James Franklin was introduced as Virginia Tech's new head football coach on Wednesday morning, less than 48 hours after news broke that he agreed to a deal with the school.
Franklin is replacing his former assistant, Brent Pry, in Blacksburg and Franklin made sure to acknowledge his good friend in his opening remarks on Wednesday. The 53-year-old Franklin couldn't help but get emotional when discussing his friendship with the recently fired Hokies head coach.
"I'd like to acknowledge Brent Pry," Franklin said as he was overcome with emotion. "Brent Pry is a good friend. Brent Pry's dad was my offensive coordinator in college," Franklin said before pausing again to compose himself. "Brent's dad was my offensive coordinator in college. I've known Brent for over 30 years. Brent's first year coaching was my senior year at the Harvard of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, East Stroudsburg University. I know you guys are all very familiar with it! Brent and his family was with me at Vanderbilt all three years and then for our first seven years at Penn State, so I've got a ton of respect for Brent and his family. I know he poured his heart and soul into this place. I know this place is better today because of Brent and the commitment that he made. So I just want to show the respect to him. I know how much coaches pour their hearts and souls into this job and I just wanted to make sure that I gave Brent the respect that he and his family deserve."
James Franklin gets emotional when talking about Brent Pry pic.twitter.com/solh2h3btf
— 🦃 Mostly Virginia Tech 🦃 (@JagerHokie) November 19, 2025
Pry went 16-24 in three-plus seasons at Virginia Tech after serving as Franklin's defensive coordinator at Penn State from 2016-21. Despite being let go by Virginia Tech in September after an 0-3 start to the season, Pry was instrumental in Franklin taking the job with the Hokies. Franklin said as much during the question and answer session following his opening remarks on Wednesday.
"I'm able to call Brent Pry and he's able to tell me the truth," Franklin said. "I didn't want anyone to sugarcoat [the job] because none of these places are perfect...I'm not perfect. Brent was very, very transparent. The first thing that was very obvious is he cares about this place deeply. He's always spoken very, very highly of this place and community. That's valuable. I probably wouldn't be sitting here today without Brent's input."
Franklin will now hit the ground running to try to rebuild a Virginia Tech program that has largely struggled since Frank Beamer's retirement following the 2015 season.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Virginia Tech's James Franklin Classily Mentions Brent Pry in Introductory Press Conference.
