SkoHokies

I haven’t seen anything definitive but it must be way worse than first indicated if he’s on a scooter.

We’re getting thinner and thinner.

Not only does his age hurt him (immensely, trust me on this--I've watched every NBA draft for 20 years and heavily study the NBA), but he also doesn't have an NBA-ready skillset. He's a tweener. He's 6'-8", but not a bruiser inside to make up for lack of height at the next level, yet he's also not an elite three-point shooter, and once again, not an 18-year-old who has the benefit of "potential". I really like Tobi's game; he's not an NBA first-round pick, and not a second-round pick either. He will go undrafted most likely. ** Edited by SkoHokies at 10/21/2025, 10:53:57 AM ** Edited by SkoHokies at 10/21/2025, 11:08:27 AM

I know he was getting passed up by other players, and I’m not saying we ought to manufacture depth chart for the sake of keeping a guy happy. But the connection we have with his dad and Highland Springs is an extremely valuable one. Who knows what Loren will think of VT now that his son didn’t pan out. Maybe I’m overthinking it. I hate to see this one go.

We’re not making the big dance and probably not NIT

Schlee was better than Drones when he played, and Pop was too. Drones simply played because the NIL situation forced the coaches to keep him as the starter. He will hit the portal very soon, taking his 1M with him. Did the WRs drop balls this year? Sure. WRs drop balls for every QB. Drones deserves every bit of criticism--he's a paid professional; the highest paid player on the team and one of the richest men in Blacksburg. Accountability has to go in there somewhere. The truth is: considering the money he was paid and the standards that were set last year, he was awful.

With full transparency, I'm entirely out on this coaching staff. I can see both sides of the "rooting for a loss" mentality. However much the traditionalist and moral elite view will say we can never root against our team, I totally understand someone doing so. The argument for: Losing games forces the administration (however high up you want to go) to pony up and make changes to the football staff--which ideally creates a change for the better; wins just make excuses to keep the same old thing, which takes us nowhere but slowly down. The argument against: In principle, you never root against your team. Winning is always a good thing, and a win here and there can elevate the program. Quite honestly, I lean toward the first one, mainly because I'm so sick and tired of this storied football program being hijacked by incompetent inexperienced coaches who only know how to lose, and an AD that has driven this program (at the expense of other sports, too) into the ground with very little promise for the future. And yet, no part of me wants to see us lose, even if it brings forward needed change. Your thoughts?

Because the coaches overthink the easy stuff and underthink the complex stuff.

No sane coach would leave a place with as much NIL funding and recruitment potential as Ohio State has to come to VT. He wouldn't know what to do.

Offensive staff has to recognize that for the sake of defensive vitality.

