Brent Pry is back where a season ago everything came apart - only this time, he’s on the other side of the headset.
Virginia Tech hosts Old Dominion at noon on Sept. 12 on The CW, with both teams sitting at 1-0 and the Hokies listed as 17.5-point favorites. The matchup comes almost exactly a year after Old Dominion rolled into Lane Stadium and left with a 45-26 win, a result that helped end Pry’s time as Virginia Tech’s head coach the next morning.
That loss was decisive from the start. Old Dominion took a 28-0 lead into halftime, ran for 250 yards and became the first Monarchs team to win a road game against a Power 4 opponent. Virginia Tech fired Pry on Sept. 14, 2025, closing out his four-year run at 16-24.
Now Pry is back at Virginia Tech under James Franklin, serving as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. It’s the same role he held for Franklin at Penn State from 2016 to 2021, and their connection goes all the way back to 1993 at East Stroudsburg, where Franklin played quarterback and Pry coached outside linebackers and defensive backs. Pry’s father, Jim, was the offensive coordinator there.
The setup is unusual enough that there’s no real blueprint for it in major college football: a head coach fired by a school, then hired back months later in a coordinator role. Pry has brushed off the oddity with a little humor, telling CBS Sports, "Now I'm down here with the common folk," and saying in February that he wasn’t bitter about how things ended.
He’ll be trying to stop a Monarchs team that has been rolling. Old Dominion has won seven straight, the longest streak in program history. That stretch includes the final six games of a 10-3 season, a 24-10 Cure Bowl win over South Florida and a 31-10 season opener against Michael Vick’s Norfolk State.
Ricky Rahne has built that program over seven seasons and signed an extension in December. Last year was his first winning season at Old Dominion, and he came into this season 30-33 in Norfolk. The Sun Belt picked the Monarchs second in the East, but this version of the team has plenty of new pieces.
Colton Joseph, the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year, transferred to Wisconsin. Offensive coordinator Kevin Decker left for Memphis after the bowl game. Rahne said at Sun Belt media day that Old Dominion had to work 54 new players into the roster over the offseason.
Virginia Tech still owns the series 4-3, though the rivalry is thinning out. The schools canceled four future meetings in July 2025, and after Saturday they aren’t scheduled to play again until 2030.
Franklin’s first look at his own team came in a lopsided one. Virginia Tech beat VMI 73-3, a game that told him only so much. The 73 points were the most the program has scored since a 77-point game against Akron in 1995.
There were still useful takeaways. Ethan Grunkemeyer, the Penn State transfer who followed Franklin and was named a captain last week, completed 17 of 20 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns in his first start for the Hokies.
Duke transfer Que'Sean Brown caught six passes for 109 yards, including a 51-yard touchdown. On defense, Virginia Tech held VMI to 83 yards and minus-4 rushing on 43 carries, while piling up five sacks and 18 tackles for loss.
There were also problems that won’t fly against Old Dominion. Virginia Tech was penalized 11 times for 93 yards, and a muffed punt led to VMI’s only points. Against a much sharper opponent, that kind of sloppiness can swing the game fast.
The run defense is going to be tested again. Old Dominion ran the ball 42 times and threw it 13 times against Norfolk State, finishing with 182 rushing yards. Quarterback Quinn Henicle led the way on the ground with 68 yards on 13 carries and two rushing touchdowns, and he also threw two touchdown passes.
Virginia Tech is favored, at home, and on paper this looks like a chance to move to 2-0. But the Hokies were favored in this matchup a year ago too, and Old Dominion walked out of Blacksburg with a win that changed everything. Kickoff is noon Saturday on The CW.
In Other News...
Virginia Tech Still Has One Big Quarterback Decision Before Old Dominion
Virginia Tech heads into Week 2 with one of the more practical questions of the early season still hanging over it: who settles in as the backup quarterback behind the starter. James Franklin said Bryce Baker has put himself in the conversation, and that battle for QB2 has become part of the buildup to Old Dominion, even as the Hokies try to keep their focus on the larger shape of the season. Franklin also spent time praising the defense and talking through the value of how future games are scheduled, a reminder that the first few weeks can shape more than just the win-loss column.
Old Dominion brings a little extra edge because of what happened a year ago, but Franklin made clear the Hokies are treating this matchup as its own test rather than a chance to relive last seasons loss. The result is a familiar early-season mix of urgency and evaluation: Virginia Tech wants to clean up the details, keep building confidence on defense and, at the same time, sort out a quarterback depth chart that could matter later even if it does not decide Saturday. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Techs Quarterback Battle Isnt Over Behind Ethan Grunkemeyer
Virginia Tech left its season-opening win over VMI with one part of the quarterback picture looking settled and another still very much in motion. Junior Ethan Grunkemeyer handled the job well enough in the opener, completing 17 of 20 passes for two touchdowns, and the Hokies got the kind of steady start they wanted from the top of the depth chart.
The more interesting question now sits behind him. Head coach discussed the quarterback situation after the game and made clear the backup role is still a competition among Bryce Baker, Kelden Ryan and Troy Huhn, with Baker getting into the opener but no definitive No. 2 yet named. For a team trying to build early-season rhythm, that kind of uncertainty matters, and it gives the next stretch of practice a little extra edge. [Read more 🡒]
James Franklin Showed Virginia Tech Fans What To Watch Closely
Virginia Techs 73-3 win over VMI gave James Franklin his first game as head coach, and the result was never really in doubt once the Hokies settled in. Still, the opener offered a clear look at the kind of details Franklin will value as he sorts through a roster that includes 27 transfers, because even a blowout can tell a coach plenty about how his team responds in live action.
Franklin also used the game to get a better feel for his depth, especially at quarterback, where backup Bryce Baker saw significant playing time. For a team trying to establish a new baseline under a new coach, those reps matter just as much as the score, and Virginia Techs next stretch will show which of those early evaluations were simple opening-day housekeeping and which ones hint at bigger roles ahead. [Read more 🡒]