Everything From Virginia Tech Interim HC Philip Montgomery At Tuesday's Press Conference

Virginia Tech interim head coach Philip Montgomery spoke to the media Tuesday afternoon; here is the entirety of what he had to say:

Opening statement:

"So, it's been a emotional couple of days. What a whirlwind that has been. I think we got to keep in mind, you're dealing with 18- to 22-year-old young men and all the emotion that goes into that. I appreciate [now-former head coach Brent Pry.] I got a lot of love and respect for him and his family. My thoughts and prayers go out to them. It's a tough business. We understand that part of it. Sometimes, it gets lost in the personal side of it and understanding what the families and the coaches and everybody go through. But our focus really has to be on the players right now. We got a group of young men that have poured a ton of work. They've been molded together. Their world has been rocked a little bit right here. And our job as the coaching staff is going to be to continue to pour into them, provide them leadership, provide them guidance, provide them a plan and a direction to continue to go do what we need to do to finish up this season in the right way. I talked to the team the other day. We got nine games left. You got about 12 weeks of that. We've got an opportunity right now to write the ending of what this story is going to be. We got some things we got to fix. We got some things we got to change. We got to continue to grow and to develop. But that being said, we got a lot of time to get that done. It starts this week. I'm excited about getting back on the field with them. Today will be our first practice day. We had a little bit of our practice on Sunday, but today will be the first major practice. And I'm excited to see them get on the field and get back to some type of normal day, to give them a direction and a plan and a focus of what this is going to be, what it's got to be as we continue to move forward. Whit came to me, we've talked about this, accepting this role. I want to thank my family for being here and supporting me through this. Our coaching staff, in the transition of that, they have been unbelievable. Those guys understand how important it is, the task and the job that we have to help guide and help these young men as they're working through this process, but also understanding [that] we've got a great opportunity in front of us."

"An opportunity to go win a bunch of games. We got nine games to do that. Go prove who we are and what we can do. But it's going to take each and every one of us to make that happen and to get through that. As far as to our fans, I know how passionate you are about Hokie Nation and Hokie football. We're going to live up to that part of it. But I will tell you, these young men need your support. They need your energy. They need your focus. There's enough things going on in the world today of college football. But they need to know that you're behind them. I know that you will show them that you are a great fan base. You have built the tradition here. And I'm excited to see your reaction to those young men and what they're going to do on the field as we go out each and every week to go and make you proud and to represent this university and this athletic department in the right way. This week, I think we have a military appreciation week. There'll be a special tribute to all the men and women that have served our country. For the sacrifices that they have made, for their families, also for our first responders. It will be an important day for that and and I know Hokie Nation will show up and respect that in a in a really positive way. Again, I talked to the team. I feel like we have got a good grasp of what's going on. Obviously, there's lots of variables in what's going on in in today's world of college athletics. But we've got to come together. We got to stay together, we got to mold together and we got an opportunity to rewrite a story that can have a great ending. And that is going to be our goal and our focus and that's the way we're going to attack it each and every day, each and every week. And it starts with today's practice and we build on it from there."

Q: You've obviously been a head coach before, so it's it's nothing new for you. Is is it strange or is there a greater challenge to it? You've been here essentially seven months on the job here in a place that's still relatively new, to you taking over an entire program.

"Yeah, I think it provides some different challenges for sure. That being said, I've been in this role. I understand what it takes. I understand how you're going to get pulled in a lot of different directions, what that does to your time, what that does to the energy that you got to put in certain areas. I think I'm well suited for that part of it. I've got a great staff that's going to be supporting me in that sense. And so, those guys are locked in with me. And so this is not going to be a one-man show. This is going to be a team effort. But at the end of the day, it's really more again, I'm going to continue to keep preaching this. This is more about our players and our program and our locker room and us coming together and and really doing some great things to have an opportunity to to really make people proud of what we are and what we do."

Q: You also had the play-calling duties as an offensive coordinator. How does that change at all? How do you plan to to work that operation?

"Yeah, right now, with everything that has gone on, that's the way I've always done it. Been a head coach and I've called it. Obviously, it's split sometimes. This is different than what it's been in the past, from a little bit of that, to be honest. But again, the staff has done a tremendous job over the last 48 hours and I've been pulled in a lot of different directions and us being able to sit down, make sure that we're getting our game plan ready, making sure that we have what we need to go out and and have a great practice today, build it on today. And making sure again that the focus stays on preparing our players for this week."

On Montgomery's message to the team before Sunday's practice:

"Yeah, you know, I won't get into all of it, but you know, there's there was a lot of raw emotion. Um, as there should be with with this. They needed to feel that. We needed to talk about it. We needed to get it out in the open. We got out on the practice field. Then, I had another opportunity to talk to them on the field after practice. But our message has been this. We got nine games left. We got a chance to go write an unbelievable story, but it's going to take all of us to do that. Players, coaches, administration, it's going to take all of us to go make that happen. And we need you to lock in and jump in and and stay committed to what we're doing and how we're going to do it, but also understand some things are going to have to change and we're going to move forward as we work in that direction.

