If there was ever any doubt, James Franklin fighting back emotions at his introductory presser a few weeks back while he was talking about the appreciation and admiration he had for Brent Pry made it clear how much he cares about his former defensive coordinator.
Throughout the interview process, Franklin leaned on Pry, who was let go from the head coaching position back in September following an 0-3 start to his fourth season at the helm, who painted a picture of the good, the bad, and the challenges of the job in Blacksburg in a way that no one else possibly could.
Now, in an unprecedented move, Franklin is set to bring Pry back on board at the place he was dismissed from weeks ago, as his defensive coordinator according to multiple reports.
The move, as unconventional as it seems, will reunite Franklin and Pry for a third run together.
Pry previously served as Franklin's co-defensive coordinator at Vanderbilt, where they won 9-games in back-to-back season in 2012 and 2013 and went to three straight bowl games, before he followed Franklin to Penn State as the Nittany Lions co-defensive coordinator from 2014 until Bob Shoop left the staff and Pry was elevated to the defensive play caller post, where he stayed until he left for the head coaching job at Virginia Tech in 2022. Paired together, Penn State had one of the most stifling defenses in the country while developing player like Micah Parsons and a host of other NFL Draft picks on the defensive side of the ball.
With Franklin taking over for Pry, there were plenty of questions of how staffing would look, since Pry brought a number of Penn State personnel with him when he took the job, and there's obviously a lot of carry over and familiarity with the people involved in on and off-field roles for the Hokies, but also in how things are structured.
Franklin helped flip a number of Penn State commits on signing day, while signing a number of other talented high school prospects, helping the Hokies land their highest rated recruiting class in nearly a decade. When he took the job Virginia Tech had one of the worst recruiting classes in the country - a lot of which can be attributed to not having a head coach in place - but after signing day the Hokies class ranked 22nd nationally and top five in the ACC.
As unconventional as it seems bringing a former head coach back into the fold as a coordinator, Bobby Petrino did the same at Arkansas this past season, and former Mississippi State head coach Zach Arnett was just announced today as Jeff Lebby's defensive coordinator a few years removed from Arnett replacing Mike Leach as head coach in Starkville following the coaching icon's untimely passing.
As our own Zach Barnett points out, that first team meeting should be something.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.