📅 Published on: 2024-12-13 15:57:44
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🎥 Watch head coach Brent Pry discuss the program’s staff changes and roster management in the postseason.
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🕵️♂️ Transcript:
everybody coach we’ll make a brief opening statement and then we’ll open it up for some questions you know obviously uh We’ve made some difficult decisions regarding our staff um first of all I’d like to thank Chris and Ron and de for all their work all the care and concern over our players um their family those guys poured it into these kids into our efforts these decisions are never easy I wish them the best and support them moving forward you know it was a comprehensive evaluation that’s been going ongo and will continue there was frustration and disappointment over the way the the season went and U there needed to be some impactful changes I believe these changes are necessary to maximize the potential of this program and Achieve our goals what we all want it’s my responsibility to this University to these players to these fans to this Administration uh to make those decisions um to uh to move this program over the hurdle and get it back where um where it rightfully belongs so we’ll get this right um there’ll be other hard decisions down the road I know but uh I’m always going to do what’s right by Virginia Tech and this football team so we’re awful excited about Duke’s mayoo can’t wait great opportunity for us I know we’ll have a great turnout with our fans uh we’ve got some some tremendous opportunity for some young guys in our program um you know it’s been a good couple of days of practice in that regard um you know grateful that we were chosen for this bowl and uh you know looking for forward to it we’re going to give the guys a couple days off this weekend and pick it back up next week but uh I’ll take some questions at this point Brent you said it was an ongoing evaluation when did you come to these decisions when did you hand out these decisions yeah you know this has been several weeks uh you know unhappy with some things you know through midpoint of the season you know you’re evaluating all the time um it just didn’t go it didn’t start the way we needed it to there were there were some points in the middle that some things were concerning and and down the stretch there’s a lot of positives but there were things that uh to me when I looked at it they just weren’t up to the standards and expectations that I have for this program it’s my responsibility to push the envelope and make sure they’re met so those decisions you know I’ve had multiple meetings uh with Whit Babcock and those decisions were ultimately decided here in the last couple days with Marv specifically you handpicked him to sort of mold him in that defensive coordinator role uh did you feel that just wasn’t coming along in that sense were you disappointed in play calling aspects what what specifically there yeah I’m not going to get into the spe specifics of it um you know that’s between Chris and I and the staff but uh you know we didn’t play good enough defense uh particularly at the end of games um to me you win championships on defense and that that you know the onus is on me it’s on all of us that have anything to do with uh with what we’re doing defensively and uh you we’ve got to be better there we had opportunities to close out some games and and jump that win total and uh didn’t happen for us Chris did not have uh the experience as a coordinator coming in you’re looking to your new defensive coordinator higher do you have to find somebody that has that experience uh do you take on a bigger role uh yourself in doing that how how do you view that position going no we’re we uh you know we’ve got a ton of candidates uh already the list is is grown and it’s strong there’s guys that are incredibly interested obviously when you make these decisions um you immediately you start building your list of of strong candidates that you want to you want to talk to and uh that’s that’s kind of the mode we’re in right now Fielding calls you start vetting candidates I certainly have an idea of what I would like for it to look like um you know so that’s where that is but you don’t du I do not Brent when you look at the offensive line was there anything particular in terms of development or anything that you felt NE necessitated a change there I think in general you know I think it’s important to understand that you know the job description isn’t just what you see on the field right there’s recruiting there’s relationships there’s Player Development there’s player production all of it’s very important and when I evaluate coaches and staff members the entire job description is part of that um you know where are we meeting standards where are we not um and when not enough of those boxes are being checked that’s when and there’s a you know a concerning issue I wasn’t here but I believe I reading reports last time that there was strong interest in the offensive line position when you had to replace Joe Rudolph are you sensing similar this time with filling that position for the second time since you’ve been here yeah there’s strong candidates at all three of these you know Virginia Tech is a tremendous place people want to work here uh you know people believe in what we’re doing the coaches on the inside of this thing see the progress we’ve made know the situation that we walked into and so the list will be strong uh not just at the offensive line but at all three positions do you have a timeline for how you want to attack this especially