Re-evaluating the Foundation of the Program After the Rutgers Loss

The Virginia Tech football team dropped another close game this weekend, losing 26-23 at home to Rutgers.  Miami is next on the schedule for the Hokies, and considering the way the Hurricanes are playing, Tech is likely to close out the month of September with a 2-3 record.

No one in Hokie Nation had that on their bingo boards.

What is most troubling to the fan base is what appears to be regression from a team that essentially returned EVERYBODY from the 2023 season. And last season ended with the Hokies rolling over every inferior opponent.

However, despite so much experience on the roster and continuity in the coaching staff, the team has not been able to play four quarters of complementary football yet.  (Where have we heard that before?) 

Hokie Nation had high hopes for a ten-win season. Fans were excited about the possibility of competing for a berth in the ACC title game – and even the expanded twelve team national playoff.

Those goals are extreme long shots now, and if the players and coaches don’t right the ship quickly, Tech might not even earn a bowl bid this year.  That would be disastrous for a coaching staff who is trying to rebuild the program. 

The boo birds are already out in Lane Stadium.  If something doesn’t change soon, there will also be pitchforks and torches in Blacksburg by November.  That would be a terrible shame.  Head coach Brent Pry is a very likeable guy.  He embraces everything about the fabric of Hokie Nation. But none of that will matter if his teams do not win football games.

I think back to an early interview with Pry after first year.  He talked about the foundation of his program: accountability, communication, drive, details, and mentality.  I was so inspired that I took those words into my own life.  I am a high school teacher by day, so I made a poster and hung it up in my classroom.

I constantly remind my students of these principles. And I assume that Brent Pry is doing the same with his “students” – the staff and players in his program.

Yet after another year with a slow start, I can’t help but question why the team is not progressing and why the success is not following on the field.

And with the same struggles through four games, I am challenged each week to write something fresh and new.  So after another disappointing performance, I am going to examine the season so far through the lens of these five principles.

With all of the repeated struggles, one has to wonder how the concept of accountability is being upheld in the program.  For the third straight year, the offense is struggling early.  Play-calling and execution are the topic of conversation throughout Hokie Nation. 

This team was an offensive juggernaut at the end of 2023, and EVERYONE on that side of the ball has returned. So why is the offense so inconsistent? How are we keeping them accountable for the slow start?  Why is this happening again?  Most importantly, how and when will it improve?

It is not ok for this to be a regular issue.  There are no excuses.  Plenty of teams – including Tech’s next opponent, who has a lot of new faces from the transfer portal – hit the ground running to start the 2024 season.  Yet Tech's offense can barely move the ball in the first half of games.  This needs to change, and if it does not, people need to be held accountable for these failures.

On a recent podcast, I heard a story that relates incredibly to the current situation.  Prior to the Rutgers game, Virginia Tech football alumnus Dwight Vick had a few Hokie legends on his Vicktory Life Legacy Podcast.  Vick, Todd Washington, Corey Moore, and Shyrone Stith shared their thoughts, and one story resonated very much.

At the 1:10:16 mark of the podcast, Vick recalled the locker room after a seven-win season in 1997 and what he described as an embarrassing Gator Bowl loss.  According to Vick, the usually even-keeled Frank Beamer angrily grabbed a stool and addressed the room.  “Hear me and hear me well,” Vick recounted the words of Beamer. “Everybody’s job is on the line.” 

From players to coaches, everyone in the program was going to be held accountable for their performance.  As Vick recalled, it lit a fire in the team and they were “locked in” from that point on.  Tech needs that right now.

Author’s note:  I love listening to Dwight Vick speak.  He is incredibly knowledgeable and insightful in regards to Virginia Tech football.  And he is very realistic.  Dwight has an extensive network of former players and he often is the voice of the alumni.  His podcasts should be required listening for all serious Virginia Tech football fans – after listening to the Sons of Saturday Podcast, of course (insert winking emoji)

Since his arrival in Blacksburg, Brent Pry has been open about the need to have “tough conversations.” Right now, the program is in need of some very tough conversations. 

Pry has done a nice job in regards to those off-season conversations with players who face roster challenges.  But now he has to have discussions with his current players and coaches and figure out why the team continues to start slow, struggle offensives, play without swagger…you get the point.

And the press conferences sound the same each week.  "We gotta get better...We need to be more prepared...We have to start out faster."  The fan base does not want to hear that every week – we see it, and we are all equally disappointed in these failures.

Obviously, a coach has to protect his locker room, and a lot of coach-speak prevails at these pressers.  Frank Beamer used to frustrate the heck out of the fan base after a loss by always saying that "We were one play away" or "That  was a heckuva good team across the field."

But Beamer’s teams won a lot of games. So his particular coach-speak responses were only from time to time.  Conversely, the 2024 Hokies have struggled for four straight weeks.  And a lot of these challenges are the same from early last year.  And the year before.  Yet Pry’s pressers sound the same.

While I respect a head coach for bearing the weight of the issues on his own shoulders, ultimately failures (and successes) are shared responsibilities, and the problems need to be addressed - and fixed - immediately.  With ACC games ahead, Tech cannot afford to continue to play the way they have this entire month. 