Q: How much are you relying on the player leadership on this team through this process?

"I think Coach Pry has done an unbelievable job of laying a great foundation and our leadership within that has been really good. I've met with the leadership council, met with the captains. I think we are all on board and on the same wavelength. We understand what this is and what we've got to go do. Our leaders have been fantastic. They will continue to be fantastic, but right now more than ever, we need them to be strong and uh and our coaches have to continue to keep pushing that."

On what Montgomery expects to see from practice today:

"Well, honestly, I think so many of us fall into this category, whether we're talking about players, coaches, or just anybody in general. the more that you can get back to what your normal routine is, your normal day is, getting back into our meetings, getting back into a game plan, getting back onto the practice field, going out there and doing what they love to do, which is play this game. I think that provides some comfort and a level of being able to relieve some of the stress and get your focus and your attention on something else. I think that will be a huge part of today's practice. I think also, the way we're going to structure it and the way we're going to do it, we got to move. We got to have tempo. We got to have some urgency about it. And I think those guys will generate that as we get out on the field."

Q: How do you as interim balance trying to keep this roster together and motivated while also planning for these conference games?

"Yeah, that's one of the biggest things that we've talked about is is staying together and keeping our roster together. There's a lot of variables right now in college football. Our leadership has been really good. They got to continue to do that. We've got to continue to stay arm in- arm as we are in the locker room. As we continue to move forward in this season to your point, we've got this week and then we start conference play. And so, we've got a lot of football left. We got a lot of opportunities. Again, I'm going to say it to rewrite this story. And they have the opportunity to set their legacy of what this year is really about and what it means. And Kyron has had his struggles this season as is the offense."

On giving the opportunity to other quarterbacks:

"To your point, maybe, we haven't lived up to some of the expectations offensively. We've got to grow as a group. In my opinion, that doesn't fall on one person. We've got to do it collectively as a group. Um, we've got to continue to keep growing as an offense. We got to continue to keep growing as a defense and we got to continue to keep growing as a football team. That's got to be our focus. We got to get some guys back healthy. That's going to help in some areas. But that being said, this is not about one person. This is not about me. This is not about Kyron. This is not about this person. This is about us collectively as a group and how we're going to continue to move forward."

On areas of motivation and leading differently:

"I think there's a lot of motivating factors out there. Are are there going to be some differences and some changes in maybe the way we practice, maybe the way we approach some things? I've got to put some version of myself, my own twist into what we do. Not saying one way is better than the other, but it's got to feel comfortable in in the way we present it. So, is there going to be some changes? Yes, there has to be. In the style that we play and in the way that we practice and and getting ourselves ready. But that being said, again, Coach Pry has done a tremendous job. He's laid a great foundation. We still have to put our own twist to it and I think the guys will start feeling that as we continue to keep growing together in the direction that we got to go."

On how Montgomery believes he has evolved as a head coach:

"Yeah, I think more than more than anything else, I think every experience you have, you get an opportunity to grow. And you take all the different factors that went into that, whether being an assistant, being a head coach, being going back to the assistant part of it. You get an opportunity to get more different influences from other people. And you get an opportunity to say, "Hey, I really like this, I didn't like that. These are things that I did before. I thought we're pretty good. Maybe we can shift them and go in a different direction and maybe that makes it better." So, I think you're continually growing as a person and as a head coach. I think I have the opportunity to do that. I've got great experience in that sense. And I've got a great coaching staff around me, guys that are committed, guys that we can lean on. And in addition to that, just talking about our players, I mean, guys that are going to be locked in and focused with that. So, I think it'll be a collective move and a collective group as we continue to work our way through it."

Q: How different is this job now with NIL and transfer portal, evolution and everything else?

"Yeah, obviously, it's different. College football is ever changing, college athletics is ever changing. Every year, you get new rules, different thoughts. As that progresses, I've been in a lot of different stages of that. I don't foresee that as a problem right now. We continue to grow and evolve, just like college football continues to grow and evolve."

Q: You mentioned about changes and twists that you're going to throw to the team. Can you elaborate on what you mean by those changes and what twists and things that you plan to apply to this team that are maybe different than what Pry did?

"I think it's just the approach of how we practice, what we do, um the tempo in which we want to do that. Maybe changing up some different days and how we approach stuff. Those are the things internally that we're looking at. I've kind of got a feel for what I like to do, from a practice schedule standpoint. We're going to start implementing that. I hadn't even got talk to the players about that part of it yet. So, as we kind of get into it, they'll see some of those changes, they'll feel some of those changes, and I think they will embrace that, just like they've embraced a lot of different challenges."