Brent Pry just replaced one coordinator. Now he has to replace another.
Offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen is leaving the Hokies for the offensive line coach job with national champion Ohio State, two sources confirmed Wednesday. Football Scoop reported the news first.
Bowen spent three years as the Hokies' offensive coordinator, with mixed results, though the 35-year-old, who's worked at Penn State and with the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, is well-regarded among the coaching community for how he integrates various concepts, especially in the run game.
He joins an Ohio State staff in flux, with offensive coordinator Chip Kelly (Las Vegas Raiders OC) and offensive line coach Justin Frye (Arizona Cardinals OL) taking NFL jobs. Frye made $1 million last year to lead OSU's O-line, more than Bowen's $875,000 salary with the Hokies. Bowen had two years left on his Virginia Tech deal.
Sources say Virginia Tech plans to move quickly with the hiring process, one that won't take nearly as long as the six-plus week undertaking to bring in Sam Siefkes as the team's defensive coordinator. It'll have to be quick, with spring ball starting in a little over a month.
It's unclear what direction Pry will go with the hire, in part because there are no obvious internal candidates to promote. Receivers coach Fontel Mines and running backs coach Elijah Brooks have never coordinated an offense before. Neither has O-line coach Matt Moore, who just arrived.
Assistant O-line coach Brent Davis has been a coordinator before, serving at Army for nine years, though that was option-specific, a style that probably doesn't fit what the Hokies are looking for (even if Davis has helped install some of those concepts under Bowen).
While Pry knew Bowen from his time at Penn State when he brought him to Blacksburg ahead of the 2022 season, he hasn't always made hires from past coaching stops. Pry had never worked with Brad Glenn when he hired him to coach the Hokies' quarterbacks that first season. Siefkes was an off-the-radar addition, too.
Pry said Tuesday that the Hokies were considering Bowen in a "walk-around" coordinator role similar to how they plan to use Siefkes, which could open up possibilities for a hire to lead the offense without completely shaking up the entire staff. Bowen served as quarterbacks coach too, though Brian Crist added a co-quarterback coach title in 2024, working hands-on with the group.
Bowen's units had an up-and-down few years. The 2022 offense, which lacked play-makers, ranked 119th nationally, though the 2023 outfit, which was buoyed by Kyron Drones' emergence and a host of additions at receiver (Ali Jennings, Da'Quan Felton, Jaylin Lane) and running back (Bhayshul Tuten), jumped to 60th (391.5 ypg) and 56th in scoring (29.5 ppg).
The offense didn't get off to a good start in 2024 and suffered through injuries to Drones and Tuten, ranking 88th in total offense (367.8 ypg). Despite occasionally being down to their third-string quarterback and running back, however, the Hokies still scored 28-plus points three times in the final five weeks.
It's the first time since 1993 that Virginia Tech will replace both coordinators in an offseason that didn't involve a head coaching change. Frank Beamer brought on Phil Elmassian as defensive coordinator and promoted Rickey Bustle to offensive coordinator after the 1992 season, starting the school's famed bowl streak.