Everything From Virginia Tech DC Brent Pry At Wednesday's Press Conference

Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Brent Pry spoke to the media during the team's press conference on Wednesday, Feb. 4. Here's the entirety of what Pry had to say:

Opening statement:

"It's good to be back. Feel refreshed, excited, great group of young men to work with. Great staff, working with Coach [James Franklin] again. It took not even a full day to be right back to the expectations. And we work very well together and a lot of similarities in what we believe and how we want to do things. Then, a lot of comfort and a lot of familiar faces, players, staff, coaches, people in the department on campus. So, it's been good."

On the process of speaking with Franklin and whether there were any mental hurdles:

"We talked a bunch, a little bit when I got let go, and then a little bit more frequently when he got let go. The discussions, often enough, came back to Virginia Tech. Obviously, he could know a lot about the opportunity here. But until I had conversations with my wife and my family, to be honest, and kind of thought through some things, I presented the possibility to him of 'I'd be open to returning, to having a discussion about it, if you in fact became the head coach at Tech.' We were going to do it at other places if it worked out that way. This one was a little bit different, obviously. But I wanted it to be right for me, for my wife, for him. He needed to get boots on the ground once he accepted the position and make sure it was what he would want to do. Once he was named a head coach, it was kind of like, 'OK, if we're presented with this opportunity, can we really do this?' So, it took a little bit of soul-searching and to find peace with it. But I wanted to be able to walk back in the building and be myself, be positive and be appreciative. We got to that place. And I think as he was here working through things and learning more about my experience here, what this place meant to me, how people thought about Brent Pry, I think he could picture it being a real positive and celebrated even in a situation as unique as this."

On Franklin remarking on the humility needed for Pry to walk back through Merryman Center and when the feeling hit of the head coach office being Franklin's:

"It seems like a tough decision, but really it's not when you think about what's important to me and my family. That's working with and aligning with somebody that you trust and know as a leader, as a man, how he's going to treat people and how he's going to run the organization. I had other opportunities to be a coordinator at other places, but there were a lot of unknowns. So, the knowingness, the comfort of working with James again after so many years was a real positive for me. He knows me and I know him. Secondly, I love Virginia Tech. I think everybody knows that. So, a chance to continue, there was no bitterness for me. A chance to continue to help Virginia Tech turn the corner and be proud again. I want that. and this was an opportunity to continue to do that. And then, my family and I love this community. My kids love Blackburg High. We love being here in Blackburg and and representing Tech. And so, there were too many positives. A lot of these players that were returning. I wanted to coach these guys. I love these guys. I still want what's best for them. And now, the role is just a little different in how I can help them do that."

On whether Pry will revert to his traditional defense or reinvent his style:

"What I believe in philosophically and fundamentally will be there. It'll be the same. The package itself will be in the neighborhood of 75% of what and who we were at Penn State, to a degree what we tried to be here at Virginia Tech early on. But certainly, I have grown and picked up things from other places that we've seen over the last three, four years that I'd like to at least research and see if it can't be part of who we are. Nick Perry's bringing great ideas. Anthony Midget's bringing great ideas. Sean Spencer, what they did at Texas A&M more so and even at the New York Giants. There are some good things that these last couple weeks, we're pulling into the into the package that I think can allow us to be better as a scheme."

On what conversations Pry had with AD Whit Babcock and older players:

"Yeah, I think it was important, obviously with Whit, that that we had his blessing to do this, or to talk about it. And I think he would say he certainly gave that, which was important to James, but also to me. I wanted this to be right for everybody. From a player standpoint, they reached out a lot, when the rumors started buzzing around and there was still a lot of uncertainty of if this was going to work out, But a lot of players reached out, which I appreciate. One of the things that happened for me was when I was dismissed, the outpouring from the players, the department, the campus, the fan base and the community really helped put my wife and I in a good place to be able to do this. There were a lot of things that had to fall into place for James and for me. We were fortunate it happened that way. But, I love these kids and these guys, brought them here and these players that we had a chance to retain. Sit in there with Kemari Copeland and say, 'Listen, this is my plan for you. This is what we want to do. You don't need to go anywhere else. This is what this package can do.' There's a lot of proven success on my resume, on Sean Spencer's resume, on Midget's resume. We don't have to necessarily just talk these guys into who we can be. You had 40 or more sacks, five straight years, Spence and I did together. So, when you're talking to a defensive lineman, about rush ability and being able to get to the quarterback, there's nobody that did it better. So, there's a lot of things that bringing the group back together gives us some traction, with guys like Kemari, and these guys we were able to recruit out of the transfer portal and get to Virginia Tech. But the transition there was a lot. It was a bit of a roller coaster, but most importantly, James and I have the type of relationship [where] I know he wouldn't do this unless he believed it to be right for him and Virginia Tech. I respect that about him and I wanted to make sure he had the time. I knew he would do his due diligence and we're fortunate it worked out. We're appreciative it worked out."

On whether there's something refreshing of getting back into the granular details of coaching:

"Absolutely. I missed it in year one and year two. I thought I'd be in that defensive room more than I was able to. And then, you're not in there enough to feel like you can go in there and impact it. It was messy and you didn't feel good about it but this has been really refreshing; by the end of day one, working with James again felt really good and comfortable. Then, diving into a playbook and these individual meetings about fundamentals and techniques, putting this defensive staff together. It was exciting. It's a completely different job task. And right now, I like it a ton more. So, all that walking by that staff room for four years and wanting to be in there, now, I'm in there and we're grinding it out. We're putting a playbook together that makes sense and we got new ideas coming. We got player meetings going on, getting ready for winter workouts in a different way as the defensive coordinator and, mind you, as the linebacker coach, which was important to Coach [Franklin] and I both. I've always coached a position while I was calling the defenses and I didn't want that to be any different here, neither did Coach. It helps the connectivity. I don't know why you would take one of your more seasoned coaches and not have them coach a position and impact the unit that way. So, yeah, it's very refreshing. Feels good."