This is one that is impossible to gauge, yet everything that is visible to they eye leads to questions upon questions.  Primarily, when it comes to motivation, this Virginia Tech team does not pass the eye-test.  Yes, the players want to win, but no, they don’t show it with their body language. 

There are some exceptions, of course, but generally, the team looks flat each week.  Why?  I noticed it when I was in the building in Nashville.  The Vanderbilt stadium was full of Hokie fans, but the vibe on the sidelines did not match that of the crowd.

This has been a recurring complaint – that the team looks flat.  How is this team not playing with a chip on their shoulders?  They have everyone back, yet everything to prove.  Sure, last year ended well, but last year, the Hokies were still 6-6.  And they lacked any wins over better teams (but had some bad early losses to inferior teams). 

This team should be play like they have something to prove.  I will circle back to the recent Vicktory Life podcast and quote Dwight Vick: “No one has earned the right to be complacent against any opponent on the schedule,” he said.  “This team needs to prove itself every week.”

Vick is 100% correct.  And his podcast guests also pointed out their own observations of a lack of fire and excitement on the field. 

Under Brent Pry, the Virginia Tech football team has not proven that they can win big games or that they can win close ones either.  A little more visible drive and determination and passion on the field could help change that.

For this section, I can’t help but take a deep dive into the details of some statistics during the Brent Pry era, because, well, numbers don’t lie.  And in the infamous words of Bill Parcells, “You are what your record says you are,” and right now, Virginia Tech is a mediocre 2-2 team.

Pry’s first season was in 2022, and to be fair, he was working with a very thin roster.  However, some of the struggles of that year are still struggles in year three.  One is the inability to beat a non-ACC power conference team.  Virginia Tech has lost 12 straight games to non-conference P5 teams since topping West Virginia to open the 2017 season.  (To get the last OOC power conference victory in Lane Stadium we have to go all the way back to Nebraska in 2009!)

The last five of those P5-OOC losses have come under Pry.  All five of them were to mediocre teams.  It remains to be seen where Vanderbilt and Rutgers will finish this year, but both of those defeats were by one-score (more on that later) to teams that will likely finish no better than the middle of their conferences (Vanderbilt will likely be at or toward the bottom of the SEC).

Including ACC opponents, Pry’s teams are 6-14 against power conference opponents.  If we exclude that first season in 2022 when Tech only beat one P5 team (a bad Boston College squad), Pry is 5-7 against power conference foes. That needs to improve.

Another repeated struggle appears in one-score games.  Pry’s teams are now 1-9 in games decided by eight points or less.  The Hokies have to learn how to finish games.  This has been an ongoing struggle of this program for most of the last decade, and it has not improved under Brent Pry.

Part of this is on the coaches, yes, but part of it is also on the players.  They have to execute.  Leaders have to step up.  Playmakers have to make big plays.  This has not been happening in close games.

If Virginia Tech ever wants to be a program that regularly wins 8-10 games per years, the team absolutely has to learn how to win close games.  Period.

This has been tough to watch as a fan.  The swagger from last season seems to be gone.  From day one, this team should have walked onto that field with a chip on their shoulder, daring anyone to knock it off, then defending it like a junkyard dog protecting its scavenged meal.

Instead, the offense has been inconsistent and power conference opponents have had their way with time of possession. And down the stretch in the losses, the defense has given up big plays that ultimately led to the game winning scores.

Learning how to win is part of mentality.  It also is the byproduct of good leadership.  And toughness.  All of this needs a shot in the arm, because it has been inconsistent at best.

There will be adversity. There will be tough opponents.  Winning teams will prevail, and it is rooted in grit. The Hokies need to be tougher. They need a stronger mentality.

It pains me to write an article that is shrouded in such a negative tone.  I don’t like to be that way.  But after four inconsistent performances that include two disappointing losses, it is the way I feel.  It is the way Hokie Nation feels.  And like the hard conversations, sometimes things need to be said so we can grow. 

I really do like Brent Pry. I want him to be the long-term coach of the Hokies.  But that won’t happen unless his teams start winning big games and close games. 

I also know that, contrary to a current public opinion, this season is salvageable.  There are still a lot of games to play.  However, the ills that have plagued the team for four straight weeks have to be cured.

What is that cure?  I don’t know.  But I do believe that having more accountability this week – and all weeks – will be a major step in the right direction.  Communication with those who are not successful is important, and appropriate change is paramount.

Players need to show more drive on Saturdays.  Yes, I know they want to win, but more life on the sidelines and on the field will help get those wins. Enthusiasm and hype are infectious.

The details – the little things – cannot be overlooked.  Every block, every tackle, every run fit, every route, every pass – they must all be executed and executed well.  By every player.  On every play.  Of every quarter.  Not just the third and fourth quarters.

And motivation.  With the entire ACC schedule in front of the team, they have an opportunity to make a statement that no, they aren’t dead in the water.  They can still prove that the preseason hype was accurate.  They can still go 6-2 in conference (or better?) and finish with more wins than last year.  But they need to be motivated to do that.  They need the swagger back.  They need to believe, and they need to perform.

Friday night is an opportunity against a top-five program on a national stage.  Historically Tech has not been good against top-ten teams.  Why not use this as a turning point to the season?  Hey, stranger things have happened…

Go Hokies!