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Virginia Tech

Brent Pry shares when Sam Siefkes entered radar for DC job

FaceProfileby: Thomas Goldkamp01/28/25
Sam Siefkes
Photo by Joe Rondone / USA TODAY Sports

Virginia Tech officially tapped Arizona Cardinals linebackers coach Sam Siefkes as its new defensive coordinator on Monday, reaching into the NFL ranks to seek an upgrade on the defensive side of the ball.

On the surface, there weren’t a whole lot of obvious ties between the two parties.

But Virginia Tech coach Brent Pry explained that he knew about Sam Siefkes through a connection on the Arizona roster, a player he had formerly coached.

“I did know about Sam. I’ve got a guy that played for me for five years that I’m very close with, recruited him, coached him, Jesse Luketa is out there playing at Arizona,” Pry explained. “That was the first conversation. When I talked to Jesse often enough just kind of about the coaching and the scheme out there. Of course Ryan Smith‘s coaching out there. Ryan GAd for me at Penn State and coached here.”

Smith worked with Pry while at Penn State, serving as a defensive graduate assistant from 2015-16. Luketa, on the other hand, played at Penn State from 2018-2021.

So there was a good deal of crossover with both when it came to Sam Siefkes. That doesn’t mean he instantly won the job. Pry outlined his process, which included vetting a large number of candidates.

“We garnered candidates from multiple phone calls that we received,” Pry explained. “And also we looked out across analytically who fielded some really quality defenses over the last couple years at different places. And then you kind of trace it back.”

That’s not to say the narrowing down process was easy. But as Virginia Tech looked, Sam Siefkes kept checking off the basic boxes.

“Of course agents talk and field names, just did a great job of just kind of surface level, 100 level, the initial research on guys,” Pry said. “We had a working list of 20 candidates that we kind of zeroed things in on, and then we took it down to 10. Sam made that 10.”

Ultimately, he made the final cut and was hired. Now it’ll be up to Sam Siefkes to turn the Virginia Tech defense around.