When did Penn State know about the possibility of Brent Pry to Virginia Tech?: Timeline

Former Penn State defensive coordiantor Brent Pry held his introductory news conference as Virginia Tech’s new head coach on Thursday.

How did the Altoona native and longtime James Franklin assistant end up back in Blacksburg for the second time in his career?

The anatomy of every college football search is different. That’s especially true in this day and age. Coaches are now fired earlier than ever so that the process to replace them is as long and thorough as possible. The Hokies, for example, moved on from Justin Fuente 16 days ago. So, two weeks and two days is all the time they needed to find their latest leading man.

“There was opportunities along the way, but this was the right time and the right place for me and for my family,” Pry said on a VT Athletic stream.

“We’re going to work very hard to accomplish these goals and be the program that everybody knows it can be. I’m very proud to be the head football coach at Virginia Tech.”

How did this hire come to be from the Penn State and Virginia Tech side of things?

There are two key connections to start with. One is Virginia Tech Executive Associate Athletic Director John Ballein, who was on Frank Beamer’s Hokies staff with Pry in the mid-1990s. The other is VT baseball coach John Szefc, who shares an agent with Pry.

Many coaching searches start with intermediaries, and those are the two that matter in this instance. Pry’s Virginia roots played a role too, of course.

The conversations began there. Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock said he also spoke with Penn State counterpart Sandy Barbour once and also Lions head coach James Franklin twice during the process. Pry was one of three to five candidates the ACC school considered to replace Fuente.

Babcock noted that his first ZOOM call with Pry about the job came during the “last week of the season” and that they connected “a few more times after that.” Put in other words, it was the Monday off day after Rutgers and prior to Michigan State, in all likelihood. Franklin was not blindsided by what was happening.

“Coach Franklin knew about it, and it was during an off day,” Babcock said. “We didn’t want to interrupt from their big game that week.

Pry apparently offered to drive to Blacksburg and interview. But, the powers that be didn’t deem it as necessary. That’s partially due to the way the pandemic changed electronic communication and also because Pry has obviously been to the campus before.

It was also made abundantly clear that Virginia Tech went about this process in a way that was transparent to the other side.

“The agent stuff is good so you can kind of get a feel for what everybody’s looking for before you go face-to-face,” Babcock said. “I talked with Sandy Barbour and, and I knew Coach Pry had talked to James Franklin.

“Then, as we got towards the end, I spoke to James again. So, everyone’s different, but usually, there’s a middle person and then we just didn’t want to interrupt his coaching schedule at Penn State and he got on the Zoom.”

This was something that could have been seen as likely in hindsight

Pry spoke for roughly 45 minutes on Thursday. It is clear how much he respects and reveres both Frank Beamer and Bud Foster. While his time with them happened many, many years ago, it makes so much sense now why Pry waited for this opportunity.

It’s true that he passed on other head coaching opportunities to stay at Penn State. But, a passion to be a head coach was always there. Now, we know what he was looking for.

“James has always known how I felt about Virginia Tech,” Pry said. “We’ve been friends since 1993. He was a quarterback for my father at East Stroudsburg University and I was a first-time coach at ESU. He’s always known my passion for this place.

“We were buddies when I came to Virginia Tech as a [graduate asssitant]. So, I’m sure when this thing opened, it crossed his mind like it did mine. He was very supportive and wanted to help any way he could. So, it was a good conversation.”

Head coaching timelines

This is wholly irrelevant but interesting nonetheless.

Penn State needed 14 days to hire Franklin after Bill O’Brien left. Ricky Rahne became Old Dominion’s replacement for Bobby Wilder in just seven. And, as we mentioned above, VT took 16 to hold a news conference but just 14, as well, to announce him as the new head coach.

Franklin and the Lions open their 2022 season at Purdue on Sept. 3. Many will have an eye on S.B. Ballard Stadium in Norfolk, Va., too, as Pry’s Hokies start next year at Rahne’s Monarchs.