For Virginia Tech Football the Time is Now

Fall camp opened for the 2025 Virginia Tech football team, and there has to be a sense of urgency this summer, not just on the field, but throughout the entire athletic department as well.  The disappointment of last season’s 6-7 record still lingers at the start of year four of the Brent Pry era.  There are four significant coaching changes and thirty new transfer portal players, so instead of heading into the fall with confidence, Hokie Nation is a little on edge, as this has the feel of a reset, which is very uncomfortable in the fourth year of a coach’s tenure.

The program cannot afford another six-win season - or worse.  While I love Brent Pry’s personality, his team has to show results on the field that prove there is a positive trend in the program.  The clock is ticking for him to win, and it is ticking for the entire athletic department in terms of revenues and future conference affiliation.

The time to win is now.

Let’s cut to the chase here - Brent Pry needs to win more games than he loses this season.  The new environment of college football does not allow the same timeline for progress, so the pressure builds earlier.  Last season was a major disappointment - which Pry openly acknowledges - and significant changes were made on the staff and in the roster.

But Hokie Nation cannot wait a few more years for those changes to pan out.  They have to bear fruit immediately, and the team has to win now.  6-6 isn’t going to cut it.  Heck, 7-5 isn’t good enough either, but given the changes this year, it might be enough to restore confidence in Pry and the future of the program, depending on how the games play out of course.

Most notably, Pry’s team needs to win close games.  Much has been made of his 1-12 record in one-score games - and rightfully so.  Even more unsettling for Hokie Nation is that Virginia Tech is 0-8 in one score games since defeating Liberty to close the 2022 season.

In 2025, Tech’s first four losses were by one score.  Five of six regular season losses were by one score.  In four of these L’s, the Hokies had the lead at the two minute warning yet lost the game.  The strength and conditioning coach and both coordinators (all three of whom are no longer with the program) may carry significant blame for that, but ultimately, responsibility falls on the head coach.

If the Hokies had just held on in two of those late collapses and finished 2-3 in their close games, they would have closed the year 8-4.  That would have changed everything.  This article wouldn’t be written.  The vibes in Hokie Nation would be positive.  Hope and expectation would return.

This year, Pry has an opportunity to win back some favor as Vanderbilt, North Carolina State, and Florida State should be close games.  If Tech can win at least two of those three, the overall outlook for 2025 should be better.

Another thorn in the side of the Pry tenure is the lack of a signature win.  Over the last three seasons, Virginia Tech has not defeated a single power conference opponent that has finished with at least eight regular season wins.  And speaking of power conference opponents, there’s that current winless streak against non-conference foes that goes back to the first game of 2017.  Both of these stains on Tech’s record must change this year.

It is very simple - Tech has to pull an upset. Miami and Louisville will come to Lane Stadium, likely with top-25 rankings.  Georgia Tech could be in the mix for the ACC championship game.  The opener is against a top-15 South Carolina team.  Winning just one of these games will bring some juice to the program.

As for the P4 OOC losing streak, the season opens with games against South Carolina and Vanderbilt.  Tech needs to win at least one of those games.

To elevate above mediocrity, a team must win close games and occasionally pull some upsets.  There are a lot of opportunities for both of those to happen this year.  Pry needs to take advantage.

Brent Pry’s first full recruiting class was a win, with much ballyhoo over the 26 signees being comprised mostly of high school team captains or state champions - or both.  Three years later, despite some significant attrition from that class, the core of remaining 2023 signees now has the chance to show why they were brought to Blacksburg.

With so many starters gone from the 2024 team, there is a great need for these third-year players to step up as juniors or redshirt sophomores.  Caleb Woodson and Dante Lovett already have a lot of game experience and should be leaders on the defensive side of the ball.  Wide receiver Ayden Greene heads a young but talented receiver group who needs to do better than last year’s underperforming group.  Along the O-line, there are plenty of guys from the '23 class who can win starting jobs and bring stability to the trenches.

When these players were being recruited, there was a social media trend that something was “Brewing in Blacksburg.”  After two years of percolating, it’s time for this class to rise to the occasion and win now.

