Ty Howle Takes Control of Virginia Tech's Offense In 2026

With James Franklin overseeing the bigger picture, Ty Howle steps into the lead play-calling role as Virginia Tech reshapes its offensive identity.

Virginia Tech Athletics

BLACKSBURG, Va. — The juxtaposition between Virginia Tech football's two coordinators is clear.

One — defensive coordinator Brent Pry — is 56, coming off a head coaching stint with Virginia Tech. The other — offensive coordinator Ty Howle — is 34 and is entering his first season where he will be calling the plays on a full-time basis at the Power Four level.

The two have one clear throughline, of course, and that's Penn State-turned-Virginia Tech head coach James Franklin. Howle didn't come across Franklin in his playing career; he was an offensive lineman at Penn State from 2009 through 2013, and Franklin didn't arrive in Happy Valley until 2014. The two linked up, however, in the 2020 season when Howle ventured to Penn State as an analyst.

Before that, Howle was an assistant head coach at Western Illinois that operated as the co-offensive coordinator and the offensive line coach. Still, the VIrginia Tech opportunity is different.

"Obviously, I've had experience doing [offensive playcalling], but every place is different, every staff is different and every offensive unit is different," Howle said. "Who are strengths? That's what everybody wants to know, like what are you going to do? We're going to focus in on our best players and so, by doing that, it could look different from place to place, or year by year, but as far as the adjustment, it's been good."

Howle's staff, which consists of quarterbacks coach Danny O'Brien, running backs coach Norval McKenzie, wide receivers coach Fontel Mines and offensive line coach Matt Moore, among other lower-level assistants, has been key to that transition.

"All the guys in the room have no egos, like, hey, here's the things that we believe we need to do to be successful. Let's go try to get better at them."

The players and their malleability feeds into that too. For Howle, it'll be an open competiion to see who the best 11 are, which allows for more than one tight end to get onto the field, potentially enabling 12- and 13-personnel looks.

"It's going to be based on getting our best 11 on the field," Howle said. "... You're not just competing with the second and third tight end. The second and third tight end are competing with the third receiver and the second back to get their share of the pot."

Howle emphasized the NFL's importance of creating mismatches, saying that VIrginia Tech's open competition will continue to evolve. One of the cogs that will feature prominently is tight end Luke Reynolds. The junior played for two seasons at Penn State, amassing 368 receiving yards on 35 catches. He slots in as both the primary option at tight end, as well as a potential plug-in option in the slot or the backfield as a fullback.

"The big thing in our past that we've always looked for is guys who can do it all at the tight end position — guys who can split it, guys that can play in the backfield, inline. I think that's why some of our former guys [at Penn State], they've bene so valuable at the next level. ... Absolutely, Luke's a guy that can do it, but really across the board in the room, we're developing all those guys who are those type of players."

Howle is also serving as the tight ends coach, meaning he'll oversee a room that includes Reynolds, redshirt senior Benji Gosnell and redshirt junior Ja'Ricous Hairston.

Hairston finished with 112 receiving yards, the highest in the room, along with a joint-team-high three receiving touchdowns (tied with wide receiver Ayden Greene). Gosnell has started 33 career games at Virginia Tech and every game in each of the last two seasons.

The biggest thing that Howle has learned since he arrived at Virginia Tech is his players. More specifically, a deeper glimpse of his players, both on and off the field.

"Seeing where guys' strengths are and weaknesses and things [that can] turn their weaknesses into strengths, but also knowing what makes them tick," Howle said. "So much of this is about relationships, and so that's been the biggest thing. The biggest focus for me has been learning our team, and there's a lot of other outside factors you can't control. But [I'd say it's] getting to know your players and developing relationships you can control."

The beginning of Howle's stint as the only OC in the room is Sept. 5. The team draws a tranquil first foe: VMI, which went 1-11 as a member of the Southern Conference before losing head coach Danny Rocco to a senior analyst role with the Hokies. That offers Howle a reasonable opportunity to get his feet wet.