Virginia Tech made a pair of additions to Brent Pry's first coaching staff today as the Hokies announced the hiring of former linebacker Xavier Adibi as a defensive analyst and the promotion of Brian Crist to senior offensive analyst.
We've added @Coach_Adibi and @Coachcrist1 to our staff 💪
— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) January 11, 2022
Adibi comes to Blacksburg after spending the past three seasons at Division II Texas A&M-Commerce as the defensive coordinator. He has done a tremendous job transforming that defense into one of the best at the D-II level while being named a finalist for the 2021 Football Scoop Coordinator of the Year.
Adibi has spent some time at the Power 5 level before as an analyst at Arkansas, and is a big time analyst addition for the Hokies. Adibi is also someone who is more than ready to be a position coach at a P5 program, and is a guy that Brent Pry can develop even more as a coach and promote to a main assistant role if/when an opening on the defensive staff happens in the future.
Plenty of the top programs are able to find talented analysts, develop them, and promote them into lead assistant roles successfully whether that's Clemson or Nick Saban's coaching rehab at Alabama. Adibi exactly fits that mold and then some, and is a great off-the-field addition for Tech, and proof of the benefit of boosting the resources available not just for the primary 10 assistants.
Adibi also gives Tech another coach with defensive coordinator or head coach experience on the defensive side to surround first-time defensive coordinator Chris Marve which is another smart move. This also bolsters the linebacker coaching with Marve having DC responsibilities to focus on first and foremost.
Expect Adibi to be an assistant at least at a high level for a long time with this being a very smart move for the Hokies to bring him aboard.
Crist was an offensive analyst for Virginia Tech this past year and was promoted to a senior offensive analyst role in what is his second stint in Blacksburg after being a VT grad assistant in 1994-1995, briefly overlapping with Brent Pry. Crist also overlapped with Brent Pry in the early 2000s at Louisiana-Lafayette as the WRs coach from 2002-2006 while gaining the pass game coordinator title for 2005-2006.
Crist has spent time all over the college football map including two stints at UMASS with one overlapping with their FCS title, a stint at Youngstown State which included two seasons in 2018 and 2019 as offensive coordinator, a season at Nebraska in 2014, and more stops.