with transfer portal preparation for the bowl game a lot on your plate how do you want to manage this and get get these guys in the house yeah that’s a good question first of all let me say Xavier adbi is going to coach the inside linebackers for our Bowl prep uh Brent Davis is going to coach the offensive line for our B prep and Jared Ferguson is going to lead our strength and conditioning through b prep um you know I’m not uh I’m not going to pin us down to a to a date or a timeline you know we’re going to do what we have to do to to vet these candidates and to get the right coaches and right people for this team this staff for Virginia Tech uh have you had a chance to meet with the players regarding this decision uh saw a lot of them on social media last night some of them I don’t think were mixed emotions but how have do you think the locker room is assessing uh the changes and uh what they see the vision moving forward for the program yeah it’s a very difficult thing in anybody’s program uh again um performance or whether or not somebody’s done a job up to standards and expectations doesn’t necessarily affect the relationship uh and the care that these folks have for one another um so it you know when we made these decisions I mean you know the first thing that there was a message that went out to our staff I wanted them to hear it from me first and then there was a message that went out to our team I wanted them to hear it from me first um and then this morning um we had a staff meeting and then we had a team meeting uh to to address it personally and face to face um it’s it’s difficult for everybody uh for for the guys that you know that we parted ways with and uh for members of this team and this staff there’s uh we’re a relationship oriented group and uh you know I’ve known known these guys for a lot of years and U particularly Dej and Chris so uh and they’re and their people you know they they they poured into these players and into one another so it was very difficult for everybody right side of the Jo I coach uh obviously you’ve had you know a tremendous amount of stuff on your plate but have you had a chance to to look at Minnesota yet uh what stands out to you um you’ve met uh you’ve met with them a couple times at Penn State um but this is the first time uh VT has has met the U ofm uh in football so yeah it’s a well- coached group coach Flex done a tremendous job out there while I was at Penn State we had some some challenging games with those guys um you know they got good size they’re physical they’re sound um you know I haven’t uh obviously watched as much film as I plan to on these guys but what I’ve seen it’s a very good football team they played you know they’re standing at seven and five but a couple of their losses were to some good folks and they were good ball games so we’ll have our hands full with Minnesota you made these moves last night Is there further shuffling within the staff that could take place uh in the upcoming weeks I would say shuffling is the right word you know there’s there’s some things that uh you I’m considering that I would call adjustments um that I’m working through with uh you know with wit and just kind of talking about scenario some scenarios that would be best for us you know to provide the best support the best development opportun unities the best resources for our players again it’s about having all of them Reach and play to their potential that’s the goal if we do that I believe the winds will take care of themselves we have to do that and so what ways can we move the needle to better develop our players you mentioned some of the internal guys that were taking over for the bull Duties are they candidates potentially for these positions uh Brent Davis specifically who has experience as a a division one assistant before there’ll be internal candidates and external candidates um for all three of these jobs uh and just regarding the strength coach the change there was that something you sense that team was wearing down in the second halfs of games or what kind of may be the reasoning there yeah I don’t think we were um a a a team that was conditioned well enough to start the year and to finish games you can point to a lot of things there not just Coach G uh you know there’s we spend a lot of time with sports science with data you know making the best decisions in how we prepare our team for the season but we have to be mentally and physically tougher uh we have to be a more conditioned team those things are very apparent to me um you mentioned you know the the meetings this morning I’m sorry you mentioned the meetings this morning what have what’s been your message to to the players obviously um you know they’re seeing some of their teammates go and whatnot and and there’s still a game to prepare for what’s what’s been your message to them yeah there’s a lot going on obviously the staff uh the opt outs the transfer portal new hires the bowl game there’s a lot um obviously rev share nil um you know it’s a very fluid situation right now with a lot of teams roster um unfortunately you know I have individual conversations with each and every one of our players whether it’s concerning opting out transferring entering the portal and still playing in the bowl game uh all of those conversations none of them are taken lightly uh those are uh you know measured decisions on what’s best for our team first and the individual second um so we’ve been very transparent with the team about where things are and U you know there’s some positive things that are happening within our program right now that they’re aware