It’s back to the drawing board in Blacksburg. The Virginia Tech Hokies football program fired fourth-year head football coach Brent Pry on Sunday, one day after a 45-26 loss to Old Dominion dropped the Hokies to 0-3 for the first time since 1987 (legendary coach Frank Beamer’s first season).
Who will the school target to get the program back on track after a decade of mediocrity following Beamer’s retirement? BetVirginia.com breaks it down with odds on a range of names who could be the leading candidates at the top of Tech’s list:
Coach | Current Position | Percentage Chance | Odds |
Bob Chesney | James Madison Head Coach | 13.3% | +650 |
Jamey Chadwell | Liberty Head Coach | 11.1% | +800 |
Ryan Silverfield | Memphis Head Coach | 8.3% | +1100 |
Charles Huff | Southern Mississippi Head Coach | 6.7% | +1400 |
Alex Golesh | South Florida Head Coach | 6.7% | +1400 |
Jon Sumrall | Tulane Head Coach | 5.4% | +1750 |
GJ Kinne | Texas State Head Coach | 5.4% | +1750 |
Dan Mullen | UNLV Head Coach | 5.4% | +1750 |
Jimbo Fisher | Former Texas A&M Head Coach | 4.8% | +2000 |
Jon Gruden | Barstool Personality & Former Raiders HC | 3.8% | +2500 |
Shane Beamer | South Carolina Head Coach | 3.8% | +2500 |
Michael Vick | Norfolk State Head Coach | 2.0% | +5000 |
The Field |
| 22.2% | +350 |
These odds are exclusive to BetVirginia.com, where the best Virginia sportsbook promo codes can be found.
Pry went 16-24 with Virginia Tech after taking over for Justin Fuente in 2022. All three Hokies losses this season were by at least 13 points. Offensive coordinator and former Tulsa head coach Philip Montgomery will be tasked with the interim role for now but is unlikely to earn consideration for the full-time job, given his 43-53 career record with the Golden Hurricane.
The Hokies are 60-57 since 2016, when Fuente was hired. Now the school seeks its third coach in 10 years.
Two in-state Group of 5 coaches sit atop the odds as attainable candidates with regional ties.
James Madison’s Bob Chesney has worked his way up from Division III to the FBS, winning at every stop along the way. He has amassed a 121-51 career record over 16 seasons as the head coach at Salve Regina (D3), Assumption (D2), Holy Cross (FCS) and JMU, leading his teams to seven conference championships.
This is only Chesney’s second season at the FBS level, but the Dukes are 10-5 under him and have shown fight against a pair of ACC teams over the past couple years, including a win over North Carolina in Chapel Hill last season. Virginia Tech might want to target someone with a bigger name or more high-level experience, but Chesney, 48, is tracking to be a Power 4 coach sooner rather than later. Tech makes sense as a logical landing spot for him, even if the Hokies might have to handle a few rejections to get here.
Liberty’s Jamey Chadwell, 48, sports a similar background, albeit with a few more seasons in the FBS. Chadwell, seven months older than Chesney, is also in his 16th season as a head coach. The leader of the Conference USA program owns a 120-64 record across stops at North Greenville (D2), Delta State (D2), Charleston Southern (FCS), Coastal Carolina (FBS) and Liberty. The Flames are 22-7 since he took over in 2023. In eight seasons in the FBS, Chadwell’s teams have won 10 or more games three times with at least eight wins in each of the past five seasons.
The biggest issue with Chadwell’s case is money. As a private university, Liberty does not have to disclose full contractual information, but Chadwell reportedly earns a $4 million base salary from the Flames, the most of any G5 coach and more than five times what Chesney receives from James Madison. So Chadwell can afford to be selective with his next move in a way many other coaches attempting to climb the ladder cannot be.
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Several other Group of 5 coaches from outside Virginia should also garner consideration in this search.
Ryan Silverfield has guided Memphis to back-to-back double-digit win seasons and a 45-21 record over his tenure. But Tech could be apprehensive about hiring another coach from Memphis because Fuente flamed out in Blacksburg following his time with the Tigers.
Southern Mississippi coach Charles Huff possesses more ties to the region than most candidates on the list and has experience recruiting at the highest levels. But he just left Marshall for the Golden Eagles in a lateral move this offseason, making his future ambitions harder to discern.
Alex Golesh has seen his stock rise this year after his South Florida squad beat 25th ranked Boise State in Week 1, then won at No. 13 Florida in Week 2. If the Bulls rack up wins in American Conference play, he could find himself with far more suitors than Virginia Tech as the coaching market develops. USF is among the favorites at Virginia sports betting sites to land the automatic College Football Playoff that goes to the highest-ranked Group of 5 conference champion.
Beyond the hot, up and coming Group of 5 names, look for several retreads trying to back into a power conference job. Whether the Hokies want to go that route is a different story, but coaches such as Dan Mullen (now in his first year at UNLV) and Jimbo Fisher could covet this gig. They have a history of success, even if they come with baggage.
Now it’s time to address three big names at the bottom of the list. Jon Gruden has said he would like to get back into coaching (college or pro) but he likely will demand significant investment both in salary and resources allocated to the program. He has never been a college head coach and has not worked at this level since 1991 when he was the wide receivers coach at Pitt. Hiring him would generate buzz but it does not feel like a clean fit in Blacksburg, especially because Gruden’s personality seems better suited for a place like UCLA (which fired DeShaun Foster on Sunday).
Given his family legacy, Shane Beamer will almost assuredly be Virginia Tech’s first call of this search. But unless he starts to feel his seat warming at South Carolina, it is difficult to see him leaving an SEC job for one in the ACC, even at his alma mater and the place his father put on the map. Beamer is set to make $8.15 million this season, a mid-pack number for an SEC coach but a figure that would rank third among ACC coaches behind only Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Florida State’s Mike Norvell. Brent Pry’s contract was for $4.75 million this year, ninth-most in the ACC per USA Today’s database. That is a significant salary gap that the Hokies would need to cover with a pay bump and it simply might not be feasible.
Lastly, program icon and 2001 NFL first overall pick Michael Vick will be a hot name for at least a section of the fanbase, but he has by far the least experience of anyone on the list. Vick is in his first year as the head coach at FCS Norfolk State, his first full-time coaching position. His Spartans are 1-2, with the lone win coming by three points in overtime against D2 Virginia State. After firing a first-time head coach in Pry, expect Virginia Tech to place a higher premium on head coaching history this cycle.
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Author
Josh Markowitz is a freelance writer for BetVirginia.com. He is a lifelong sports fan with an emphasis on basketball, football, baseball and the scouting/evaluation process. A graduate of Elon University's School of Communications, Josh also has experience in television production.
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