Virginia Tech has fired fourth-year coach Brent Pry, fewer than 24 hours after an embarrassing 45-26 loss to Old Dominion dropped the Hokies to 0-3 on the young season.
Pry, 55, is the second coach to be fired in the Bowl Subdivision after UCLA parted with DeShaun Foster. Once rare, such early-season firings have become more prevalent in the past decade.
Saturday’s loss was the last straw for a tenure that briefly showed promise heading into last season but ends at 16-24 overall and 10-13 in the ACC.
Old Dominion led Virginia Tech 28-0 at halftime and cruised to an easy victory. This was the Hokies’ second loss to the Monarchs under Pry.
That loss came on the heels of a 24-11 defeat to No. 10 South Carolina and coach Shane Beamer, the son of longtime Virginia Tech coach and Hall of Famer Frank Beamer. Last week, the Hokies were beaten 44-20 by Vanderbilt.
Tech went 3-8 in 2022, Pry’s first season, and then improved to 7-6 and 5-3 in the ACC in 2023. That team ended the year with a win against rival Virginia to earn a postseason bid and then a win against Tulane in the Military Bowl.
With nearly every starter set to return, last year’s team earned Top 25 consideration but flopped to a 6-7 record and an eighth-place finish in the ACC.
Expectations were lower this summer. The Hokies were picked 11th in the preseason media poll, though were one of just five teams to earn at least one first-place vote. But the ugliness of the 0-3 start will have Tech looking for its third head coach since Frank Beamer retired after the 2015 season.
Pry was previously the defensive coordinator at Penn State. He is a longtime assistant under current Nittany Lions coach James Franklin.
Pry is owed just over $6.8 million under a contract that had been set to run through Dec. 1, 2027, according to contract information obtained by USA TODAY.
If Pry accepts “another coaching, teaching, faculty, or staff position of any kind associated or dealing with athletics at any high school, college, or professional level during the stated term of the Contract,” the buyout is offset by the amount of that income.
Pry’s buyout is due to be paid in equal quarterly installments, each January, April, July and October.