Brent Pry will serve as James Franklin's defensive coordinator under a new contract going forward, with Virginia Tech and the former Hokies head coach coming to an amended deal to his previous buyout earlier this month.
The school provided details from a letter of intent signed Dec. 8 — and by extension confirmed news of the hire that James Franklin and the football program have not yet officially announced — after Tech Sideline made an open-records request last week.
The university provided two documents on Friday: a contract amendment agreement stemming from Pry's dismissal as the Hokies' head coach and a letter of intent for his new contract as Franklin's defensive coordinator.
In sum, he'll get the roughly $6 million he was due from the previous buyout in addition to a job as the Hokies' defensive coordinator, with another $2 million year tacked on in 2028.
Virginia Tech responded that it did not have or could not produce terms of employment records for both Ty Howle and Danny O'Brien, Franklin's reported hires as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Pry was previously set to be paid a buyout of $6,073,295 through the end of 2027 after being dismissed as the Hokies' head coach in September. That payment had offset language should he get another coaching job, however. When he re-upped with Tech in an unprecedented return as a coordinator in the same calendar year, it raised questions about how his new deal affects his old one.
The amended buyout calls for him to be paid around $3.11 million. That'll come in three installments:
- $70,265 on or before Dec. 31, 2025
- $1,862,868 on or before 2026
- $1,184,343 on or before 2027
- Total: $3,117,476
Additionally, he'll operate as the Hokies' defensive coordinator under a new deal that runs through March 2029. He'll have a base salary of $400,000, with the following supplemental pay:
- Dec. 8 to Dec. 31 of 2025: $1.1 million pro rata
- 2026: $1.1 million
- 2027: $1.1 million
- 2028: $1.6 million
- 2029 (through March 1): $1.6 million pro rata
That's around $3 million for the first two years, which, along with the amended buyout, puts him in the $6 million range — about what he would have been owed from his initial buyout.
Along with the $2 million in compensation in 2028, he's also eligible for performance bonuses each year. If the Hokies' total or scoring defense ranks in the top four of the ACC or top 20 nationally in a season, he'll be due $100,000.
If fired without cause before the end of the deal, Pry would be due his remaining base and supplemental pay.
If Pry chooses to leave for another defensive coordinator job, he has a decreasing buyout by the year that he'd owe Virginia Tech:
- Prior to June 1, 2026: 100 percent of the remaining base and supplemental pay
- After June 1, 2026, but before March 1, 2029, for a position in the NFL or NCAA outside of the ACC: 25 percent of the remaining base and supplemental pay
- After June 1, 2026, but before March 1, 2029, for a position within the ACC: 50 percent of the remaining base and supplemental pay
If he leaves for a head coaching job in the NFL or college, there is no buyout.