Brent Pry reaffirms belief he can turn around Virginia Tech program, avoid hot seat

It’s been a difficult start to the 2025 season for the Virginia Tech Hokies. Now in the fourth season for head coach Brent Pry running the program, there has been increasing pressure on him and his staff to find a way to right the ship, but at 0-2, that hasn’t happened yet.

In Week 2, Pry saw his Hokies squander a first-half lead to Vanderbilt and, ultimately, lose 44-20. Now sitting at 0-2, Pry remains confident that this team can turn things around this season. If Virginia Tech can do that, then Pry also believes he can avoid the hot seat.

“Absolutely,” Brent Pry said. “I like this team. I don’t like how we played in the second half, but I like this team. There’s a lot of season left. The beauty of it is you wake up, you got six days to play the next one. You got to fix things. You got to get a plan together. And this is a good group of kids. They’ll stick together. They’ll wake up and they’ll own it, and look to be a better team come Saturday.”

Brent Pry got to Virginia Tech in 2022, inheriting a team that needed to be rebuilt after the Justin Fuente era. That also came as college sports underwent some massive changes regarding conference realignment, NIL, and the Transfer Portal. On top of that, the new House Settlement has further changed how programs build their rosters, which Pry has worked to oversee in Blacksburg.

Still, Pry hasn’t won enough for a proud program. He would enter the 2025 season 16-21 overall. Now, that’s slipped to 16-23 as the Virginia Tech head coach. He’s done that with a 10-13 ACC record. So, even with two bowl appearances, the hot seat is real. Pry is just looking to block out the noise.

“Yeah, I’m not. I tell the players to ignore the noise. I learned that a long time ago. This is not the first time that we’ve been in situations like this. So, the expectations here are to win. I get that. That’s why I wanted to be here. I’m not happy with where we’re at right now. Not from a win standpoint,” Pry said. “But I like this team and we’ll regroup and there’s a lot of season left and I’m still excited about what we can do.”

On3’s Pete Nakos recently reported that Brent Pry’s buyout is set at $6 million. Virginia Tech would pay Pry in equal quarterly installments over the term of his contract, or through December 31, 2027. He is currently making $4.75 million per season. That buyout would drop to $2.5 million after the 2026 season.

The preference for everyone involved is, of course, that Brent Pry and Virginia Tech turn things around. That begins next week against Old Dominion. Incidentally, that will be the first game the Hokies play this season against a team outside of the SEC.