Philip Montgomery shares message to Virginia Tech players after Brent Pry firing

Virginia Tech announced on Sunday that it would be to parting ways with head coach Brent Pry following Saturday night’s disappointing 45-26 loss to Old Dominion. The Hokies opened the season 0-3 and fell to 16-24 under Pry with the loss. Shortly after Pry’s firing was announced, offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery was announced as the interim coach.

Montgomery was brought on this offseason as the Hokies’ new offensive coordinator. He has been coaching since 1994, when he began as a special assistant at Tarleton State. He worked his way up to becoming the head coach at Tulsa in 2015, a role he held for eight seasons before he was fired.

The Eastland, TX native led the Golden Hurricane to a 43-53 (28-24) record with wins in the 2016 Miami Beach Bowl and the 2021 Miami Beach Bowl. He now makes his return to head coaching with Virginia Tech for the remainder of the 2025 season.

Montgomery shares message to Virginia Tech players

During a media opportunity on Tuesday, Montgomery shared his message to the team following the change in leadership.

“I won’t get into all of it, but there was a lot of raw emotion. As there should be with this,” Montgomery said. “They needed to feel that. We needed to talk about it and get it out in the open. We got out on the practice field and I had another opportunity to talk to them on the field after practice. But our message has been this: we’ve got nine games left. We have a chance to go write an unbelievable story, but it’s gonna take all of us to do that.

“Players, coaches, administration. It’s gonna take all of us to go make that happen. We need you to lock in and jump in and stay committed to what we’re doing and how we’re going to do it. We also need to understand that things are going to have to change and we’re gonna move forward as we work in that direction.”

The Hokies will now owe their former head coach $6 million. Virginia Tech will pay Pry in equal quarterly installments over the remainder of his contract, which expires Dec. 31, 2027.  He will receive $750,000 per quarter until the end of 2027, when his six-year agreement expires. Pry was making $4.75 million this season.

A national coaching search has been launched, but it is now up to Montgomery to lead the program to a respectable finish over the final nine games of the season.