The Brent Pry era at Virginia Tech came to a close on Sunday with the Hokies firing their head coach after four seasons.
The firing of Pry came less than 24 hours after the Hokies sustained one of their worst losses in four years with a 45-26 loss to Old Dominion at home at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia.
In his time in Blacksburg, Virginia, Pry led the Hokies to a 16-24 overall record and a 10-13 record in ACC play. The Hokies are 0-3 on the season which includes a Week 1 loss to South Carolina in the Aflac Kickoff Game and a Week 2 loss to Vanderbilt on top of Saturday’s loss to Old Dominion.
Who might the Hokies turn to next as they embark on their next rebuild in hopes of returning to the ACC championship game and playing for a spot in the College Football Playoff? Here’s a look at some potential coaching options for Virginia Tech:
Virginia Tech football head coaching candidates
Alex Golesh, South Florida
Golesh has quickly established himself as one of the top up-and-coming Group of Five coaches in college football at South Florida.
In three season at South Florida, Golesh has been widely successful by turning around the Bulls program into one of the top Group of Five programs in country with back-to-back bowl appearances and a 16-13 overall record. At 2-1 on the season this year, the Bulls were ranked in both the US LBM Coaches Poll and AP Top 25 poll last week and have a win against Florida on their resume.
Named by ESPN as one of ’30 coaches who will define the next decade of college football’ in 2024, Golesh has experience at the Power Four level, as he served as a an offensive coordinator at Tennessee from 2021-22 and was a recruiting coordinator at both Iowa State and Illinois.
The biggest obstacle for the Hokies with Golesh is the popularity that he is expected to have in this coaching cycle.
Bob Chesney, James Madison
If getting someone of Golesh’s status will be a tough task, Virginia Tech’s search should start with a Group of Five coach who isn’t too far away from the Hokies campus in Blacksburg, Virginia in James Madison’s Bob Chesney.
Chesney has experienced it all in his 16-year head coaching career, as he has held positions at Division I FBS, Division I FCS, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III levels. In his second season at James Madison, the Dukes look to be a contender for the Sun Belt conference for the second straight season. James Madison went 9-4 under Chesney last season which included a win over North Carolina and the program’s first bowl win.
Chesney’s predecessor, of course, was now-Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, who led the Hoosiers to a playoff appearance in his first season.
Andy Kotelnicki, Penn State
Kotelnicki is one of the top offensive coordinators in the country, and has Penn State’s offense humming once again through the first three weeks of the season.
One of the top offensive minds in the country, Kotelnicki transformed Penn State’s offense last season with the likes of Drew Allar, Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton, not to mention No. 14 overall pick Tyler Warren. Helping lead Penn State to its first College Football Playoff berth last year, the Nittany Lions Penn State led the Big Ten in 15+ yard pass percentage plays (22.8; 5th nationally) and was second in big play percentage (16.5; 7th), as noted by his Penn State profile.
Unlike a candidate like Chesney, Kotelnicki doesn’t have head coaching experience, which shouldn’t stop Virginia Tech from potentially looking at him. He was in the mix for the vacant head coaching spot last coaching carousel at West Virginia but elected to remove himself from consideration from that search and return to Happy Valley for another season.
Pete Golding, Ole Miss
Golding is one of the top defensive coordinators in the country, and has built the Ole Miss defensive into one of college football’s top defenses in the last few seasons.
He just received a three-year contract extension this past offseason from Ole Miss that pushed him up the ladder among the highest-paid assistants in the SEC with a salary of $2.55 million for this season. So would he want to make a move for a program that is entering a rebuild after getting a financial backing like that?
Jeff Monken, Army
Monken has been a steady winner in his 12 seasons up at West Point. He’s gone 83-58 overall in his time at Army and has only led the Black Knights to three losing seasons in that time span. He most recently Army through a successful transition to the now American Conference last season, which included winning the conference and being a top 25 ranked team for much of the season.
Sure, Monken is up there in age and does not have much experience dealing with NIL and the transfer portal, but he is one of more experienced candidates out there, and that is something that Virginia Tech could benefit on as it embarks on a new era.
Michael Vick, Norfolk State
One of the program’s most well-known NFL alums, Vick is a long shot. The reason being the former Virginia Tech quarterback is just getting his college football coaching career started at Norfolk State, so it’d be quite a jump for him to move to the Division I FCS level and the ACC.
Despite that, a reunion between Virginia Tech and Vick would be an instant seat filler and add some juice back to the fanbase.
Shane Beamer, South Carolina
Similar to Vick, Beamer is viewed as a long shot candidate for Virginia Tech. Also like Vick, Beamer does have familiarity with the program — which can help in a rebuild that Virginia Tech is about to embark on — as he played for the Hokies from 1996-1999 and served as an assistant in Blacksburg from 2011-2015 for his dad, legendary Hokies coach Frank Beamer.
There’s no harm in Virginia Tech making a call to Beamer to get a fielder out there. But with Beamer having good thing happening in the SEC at South Carolina, it will likely take Virginia Tech a lot to get him to leave and return to his alma mater though a path to coaching in the College Football Playoff will be easier to get in the ACC compared to the SEC.