Athlon Sports assesses Brent Pry's hot seat temperature entering 2025

Heading into the 2025 season, it appears to be a make-or-break season in Blacksburg. Virginia Tech Hokies head coach Brent Pry is going into his fourth season with the program and finds himself firmly on the hot seat.

Ahead of the season, Athlon Sports released thoughts on several coaches on the hot seat. That included Pry.

“After a promising finish to the ’24 season,” Athlon wrote. “Expectations were high for a step forward for Pry’s Hokies last year. However, they underachieved with a 6-7 mark to bring Pry’s overall record in Blacksburg to 16-21.”

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Pry first got to Virginia Tech in 2022. At that time, he was replacing Justin Fuente, who had seen the program slip over six seasons leading the program. That was after Fuente took over from Frank Beamer in 2016, inheriting a program that was consistently making bowls but no longer finishing ranked under its legendary head coach.

Pry would be tasked with getting the Hokies back to the top of the ACC, leaning on his background as a defensive coordinator at Penn State. With deep regional ties, the hope was that he could recruit well, too. However, it would be a complete rebuild and after going 3-8 in his first season, there has been anticipation of Virginia Tech’s return to prominence.

In the two seasons since then, Virginia Tech has gone to two bowl games. However, they’re only 13-13 over those two seasons and 9-7 in ACC play. The standard is going to be higher and the hope is that he takes a step forward in 2025.

Anonymous ACC coaches, however, have their concerns about whether or not Pry can turn things around. One spoke to Athlon to share their thoughts on the situation at Virginia Tech.

“The consensus around the league is, it’s not what they want it to be in Blacksburg, and it’s harder than it ever was, but if you get the right guy in there, you’re gonna roll,” the coach told Athlon Sports. “The question is, can that be [Brent] Pry? Because he’s the most Virginia Tech guy they could have.”

Brent Pry has the chance to turn his tenure at Virginia Tech around on the field in 2025. The Hokies open on August 31st with a potential statement against South Carolina. ACC play won’t kick off until September 27th against NC State, with the Hokies playing four non-conference games first.