The importance of this class is not going to be measured in just wins and losses though.  Equally significant will be their impact on reshaping the culture of this program and restoring a winning mindset.  This football team needs to learn how to win.  Over the past decade, way too many games have been lost to mediocre teams, and very few wins have come against “better” teams.  That needs to change.

Word out of camp is that this current group is focused and playing together.  They admit that they have a lot to prove and they recognize that they are being underestimated.  While that talk is great, they need to back it up on the field.

As past team captains and state champions, the 2023 recruiting class needs to show the leadership skills that drew the coaches to them.  They need to show the grit and determination to win, they need to change the course of this program.  There is a sense of urgency, and the time is now for this class to make it happen.

The future of college football appears to be anyone’s guess at this point.  Will there be more realignment?  Will the Big Two (SEC and Big Ten) dominate and kick everyone else to the wayside?

That second idea is still total conjecture, but it is not at all far-fetched.  A likely outcome, though, is that things change significantly in 2030, and Virginia Tech needs to be ready for what may come.

With the recent ACC settlement of the lawsuit with Florida State and Clemson, the door is now open for those two teams - and any others - to walk from the league after 2030.  That date conveniently coincides with the expiration of the current Big Ten and Big 12 media contracts (2030), as well as the current College Football Playoff contract (2031).

It feels like an act of appeasement so the ACC can stay intact until 2030 when all heck could break loose.  If the league’s best brands leave the conference, who will replace them?  Tulane? Memphis? East Carolina? Appalachian State?  JMU?  That would be awful for the ACC, who at that point would be scraping together the “leftovers” just to stay afloat.  

That version of the ACC would be more like a group of five league, one that I would not-so-affectionately refer to as “Conference USACC.”

While this is still speculation at this point, it would only strengthen Virginia Tech’s position as a potential expansion target if the team started winning now.  The next few years could very well be an “audition phase” for the next wave of conference realignment, and the Hokies need to be trending upward, not starting over.

Wins - and stability in the staff and administration - would only improve Tech’s chance of landing in the Big Two should realignment come soon.  If not, the Big 12 is the next best option, so the time to win is now.

In terms of the ACC lawsuit settlement, it is important for Tech to be relevant again because the new revenue sharing agreement rewards teams for higher television viewership.  Simply put, the better the Hokies are, the more opportunities that will exist for them to receive better television slots.  Better television slots will add up to increased viewership, and that will result in more money.

And in today’s collegiate sports world, money is more important than ever.

In addition, success this year will go a long way in recruiting.  The current class is very thin, with only nine commitments so far, and that includes a kicker, so there are only eight actual position players.  That is good for dead last in the ACC.

Winning is the ultimate band-aid, so racking up the W’s this fall should help sway the recruits come signing day in December and salvage the current recruiting class.

Virginia Tech has to win now.  There is too much at stake to continue down this path of mediocrity.

I like Brent Pry, I really do. His persona is great for the Hokie culture.  However, I think I speak for most of the fanbase when I say that winning is the top priority.  The Hokies have to get back to 8-10 win seasons.  They have to be a team that is regularly in the mix for the conference championship.  That is a bare minimum, something that has been almost nonexistent for the past fifteen seasons, and Coach Pry needs to get to that status now.

To return to relevance, Tech has to beat the “middle of the pack” teams regularly, start adding signature wins to its resume, and learn how to win close games.  It has been a long time since the Hokies have done that with any sort of consistency.  That needs to change.

Pry made several key coaching moves in the off season, and he turned over a third of his roster.  While so much change brings about many questions, it also brings about opportunity, and a successful season could show that his decisions are the right ones for this program.  However, another mediocre season - or worse - could make his seat hotter, which is not ideal given the potential for more conference realignment in the near future.

The current Hokies roster is full of players who are mostly unproven at the power conference level, and they know that.  Their backs are against the wall, and sometimes that is a good thing.  Hopefully it will light the fire that needs to be on the field for all four quarters of every game this fall.

Every year is a new start.  The entire season is in front of the Virginia Tech Hokies football team.  With new coaches and new players, this is an opportunity to create a new winning culture in Blacksburg.  The time is now to do just that.