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RadfordVAHokie OP
Jul 15, 2025 at 12:20 PM ET
9 Comittments, least in ACC..
I just noticed this, are we expecting a smaller class? other then uva at (11) most have 20+ right now, is this concerning or just part of the transfer/NIL world?

52 Replies

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NativeBurger
If you are a high 3 star or 4 star...
high school football player are you going to commit to VT at this point in time? I serioulsy doubt it, especially if you have adults in your life who are looking out for your best interest. I would tell my son to wait and see if Pry pulls a rabbit out of his hat in 2025 and then, and only then, can you commit to VT because if he doesn't get the rabbit he will not be at VT after 2026. Just my .02 cents
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40ozDistrict
I'm seeing 1 x 4 and 7 x 3 star players that disagree with you
4
40ozDistrict
CBP had a rebuilding project with VA high schools. Seems like he's
making decent progress. Wasn't going to happen over night.
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marcbvtgm
Not concerning. Never is.
Techsupport Techsupport
Not concerning beyond general discontent w/ VTs new lot in life.
bourbonstreet bourbonstreet
{Coach} "I, agry." {/Next}
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summervillehokie
Personally think the mind set is
Get a few from high school and bank on the portal from year to year needs.
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VTCALS72
Agree except I think CBP is and has been in the position
of needing to build much more upper level ACC talent right now. Which is better a 1 or 2 year full grown man (22 and 23 year old) from G5 and below or long game development 3 star players? Look at how many on this board have turned on CBP. Yet to do it the old way, his first full class, which would be 2023, are only r-sophs/T Jrs right now. And for sure, At the VT basic level of recruit we need to have 4th and 5th year players playing at the top of their development. What school is willing to hire a coach and allow him the at least 5 years to "fill the pipeline" before wins increase significantly? According to TSL post, we are not that school.
bourbonstreet bourbonstreet
indeed; the paradigm is shifty here... tho' a po' recruiting class puts
even mo' downfield onus on Coach Next to crush his 1st Portal Class. ...though yes, this is a changy or different personnel v.P.i. H.R. landscape. A Brazilian waxy one at that... 💯, b.street
BG Hokie BG Hokie
It's concerning but it's too far down the list of immediate concerns. Let's
face it, this coaching tenure is down to a year or two short of a surprisingly successful season of 8 or more wins. The immediate concern of needing to win games is much more immediately critical than the 2025 high school recruiting class.
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hokietom87
We are only taking about 15-17
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Sunsetunderground
I'd say way concerning. We are also ranked last in the ACC
If we are going to be 6-6 every year I would at least want to do it with someone that can recruit. At this point I'd take the W's in recruiting since they are not coming on the field. This will probably be Prys last year unless he pulls of a 9 win season.
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ancient alien 2018
clueless post
91HokieBob 91HokieBob
It's interesting. Fu couldn't recruit much do to his personality and
offending basically the entire state of VA high school football coaches. But, damn, he could sure game plan, X and O coach, and positively impact a side of the ball that needed help. Now we have Pry who we all pretty much love his personality, wins the off season, is a great CEO type head coach, but his operation is a train wreck. A real conundrum here. Is it the head coach, money, VT overall, or WHAT exactly? This season is gonna be VERY interesting. Whit??
Techsupport Techsupport
Pry was hired for things that don't matter anymore, or were overhyped...
1) VA Recruiting prowess. It's a money game now, so there's not much he can do. Fuente damaged the brand. Pry killed it. We play in the same sandbox as Duke and Wake Forest now. 2) Defensive prowess. He was an obvious product of PSU's talent level, and he's not the DC anyway. Whatever defensive reputation he once had is long gone after upteen hundred late 4th quarter defensive collapses. 3) Leadership. He couldn't hire himself out of a wet paper back first go around. New staff looks promising on paper, but...it's year 4 and not much room for error. Not a great gameday coach. Struggles to manage a clock. Pry's a nice, likeable guy. He was over his head when he came in, and hired guys that were also out of their depth as well. I have no idea what he brings to the table at this point except maybe painfully hard learned lessons that will benefit the program this season. He's the coach this year because we're VT, and we have lower standards. He would have no place at any school in America that takes winning seriously. If that all sounds brutal, I'm sorry, but it's the truth, but he's a big boy, and well compensated. ** Edited by Techsupport at 7/16/2025, 10:24:43 AM
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RJHokie
Fu was seriously underfunded and wasn’t informed as to the
amount of PR that was required of the head coach wrt donors, fans, etc. Babcock, not being football literate as to recruiting, operations, finances and internal operations, certainly didn’t help the matter either. Pry, having been at VT in a prior GA/assistant stint, was well versed as to the VT environment and PR requirements, plus the football enhancement fund and related funding was put in place upon his hiring. Fu was definitely better with the X’s and O’s part, and if he had an athletic director in the form of a Dave Braine or Jim Weaver, he most likely would have been more successful here.
Techsupport Techsupport
Fuente admitted he had no understanding of VT's recruiting footprint...
made bonehead hires as a result of that. He was acerbic, and toxic in recruiting as well as player interaction. The mass exodus of a load of NFL talent in his second season was the huge red flag. Talent we can only dream about now. He can blame "funding", and I'm sure that played a role, but he was not a player's coach. He was a master tactician, but couldn't manage a roster. He was positioned with a full cupboard to pick up where Beamer left off, but those shoes were too big for him. His failure was far and away his own fault. ** Edited by Techsupport at 7/16/2025, 10:24:16 AM
AirborneHokie96 AirborneHokie96
His recruiting was much better than it is today
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2hhoop3
Last I checked......
the most important piece in the cupboard was a QB which CJF produced. There are enough things to pick at him about without piling on with what was obviously an erroneous statement on your part.