Long post incoming, but I've put a lot of thought into this one. When I first started attending Virginia Tech games, I was in the fourth grade. It would take a year or two to really get into it, but fairly quickly I became a die-hard Hokie. The first year I *vividly* remember was going to Charlottesville, watching Cedric Humes and Mike Imoh run all over the Wahoo defense, and we walked out of Scott Stadium with a 52-14 win. We (me, my dad, and a few of his friends) walked back to our car through some Charlottesville suburbs as he threw me a mini-football, and I was amazed at the droves of Virginia Tech fans walking with us--it was a "home away from home" kind of game (and still feels that way when we go to Charlottesville). The sentiment, however, was totally different than recent years. A win over UVA was not only expected, it was for better placement in a major bowl game. Of course, that year we finished the regular season 10-1, went on to lose to Florida State in the ACC Championship, and then beat a ranked Louisville team in a bowl game to end the year at 11-2 and ranked #7 in the AP Poll. That was my "welcome to Hokie Nation" year. The years following, and for those who remember, you'll agree--our defense was absurdly good. It was a legitimate possibility, every time we played a home game, that we'd hold teams to single-digits; not just bad teams, either. There were some excellent teams against whom our defense ATE. And because of that, our offense didn't have to be world burners--but they were pretty potent in their own right. There was a stretch of Randall-Vick-Glennon-Tyrod where we had such a balanced offense, with excellent running backs, some fringe-NFL potential at WR, reliable TEs and strong OL play to where, knowing the defense would always show up, we'd rip off 10 wins per season year after year after year. The thing that sticks out to me, however, was the coaching. We all know it's true--Blacksburg isn't exactly a place that attracts five-star talent. To be fair, in the Beamer days, we didn't *need* five-star players. We got away with teams full of mostly three, and some four, star players who, more than anything, played with a chip on their shoulder, bought into the culture, and out-willed opponents. That was Hokie football. Tough, bend-don't-break, run-first, defense powerhouse football with special teams gems--that's who we were. And the thing that tied it all together was a head coach who was a Hokie through and through; not just the soft skills--he knew how to get the absolute most out of the team to play at an elite level for one another and the community and ALWAYS put them in the position to win. Clock management was never talked about, because it was never an issue. Timeout usage was always at the right time. X's and O's were always spot on. We knew walking into every game we played--literally, every single one--that we had the advantage over the opponent in the coaching and staff department. And because of that, when push came to shove, we were going to win every close game we were in, even if it wasn't pretty. I'll skip over the Fuente years because he was a placeholder (and truly, no coach following a legend really pans out, so I don't hold much against him). We hire Brent Pry, a guy who puts on the right face, says all the right things, and (I still maintain this) is the right human being to represent our football team. Media days, community engagement, public appearances--he's got it. He is such a great ambassador for Virginia Tech. And yet, I feel worse about the state of our program than I ever felt under Fuente. I'm serious. Pry has been gifted (literally, and at the expense of every other sporting program at Virginia Tech) a massive NIL fund, a huge staff budget, the most support any Virginia Tech football head coach has ever been given--oh, and not to mention, the most returning production in the country compared to the previous season, of any team. And somehow, we're not better. Some will point out, that yes, we have a chance to get more wins (+1) than last year. I don't think that will happen; but even if it does, I don't think any of us will definitively say we're in a better position than we were last year. In fact, it's not close. We lose nearly every starter we have offensively. Half of our defense will be gone, too. Please, someone enlighten me: how does a team that brings back SO MUCH production in the form of seniors and grad students not take a big leap forward? How does this team, in many respects, take a step BACKWARD? It's coaching. With my aforementioned comment about always having the advantage against teams with our coaching staff in the Beamer days, I literally cannot remember a single game in the last 3 years under Pry where I've felt we had the coaching edge. Not one. Even the D1AA games we throw in for guaranteed nonconference wins have had coaching staffs continuous for decades. We literally haven't had the coaching edge one time. I thought differently going into Syracuse, and of course their first-year head coach out schemed us dramatically and we floundered in the second half. But the thing that led me to where I am today, being "out on Pry" was just how cowardly of a move it was at the end of the game to throw in the towel and play for overtime. I was baffled. Literally, my jaw dropped. We had 30 seconds and three timeouts. We have (in my estimation) the best kicker in the ACC who's automatic up to 55 yards, and some, and we needed about 35 yards from our offense who'd put up 250 yards rushing and 200+ yards receiving at the point, with proven-effective plays that had worked all day. 30 seconds. 3 timeouts. And we effectively take a knee to play for overtime, choosing to let Syracuse get the ball back and capitalize on their MASSIVE momentum swing they'd experienced in the second half. Is that insanity? Maybe. More than anything, it's cowardice. Oh and his postgame comments about neglecting to try to win at the end: he essentially said that because we had our backup QB in there (the one who'd played as well as any QB we've had all year) and didn't want to risk giving the ball back to Syracuse (when they get the ball in overtime anyway). Friends, that is the softest thing I've ever heard and seen from a head coach. That's not the mentality I want from a guy representing our players, fans, and school. There are players and coaches that come around who you look at and say, "that guy is a Hokie", usually referring to their grit and toughness, their mentality that reflects so well the narrative of the late 90s and early-to-mid 2000s and 2010s teams. What Brent Pry did Saturday at the end of Syracuse was utterly embarrassing and completely counter to what Virginia Tech football stands for, and has stood for, for so long. I was ashamed watching it. He effectively communicated to the entire team, the fans, the country that was watching, that he's not up to the task and doesn't believe his players are either. It was shameful. I am out on Pry. I realize my opinion doesn't do anything for Whit's hand, but I cannot support this coaching staff anymore. It was the nail in the coffin, a slap in the face to the giants of Tech who helped pave the way for him to take the helm. There were days at the end of Beamer's years, days under Mike Young for basketball, where we'd have a bad loss but the fanbase could still look at the head coach with pride and know we have the right coach for the Virginia Tech job. I cannot do that with Pry and I am 100% out on him. If you told me we'd lose out, I'd be fine with that. I'll never root against my Hokies, but at this point, a free-fall is the quickest way to get the right coach for the job on our sidelines; and clearly Pry isn't that guy. ** Edited by SkoHokies at 11/4/2024, 10:32:30 AM ** Edited by SkoHokies at 11/4/2024, 10:34:27 AM ** Edited by SkoHokies at 11/4/2024, 10:35:16 AM ** Edited by SkoHokies at 11/4/2024, 10:37:31 AM ** Edited by SkoHokies at 11/4/2024, 10:38:40 AM