of but there are mixed emotions which is understandable you know there’s 2,000 guys in the transfer portal right now I think 30 of them have signed um you know we’ve already had over half a dozen guys officially visit um and we’ve got quite a slate coming up so you know this is more of a front office look as far as managing your roster you know um some of my staff some of Triumph staff I’ve had conversations with multiple professional organizations about how to manage you know the budget and how to where does where does the allotment go how do we structure this uh this roster as far as financing um you know going to lean into Bruce arens and his experience there um you know I don’t know why we wouldn’t we’ve got several zooms set up moving forward everybody is kind of navigating this right now and trying to figure it out and uh you know wit has really led to charge and been very good and uh supportive to make sure that we have a structure that makes sense for for our team and for Virginia Tech and with where we are financially uh one of the things uh Whit actually mentioned on that front um in his interview last Friday was about Kelly woolwine and being potentially kind of in a pseudo GM role how important in this day and age is is that kind of position how beneficial has has Kelly been to you guys yeah he’s fantastic uh he’s he’s done a great job um you know it’s all new territory and and you know Kelly loves Virginia Tech we have a great relationship uh I think he’s very very much trusted among our Administration and certainly by me and he’s got a heavy hand in what we’re doing he’s the guy that leads the negotiations with our current player players and leads the negotiations with the incoming players um so you spent a lot of time with Kelly these days back coach with changes kids in the portal is there a bit of a re-recruiting aspect to get those kids to stay at Virginia Tech and how do you kind of manage the urgency like you said balancing the team’s needs and also the individuals needs yeah I mean it’s a full SL every day you know because a lot of it you have to put the attention where it’s needed and there’s a lot of attention needed right now but we got a staff that’s working incredibly hard on it you know our transfer portal list at each position is very strong and long we’re going to continue to have that you just don’t know you know you you wake up one day and and your linebacker room looks like this and 24 hours later it looks a little different you have to remember that you know this is there’s there’s values at at play here and you know what a family a young man maybe his agent which most of them have agents now uh what they feel the the worth is uh financially may not align with what we are able to do or willing to do um you know the other thing is there’s just so much uncertainty out in the portal what the values really are everybody’s trying to figure that out there’s a lot a lot of a lot of people right now jumping in on these players and and kind of you know reaching out to programs and you know what what would you pay to have this young man Services uh and then then they go to the next school and then they go to the next school and it’s not healthy for college football um but again you know I want these guys to have all the information possible to make the best decision for themselves you know in the end uh the majority of these guys I’d like to see stay and we also have a roster of of 120 that has to be reduced to 105 and so that’s been part uh of these meetings and part of the attrition um internally again when we evaluate players it’s relationships it’s team first mindset uh there’s a lot of reasons that uh could be at play for us to part ways uh some of it player driven some of it staff driven um some of it opportunity driven you know we’ve got guys that that want to go play want to be starters and they’re not here they’re not projected to be we’ve got guys that want to have a role and they don’t have one um there’s a lot of reasons uh that young men you know would enter the portal and and let me say there there’s positive stories out of the transfer portal uh we certainly have some in our locker room but there’s also a lot of uh concerning stories so we try and manage the best we can we got time for two quick here in the Damen and then Andy we’ll take a couple brand Andy asked you about I guess defensive play calling have you assessed who will call the defensive plays in the bowl game yet or is that something that will be worked out no I’m glad you asked uh so Shan Quinn has been a defensive play caller a couple different places has been with me multiple stops um he’s been a head coach so he’ll kind of coordinate the room practice preparation planning he and I will work together I’m going to lead in Le lean into coach Foster a little bit where he’s able to for some bold prep um but uh between Shawn and I you know we’ll lead to charge on that and uh we’ll decide as we get closer to it where the play calling actually comes from you did have a signning class last week a lot of them were on most half the class was on defense you had a chance to reach out to them about especially the change to defensive coordinator because Chris Marv had a lot of relationship with those guys and reassuring them about uh their commitment and signing with Virginia Tech yeah I’m glad you asked that question because that that’s another group that was obviously affected and uh after the message to the staff the message to the team the next thing I did uh was call the three linebacker shes and speak to them personally and um had some other staff members