive coordinator for two seasons. Again, that isn’t a bad thing. Like players, you want coaches to grow and move on because it creates relationships everywhere.

Looking back to 2014 when James Franklin made the move from Vanderbilt, his first staff has some big names now that have worked on their own to build a legacy. Check out where they are and have gone since that first season nearly eight years ago under James Franklin.