Fans absolutely should be allowed to vent their frustrations against one of the highest paid staffs in the ACC that brought back all its production with huge NIL deals. What I can’t stand is the corner of the fanbase that rejects accountability and just smiles at the clouds while the program is free falling into obscurity. Give me a break. We’re a joke of a program with a coward as head coach. That pisses me off; and I am 100% in support of every fan who’s pissed off too. And by the way: women’s basketball exists because football pays for all athletic programs. If football fails and the money dries up, the women’s team won’t have a dime to use for recruits.

That's what the post is saying with "NIL". Not sure how publicly it was announced, but Whit has told many people that the Cassel plans were essentially scrapped to support the NIL fund when NIL became a thing. It's our only way to compete. Obviously, football takes the huge majority of that.

He's a tall running back.

Our upperclassmen have made some devastating penalties this year, and quite frankly, most of them are below average players. Is Pry really benching our young players, who desperately need reps, and are already just as good as the upperclassmen, to uphold a standard not applied to other older players? If so, that's horrendous foresight. It's negligent and flat out irresponsible.

We truly can't judge him until the whole roster is his. Especially offensive line. That's the glaring issue. Give him time.

Without a run blocking offensive line, it makes the play calling look awful. Can Bowen be better? Absolutely, and I don't think he's the right fit long term. But if you're asking if he should be fired right now, 3 games into the season where half the starters are injured--it's just not fair to decide to can him yet.

Rutgers should beat us by 20 points at least. ** Edited by SkoHokies at 9/14/2023, 9:44:58 AM

Although I do expect it to get canceled: there’s a 3:00 update

What's our history? 1999 natty *appearance*? Today's recruits were born SEVEN YEARS LATER. Their first memories of VT, if they happened to watch a game when they were 4 years old, would be us losing to Boise State on national television and then JMU. These kids do not care whatsoever about history (which actually helps us), and even if they did, the history we have that appeals to them is garbage. Get them their social media likes, get them their NIL deals, get them playing time. In that order.

People don’t want to believe it, but he was a significantly better player for us than Maddox was this year, on both ends of the court, for consistency, and for availability. Nobody can deny that Maddox not only regressed, he became a net negative, and then of course hasn’t played in a month. I doubt we see him again. Alleyne would’ve been a body, and those we need. He won us quite a few games, as much as people fixate on his shooting struggles here and there. We ran off Alleyne for a guy who didn’t work on his game and eventually went MIA. Hindsight is always 20/20 but we lost out big time. ** Edited by SkoHokies at 2/27/2023, 10:59:53 AM

All of our losses are by 3 points or less, except one that was 5 points (and that was in overtime AT Boston College). I'm not saying we should be undefeated, but we aren't finishing at the rim and, if a few more of these layups drop (which still would make our shooting percentage abysmal) we'd have 2+ more wins.

Yes, he is out due to injury. The problem is that the program is feeding the media far-too-optimistic statements about availability timelines, we're all biting for it, and then shocked and disappointed when Rice (and Cattoor now) aren't playing. Give it time and don't listen to a word the program says about the guys' health until you actually see them in a game.

He’s arguably in the top 5 most popular players in the NFL based off this past season. One of the most, if not THE, most talked about player this offseason too.

He’s arguably in the top 5 most popular players in the NFL based off this past season. One of the most, if not THE, most talked about player this offseason too.