reach out to other guys uh that had signed obviously Carter stalard Nathaniel right so that was certainly part of uh last night’s events let’s go and we’ll take a couple on zo okay with regard to the portal when a guy goes in is he in do you ever uh take guys back from the portal is there an open conversation at all with them um again that’s on an individual basis you know there’s certain guys that have the opportunity to do that a lot of it’s based on why they want to enter the portal or why we agree it’s best for them to enter the portal um it’s just uh you know to me the best way to handle it is to be transparent to to have the the young man give you the information the concerns or the wants the Wishes the aspirations you talk through it um you know there’s a lot of people getting in these guys in their ears right now lot of lot of people that are bending in ear and having input um you know so it’s it’s challenging and that’s why you go back to relationships you go back to honest conversations and feedback um so yeah is there a possibility that that happens certainly uh that’s not a possibility for everybody uh that’s entered the portal um off our team but it’s the possibility for some of them seen some NFL declarations from guys who are seniors here did do they intend to play in the bowl game have you gotten word from them about who’s playing who’s not yeah those guys that have declared are not uh we’re still working through it with a with a few others you know obviously you know it’s a business decision for most of those guys and you know they they’re leaning on their agents and taking advice and you know what’s the best step for them what’s the best route for them um you know several of those guys have opportunities in the Senior Bowl which uh you know anxious to start preparing for that so um you we’re still working through some of that so I guess Toton and strong are two guys you’re still talking to about possibly playing yeah what it is you know once these guys sign with an agent it’s no longer a possibility um but uh you know proud of what APR his accomplishments pretty awesome uh the year he had but uh you know we’ll know more here in the next week but uh those are certainly uh you know important guys and in terms of the names uh on the roster haven’t seen a decision one way or another about the portal Kiran drones is the one I think everybody’s kind of waiting is he staying is he going do you have a good sense of of where what he might do uh in the future yeah that’s a good question because I do want to announce that Kyan drones will be returning to Virginia Tech uh as will pop Watson so couldn’t be happier about both those guys uh you know reupping their commitment to us I think I think we have a very good quarterback room moving forward with those guys with Davi and then obviously our two signes that have had impressive High School senior Seasons let’s take a couple questions on zoom on Zoom please use the rais hand feature to ask questions for Coach pry please also state your name and Outlet before your question and we’ll start with David please Brent David teal um in Norfolk is with Kiron coming back back is there any chance of him playing in the bowl or he done for this season yeah that’s probably unlikely David uh you know he had a couple different injuries that he was dealing with I think we all know he’s tough as nails but uh one in particular has been problematic um in a recovery path I’m not going to rule it out but I’d say it’s unlikely and then wh was pretty clear in his interview with with Bill about the goals of the program to compete for and win ACC championships and therefore uh qualify for the cfp how close do you believe Virginia Tech is to attaining those goals I think we’re closer than what people would think when I look back over the season and you evaluate obviously close losses but also when you evaluate the area that we can improve uh not just with players with how we run certain departments decisions that that I make uh expectations not being met in certain areas you know it excites me to be honest that there’s there’s you know it’s not just one any one thing there’s so many areas that we can really improve in to help us get over this next hurdle uh to become the team that can win nine or 10 games and win this conference I think everybody would say You know despite some injuries you know we were a very competitive football team uh throughout the season against some pretty good pretty good teams and uh you know obviously we got to take that next step uh win close games finish stronger um you know and and I think we’ve identified a lot of areas where we can help us do that as you look at that record in close games have you come to any you and wi come to any conclusions as to a Common Thread there or were there different things at different moments that short circuited you guys I I think it’s both of those things I think each game you have to look at it individually and again there’s always plays leading up to the Finish um that could be the difference but also I think adjustments at halftime are critical adjustments going into the the fourth quarter are critical in all three phases um I do believe I need to be more aggressive uh to give us the best opportunity uh to get out front on some of those close games um but I also think in my experience in 33 34 years the the better conditioned team gives you the best chance at the end particularly in close games any final questions for Coach Prim on Zoom okay Travis all right thanks everybody appreciate you coming thanks guys
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