James Franklin’s getting the Penn State gang back together at Virginia Tech — and the defensive coordinator needs no introduction.
The Hokies are hiring recently-fired coach Brent Pry to be their defensive coordinator, while Penn State tight ends coach and co-offensive coordinator Ty Howle will run Tech’s offense, multiple sources confirmed Tuesday.
Multiple national reports in the last few days have indicated those are the hires for the Hokies’ two coordinator positions. Franklin has been in the process of informing the previous staff about who is being retained and who isn’t.
For Pry and Franklin, it’s a reunion backed by 30 years of friendship and more than a decade of a working relationship, with Pry being on Franklin’s defensive staff at both Penn State and Vanderbilt.
It’s a move perhaps unprecedented in college football — a fired head coach returning immediately to work on the staff of his successor. Franklin and Pry have a special relationship, however, one that goes back three decades. When Franklin was a quarterback at East Stroudsburg University, Pry’s father, Jim, was his offensive coordinator, while Pry worked in his first full-time coaching job on the defensive side of the ball.
During his introductory press conference three weeks ago, Franklin became emotional when talking about Pry, his voice cracking when talking about the duo’s friendship and crediting Pry with helping convince him that Virginia Tech was a job worth taking.
“The advantage obviously is that I’m able to call Brent Pry and he’s going to tell me the truth,” Franklin said. “I didn’t really want anybody to sugarcoat it because none of these places are perfect, I’m not perfect. Let’s just talk about what are the strengths, what are the advantages, what are the challenges.
“And Brent was very, very transparent. The first thing that was very obvious was that he cares about this place deeply. … Brent’s been great through this entire process. I got a ton of respect for him and his family, and I probably wouldn’t be sitting here today without Brent’s input and thoughts about this place.”
Asked specifically that day about the Pry returning to his staff, Franklin was non-committal — though he didn’t explicitly say no.
“I think at the end of the day, Brent’s going to make decisions that he thinks are in his and his family’s best interests, and I’m going to make decisions that I think are in Virginia Tech’s best interests,” Franklin said. “And there’s going to be times with former staff at Virginia Tech and times with former staff from Penn State where they intersect. But we’ll see.”
The pairing worked well before. Pry was a Broyles Award nominee as the defensive coordinator for Franklin at Penn State from 2014-21, with the Nittany Lions ranking in the top 40 in total defense all eight years Pry served as sole or co-coordinator, with four finishes in the top 20.
Pry served as Franklin’s assistant head coach and co-defensive coordinator for three years at Vanderbilt from 2011-13, part of teams that finished the final two years in the AP Top 25.
However, Pry’s defenses never quite achieved the same success at Virginia Tech as they did at Penn State, a big reason he got the boot a little over three years into the job.
He called plays in his first year in 2022 while bringing hand-picked, first-time defensive coordinator Chris Marve up to speed, leading a unit that finished 58th nationally in yards per game (371.2).
The Hokies had a top-20 unit in 2023 when Marve took over play-calling duties, but they backslid to 57th in 2024, leading to Marve’s dismissal. Pry hired Sam Siefkes last winter to lead the group, but Tech’s often patched-together 2025 defense ranked 71st nationally in yards allowed (378.1) and 106th in scoring (30.2).
Back-to-back routs by Vanderbilt and Old Dominion in September, when the defense allowed 89 points over two weeks, led to his ouster. He went 16-24 as the Hokies’ head coach.
When Pry was dismissed, he was due around $6 million, per his contract. That buyout clause had offset language for any coaching job Pry took, though it’s unclear how that would be affected by returning to work at Virginia Tech.
On the offensive side of the ball, Howle, 34, has a lot in common with Virginia Tech’s initial coordinator hire under Pry: Tyler Bowen. Both were in their 30s when they came on board and had limited play-calling experience, joining Virginia Tech after spending time as a Penn State tight ends coach under Franklin.
Howle has a bit more of a coordinator runway, having served as the Nittany Lions’ co-coordinator for three seasons in addition to his tight end duties.
He has an encouraging résumé, named Football Scoop’s 2025 National Tight Ends Coach of the Year after helping do-it-all offensive weapon Tyler Warren win the John Mackey Award and get drafted in the first round by the Colts. Howle’s also worked with Pat Freiermuth, Brenton Strange and Theo Johnson, all of whom are in the NFL.
Howle’s a Penn State graduate, having played offensive line with the Nittany Lions from 2009-13. The Raleigh native began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at NC State (2014-15) before getting his first full-time job coaching the offensive line at Western Illinois (2016-19), with a co-coordinator tag his final two seasons. He joined his alma mater as an analyst, moving into a role overseeing the tight ends in 2021.
Howle’s addition continues a trend of Penn State staffers following Franklin to Blacksburg. After Franklin was hired, a handful of recruiting and player personnel staff joined him from State College, helping the Hokies put together the No. 22 signing class in the country for 2026 in a short period of time.
Franklin shouted out their efforts and loyalty on signing day, specifically mentioning Andy Frank, Kevin Threlekl, Tristin Iannone, Chris Mahon, Aeneas Hawkins, Karsyn Kehler, Caleb Tyler, Brett Arnold and Rashad Elby.
“When I took the job and everything went down, I called these people,” Franklin said, “and asked them to come to my house and said, ‘Hey, I need you to come with me tomorrow to Virginia Tech. I don’t know what you’re going to get paid and I don’t know what your job title is, but I want you to come and we’ll figure it out.’
“And they all came, running behind the scenes to put this entire class together, and I’m proud of what we were able to do in a short period of time.”