James Franklin is coming towards the end of filling out his coaching staff with two new additions in the secondary. Anthony Midget will be the new CBs coach, and Vic Hall will be the nickels coach. Kolby Crawford of VT Scoop was the first to report the news on Midget while Evan Watkins of VT Scoop first reported the news on Hall.
It’ll be a homecoming for Anthony Midget, a former All-American defensive back for Virginia Tech, who will make the trip back to Blacksburg to be the cornerbacks coach. Currently he is an assistant defensive back coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers and has been for the past two seasons.
Before his coaching career, he was drafted in the 5th round of the 2000 NFL Draft after four years as a Hokie. He hopped around the NFL team’s practice squad before starting his coaching career at Georgia State. In 2012 he joined Penn State, and after a year he made the jump to the NFL, coaching the Houston Texans, then the Tennessee Titans, and finally the Pittsburgh Steelers, all in an assistant or head secondary coach role.
It is assumed that he’ll join Virginia Tech after the Steelers season comes to a close, either as soon as this week or whenever they lose in the playoffs.
Vic Hall, who formerly served as Rutgers' safeties coach, will work alongside Anthony Midget as the nickels coach. Hall is a UVA alum who spent a year on NFL practice squads before playing in the Arena Football League until 2015.
In his coaching career he spent time as a cornerback and safeties coach at schools like Western Illinois, Howard, Hampton, and Ball State. While at Ball State, he also was the pass-game coordinator. After his stint at Ball State, he worked under Franklin at Penn State in 2024 as a senior analyst prior to his one season at Rutgers, so there is some overlap between him and James Franklin.
After a poor 2025 campaign, Virginia Tech's secondary will try to improve. Their top defensive backs, Dante Lovett and Christian Ellis, entered the portal following Brent Pry's dismissal and Quinten Reddish's injury early in the season, which didn't help the team's poor performance on the field. Some of the defensive backs, including Joshua Clarke, Knahlij Harrell, and Jordan Bass, have announced their return, while we'll look to see how the staff builds that group from the portal and current Hokies who are retained.