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Planner_Hokie
Every QB regressed under Fuente
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2hhoop3
If that is true......
it should be very easy for you to support the statement with actual numbers and facts. So let's see what you've got?
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ancient alien 2018
Erroneous statement ? On the football board? Never!! Not in 2 lifetimes!!
It will get worse in August!!
Techsupport Techsupport
He inherited a loaded team, he left a decimated team. Those are facts
hokiepro hokiepro
“A loaded team” he took from 6-6 Indy Bowl previous year to
ACCCG and 20 yds from upsetting the national champs. Then had largest comeback in school history in a bowl win over a good SEC team to clinch our only 10 win season since 2011 ** Edited by hokiepro at 7/17/2025, 7:16:58 AM
Techsupport Techsupport
Compared to what he left behind? Without question. That's not a debate...
We were still stockpiling top 30 classes every year in the years leading up to Beamer's retirement. We had like 30+ 4-star players on that roster.
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2hhoop3
Yet you try to sidestep.....
the most important fact because it doesn't suit your narrative. That is the REAL FACT.
Techsupport Techsupport
Because he brought in a QB? He brought in lots of em...
He had a different starting QB just about every season, and never found "the guy". What else you got, or are you ready to take the "L". Its hanging over your neck....I've been doing this for 29 years....I can go all day when you come at me.
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2hhoop3
Try this......
That "loaded team" with a hall of fame coach went 7-6 the previous two years. Yet CJF and that QB you question got them to 10-4 the very next year and then 9-4 the following year without that QB. The cupboard was not as full as you originally asserted and the only one with an "L" hanging around their neck is you. Pretty much like your last 29 years.
Techsupport Techsupport
Read again...I never said he couldn't coach...he's GREAT at x's and o's...
He's the best offensive coach we've ever had. He had more top (insert number) total offense numbers in his 6 seasons than almost all of Beamers entire tenure. I'll defend him all day long on offense. He could move the ball even when he had nothing. That's all beside the point... Here's where it all falls apart...which is the undeniable (except by you) fact that the talent level fell off a cliff his last three recruiting classes. We signed 5 total 4 star athletes in 3 years, and never recovered.
hokiepro hokiepro
BECAUSE he was underfunded
As well as not being a good recruiter in the Mid Atlantic Both are true…one was not his fault, one was
Techsupport Techsupport
I said funding surely play "a role", but his coaching style is documented..
My gosh...its common knowledge that Pry revealed Fuente had torched VT's recruiting footprint in Virginia. He had burned many long standing relationships. He would have failed funding or not. He ran off TONS of talent from the program.
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2hhoop3
I agree it fell apart.....
and that brings us back to the original discussion and debate and what Is attributable to CJF, what is attributable to failure to deliver the promised support and what other factors may also enter that discussion.
Techsupport Techsupport
Do we want to talk about Hendon Hooker? lol
Techsupport Techsupport
The Heisman finalist guy that blew up at Tennessee? That guy?
hokiepro hokiepro
The one Fuente saved from transferring one time
But couldn’t a 2nd time because HH hated Cornelson and the Clemson meltdown broke the camels back
Techsupport Techsupport
Seemed to get on with the UT staff pretty damn good. You made my point
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RJHokie
A lot of that could have been overcome if the AD had been football
literate. Braine and Weaver could have possibly righted the ship. Babcock has basically scuttled the ship up to this point.
91HokieBob 91HokieBob
Excellent post. Very true!
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NokieHokie
I think Fu recruited well, and sucked at retention... Between him and
Corny, their personalities drove away a lot of players.
Techsupport Techsupport
^^This^^
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RiverVT
So help me out ? Who is paying the buyout?
Help me out ?? I can only laugh!
BG Hokie BG Hokie
If he needs 9 wins to save his job, we should have already fired him. I'd
say he only needs 6 or 7 regular season wins this year to save his job. Then 7 or 8 wins next year to save his job. We've never been a football program that needs 9 wins to save a coaching job. There is also a reasonable possibility that the AD goes after this season and Pry gets one more season with a new AD. ** Edited by BG Hokie at 7/16/2025, 8:25:13 AM
Atlee Hokie Atlee Hokie
Why do say ADWB may go after this season?
He's not going of his own accord, His contract still has 3 years left. Finally, Sands isn't going to fire him.
BG Hokie BG Hokie
If our football team tanks this year he could certainly get canned. Message
board posters aren't the only Hokies that are questioning his effectiveness. Important ones obviously are too...
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Sunsetunderground
CBS ranked Pry in the top 10 hottest seats in all of CFB
Not sure 7 wins gets it done. I thought we'd have 9 wins last year.
BG Hokie BG Hokie
Well, we disagree. Only thing to do is make a bet with each other. ;-)
Tombo Tombo
That's a writer looking at records over a tenure and saying what might
happen, all things being equal. This person likely has no inside knowledge, just churning out content.
MDHokie79 MDHokie79
9 wins? Aint happenin (hope I'm wrong but I don't see it)
hokiepro hokiepro
8 is doable
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TOUGH TURKEY
Nope. Unless we go 5-7, Pry gets one more year so buckle
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jecvtmgr
I think 6 wins and he's dust
BG Hokie BG Hokie
Maybe if a new AD refuses to even keep him a year but it won't be Whit's
choice to make after a 5 win season because he's likely the first to get the axe IMO.