Virginia Tech’s nearly seven-week defensive coordinator vacancy ended Monday with a curveball of a hire: The Hokies are bringing in Arizona Cardinals linebackers coach Sam Siefkes to fill the role.
The 33-year-old Siefkes (pronounced SEEF-kiss) has spent the last four years in the NFL, the previous two seasons on Jonathan Gannon’s Cardinals staff, helping run a 4-3 scheme. He was with the Vikings as an assistant linebackers coach in 2022 and a defensive quality control coach in 2021 with defensive whiz Mike Zimmer.
“After a lengthy and thorough search, one name kept emerging: Sam Siefkes,” Hokies coach Brent Pry said in a release. “People across the country couldn’t stop praising Sam’s knowledge of the game and his abilities as a coach. As I got to know him, I couldn’t agree more. I am thrilled to have Sam join our program. He’s worked under some of the best minds in the game, including Mike Zimmer, Kevin O’Connell, Ed Donatell, Jonathan Gannon, Nick Rallis, and Dave Aranda. His ability to design innovative defensive schemes will energize both our players and fans. …
“What stands out about Sam is his proven ability to adapt and excel at every level. From building top-ranked defenses in college football to working with elite athletes in the NFL, he knows how to get the most out of his players. He’s a teacher at heart, and I’m confident his leadership will resonate with our student-athletes.”
In a winding coaching search rumored to involve some bigger names, Siefkes is an almost unknown, another gamble for Pry after he hired two first-time coordinators after taking the Tech job in 2022.
That included Chris Marve, another young coach who was fired after three years in the defensive coordinator role on Dec. 12. Pry said he was looking specifically for someone with experience calling defenses as a replacement.
“I don’t know if there is a must-have,” Pry said before the Duke’s Mayo Bowl earlier this month. “I really want some experience calling [the defense]. I just know how valuable that is, somebody that’s done it. And to be honest, with me being a guy that’s come up through the ranks, you’d love it to be at the Power 4 level, but it doesn’t have to be.
“You’ve just had to have been through the ups and downs, the learning curve that takes place, managing a defensive room of coaches, a defensive unit meeting, 50 players. And being able to have a game plan that makes sense, being able to make adjustments, being able to build a championship-caliber group. Somebody that’s very confident in what they want to do and how they want it to look.”
Siefkes has been in charge of a defense before, albeit briefly, most extensively at the FCS level in college at Wofford from 2018-20, though that final season was postponed by COVID-19. The Terriers, who ran a 3-4 front, ranked 12th and 20th nationally in scoring defense his first two seasons, twice winning the Southern Conference.
He expounded on his defensive philosophy in a podcast several years ago:
“To me, it’s always about the one-on-one matchups,” Siefkes said on the podcast. “A lot of what I do from a game-plan standpoint or a matchup standpoint or any of those things, is I want to find who our best player is and I want to match them up on their worst player. And I want to try to do that over and over and over again in a lot of different ways.”
He spent two seasons before that as the defensive coordinator/inside linebackers coach at Division III UW-Platteville (2016-17), with his group posting three shutouts in 2017. He was a defensive graduate assistant at Wisconsin under coordinator Dave Aranda (the current Baylor head coach) in 2015.
A defensive back at Wisconsin-La Crosse before injuries ended his playing career, Siefkes began his coaching career as a student assistant with the Eagles. He was also in a quality control gig at Florida International in 2014.
“It’s an honor to join the Virginia Tech family,” Siefkes said the aforementioned release. “This program has a storied defensive tradition, and I’m excited to work with Coach Pry and our talented student-athletes to build on this legacy. I look forward to building a defense embodying the lunch pail mentality of the past. The energy, passion and commitment here are unmatched, and I’m ready to get to work.”