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The Brent Pry Era didn’t go according to plan for the Virginia Tech Hokies. After being hired in 2022, Pry went just 16-24 in three-plus years at the helm in Blacksburg.
However, he’s going to get a second chance.
Reports emerged late Saturday night that new Virginia Tech head coach James Franklin was targeting Pry for his defensive coordinator role with the Hokies. Pry previously worked under Franklin as his defensive coordinator at both Vanderbilt and Penn State.
James Franklin is targeting Brent Pry for his defensive coordinator job at Virginia Tech, sources tell me and @RJ_cfb.
Pry was VT’s head coach the last four years. Now, potentially returning to Va Tech under Franklin, whom he previously worked under at Penn State and Vanderbilt. pic.twitter.com/zQ7nEPI86E
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 7, 2025
Virginia Tech Could Be Saving Itself Money By Rehiring Brent Pry
To make matters worse, or at least funnier, for the Hokies, they’re currently paying him whether or not they employ him as part of the buyout provision in Pry’s previous contract.
That provision stated that they would owe Pry 70 percent of the base salary remaining on his contract, except for the final year of his deal, where Virginia Tech would only owe him 50% of his base salary.
However, Pry’s contact also included an offset clause. That means that the Hokies would only have to pay him the difference between what he would be owed and what he would have made in any new job he took.
This means that his new salary as defensive coordinator could technically be part of that offset. So rather than paying Pry and a new defensive coordinator, Virginia Tech now only needs to pay Pry, even if they’re paying him more than that you’d normally expect as a defensive coordinator.
Coincidentally, Mississippi State recently announced the rehiring of former head coach Zach Arnett as its defensive coordinator, putting the Bulldogs in a similar situation.