Brent Pry, fired as Virginia Tech coach in September, expected to return as James Franklin’s DC

In an unusual move, Brent Pry could be returning to Virginia Tech less than three months after the school fired him as its head coach amid an 0-3 start to the season. New Virginia Tech coach James Franklin is expected to hire Pry to be the Hokies’ defensive coordinator, according to a source briefed on the negotiations. CBS first reported the move.

Pry was Franklin’s defensive coordinator at Penn State from 2016 through 2021 and has known Franklin since the beginning of Pry’s coaching career and the end of Franklin’s playing career at Division II East Stroudsburg. The Nittany Lions finished in the top 25 in scoring defense four times and fielded a top-25 defense in yards per play allowed every year under Pry.

In Pry’s first season as Franklin’s defensive coordinator, 2016, Penn State won its most recent Big Ten championship.

Virginia Tech hired Pry as its head coach in November 2021, and he was fired this September three games into his fourth season with a 16-24 record. Pry led the Hokies to a 7-6 record and a bowl win in 2023 but never built upon that step forward. He was fired after a dismal 19-point home loss to Old Dominion, which came on the heels of a 24-point home loss to Vanderbilt. Pry’s buyout was around $6 million.

“Unfortunately, the results on the field were not acceptable and a change in leadership is necessary,” Virginia Tech president Tim Sands wrote in a letter at the time.

Franklin fought back tears during his introductory news conference in November while acknowledging that he was replacing a friend and former assistant in the top job.

“I know he poured his heart and soul into this place,” Franklin said. “I know this place is better today because of Brent and the commitment that he made.”

These sort of reunions have happened before. Bobby Petrino was fired by Arkansas amid off-field controversy in 2012 and returned to be the program’s offensive coordinator in 2024; Petrino was elevated to interim coach this year after the firing of Sam Pittman. Zach Arnett was fired by Mississippi State following the 2023 season and may be on the verge of returning as the school’s defensive coordinator.

But it’s difficult to remember a reunion happening this quickly.