On Sunday, Virginia Tech and Brent Pry announced the hiring of Mike Villagrana as the Senior Director of Player Personnel for football. For all of Pry's coaching staff additions, click here.
Villagrana ventures to Blacksburg from Marshall, where he was the Thundering Herd's General Manager. He oversaw the program's recruiting, player personnel and roster management under head coach Charles Huff. Villagrana is the second support staff hire made by Pry, joining Dwight Galt IV, who was named the program's Director of Football Strength & Conditioning on Wednesday.
His relationship with Brent Pry dates back to 2015 when he was Penn State's recruiting coordinator (2015-17). Villagrana has experience in a wide variety of places, from Mississippi State (2018-21) and Savannah State (2014) to Hampton (2010-13) and West Virginia (2008-09).
Here's a breakdown of each program's national recruiting class ranking, from 247Sports, since Villagrana served as Penn State's recruiting coordinator in 2015:
2016 class, Penn State: 20, No. 4 in Big Ten
2017 class, Penn State: 15, No. 3 in Big Ten
2018 class, Penn State: 6, No. 2 in Big Ten
2019 class, Mississippi State: 24, No. 11 in SEC
2020 class, Mississippi State: 28, No. 10 in SEC
2021 class, Mississippi State: 26, No. 10 in SEC
2022 class, Marshall: 58, No. 1 in C-USA
A 2007 graduate of West Virginia, Villagrana played under Rich Rodriguez for four seasons where he won a Sugar Bowl and 38 games. He served as a graduate assistant under Bill Stewart in 2008 and 2009 (and helped West Virginia win a Fiesta Bowl), which is how his coaching career got started. Villagrana hails from Boardman, Ohio and played defensive line and tight end for the Mountaineers.
At Penn State, Villagrana was instrumental in helping the Nittany Lions sign recruits such as linebacker Micah Parsons (Dallas Cowboys) and defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos (Carolina Panthers), two players Brent Pry was a lead recruiter on. He has actual coaching experience, too - he was the wide receiver coach at Savannah State and was the offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator at Hampton.
To go along with Brent Pry, Villagrana worked with new defensive coordinator Chris Marve in Starkville with Mississippi State.
Brent Pry's Coaching Staff & Support Staff
Mike Villagrana is the second hire Brent Pry has made for his support staff. Per his contract, Pry’s salary pool for support staff is $2.25M.
Dwight Galt IV: Director of Football Strength & Conditioning
Mike Villagrana: Senior Director of Player Personnel
Below is a table of Pry’s assistant coaching hires, their Division I coaching experience and their previous salary. Seven have been announced, while two have been reported. Pierson Prioleau was the latest assistant coach announcement on Tuesday.
