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Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry talks Hokies Football 2024 with DG at the ACC Football Kickoff
Season 2
Published 1 year, 9 months ago
Description
- Brent Pry is in his third season as head coach at Virginia Tech. He joined the Hokies after serving eight seasons as defensive coordinator/linebackers coach at Penn State.
- The Hokies reached some significant milestones during the 2023 season under Pry including a 5-3 ACC record, the best conference record since 2019. Tech also was one of eight Power Five teams to post five conference wins by 17 or more points. The Hokies finished in the top 20 nationally in total defense while ranking 58th in total offense, up from 119th in 2022.
- Pry's team made the program's 35th overall bowl appearance in 2023, beating Tulane in the Military Bowl, 41-20.
- Pry returned to Blacksburg after working as a defensive graduate assistant for the Hokies from 1995-97 under head coach Frank Beamer and defensive coordinator Bud Foster.
- A 30-year coaching veteran, Pry has coached teams that have qualified for 15 bowl appearances and have finished in the FBS top 25 in total defense nine times.
- He has played an instrumental role in coaching top 10 defenses at Virginia Tech, Penn State, Vanderbilt, Georgia Southern, and Western Carolina.
- Since his promotion to defensive coordinator in 2016, the Nittany Lions have posted three seasons with 11 wins and four seasons with nine or more victories. He helped the Nittany Lions to the 2016 Big Ten Championship after defeating No. 6 Wisconsin in that conference’s championship game.
- His longtime association with current Penn State head coach James Franklin dates back to 1993-94 when Franklin was the quarterback for East Stroudsburg University, where Pry coached outside linebackers and defensive backs.
- Pry was a 2021 Broyles Award nominee for the top assistant coach in the country as the Nittany Lions ranked fourth nationally in Red Zone defense (66.7%), seventh in scoring defense (16.8 ppg), eighth in defensive pass efficiency (111.98), and held their opponents to 4.7 yards per play.