James Franklin's first major coordinator hire at Virginia Tech may almost be complete as the Hokies' new head coach is reportedly targeting the man he replaced, Brent Pry, as the Hokies' next defensive coordinator according to Matt Zenitz and Richard Johnson of CBS Sports.
James Franklin is targeting Brent Pry for his defensive coordinator job at Virginia Tech, sources tell me and @RJ_cfb.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 7, 2025
Pry was VT’s head coach the last four years. Now, potentially returning to Va Tech under Franklin, whom he previously worked under at Penn State and Vanderbilt. pic.twitter.com/zQ7nEPI86E
Pry previously worked as an assistant for Franklin for 11 seasons at Vanderbilt and Penn State including six seasons as Franklin's defensive coordinator at PSU from 2016-21. During that time, Pry had three defenses finish in the top 10 in scoring defense, building defenses that helped power Penn State to tremendous success and laid a defensive foundation that continued on through Franklin's tenure even after Pry left to become the VT head coach after the 2021 season. During his three seasons and three games at Virginia Tech, Pry had a 16-24 record with only one winning season.
If this indeed comes together, this appears to be a truly unprecedented move for a fired head coach to immediately return to the school where he had been fired at as an assistant. The only cases that seem remotely similar from recent years are Mississippi State hiring Zach Arnett as DC on Saturday roughly two years after firing him as head coach and Arkansas hiring Bobby Petrino as OC in 2024 after his long path since being fired by the Razorbacks. Even with those two cases, neither of those moves happened only months after they had been fired at their respective schools.
The fact that this is even possible speaks a lot to the strong friendship that Pry and Franklin have, with Franklin previously getting choked up when speaking about Pry during his introductory press conference at VT. Franklin mentioned later on in his introductory press conference that he talked with Pry about the VT opening during his consideration of the Hokies before taking over the VT program.
This move also speaks to the deep trust that Franklin has in Pry to run his defense as a 'head coach of the defense' type DC and deliver the results that Franklin expects in his programs.
Pry's a proven defensive coordinator who would have been the likely guaranteed top target for Franklin if he took a job that wasn't Virginia Tech. However, Franklin appears to be going with a DC who he deeply trusts to deliver a high-caliber defense along with being a strong recruiter who obviously has deep recruiting ties within VT's traditional recruiting footprint.
Football Scoop's John Brice reported that now former Toledo DC (and new Syracuse DC) Vince Kehres, a former two-time national champion head coach at Mount Union, was also someone who Franklin targeted for this job. Kehres's Toledo defense finished in the top 5 in scoring defense this past season, with Kehres choosing the Syracuse DC job over potential DC opportunities at Virginia Tech and Nebraska.
We will have more as this story develops.
