Why Virginia Tech unraveled after Frank Beamer and how it gets back - ESPN

Virginia Tech coach Brent Pry inherited a program in 2022 that had lost its way, more than a decade removed from its last conference championship.

Though Pry had zero head-coaching experience, he had spent the previous eight years at Penn State, coaching and recruiting in the Big Ten. Perhaps most importantly, he was the candidate with the most extensive ties to Blacksburg and legendary coach Frank Beamer. When Pry was introduced as head coach, athletic director Whit Babcock proclaimed, «It's nice to see this place reunited.»

Then Pry went 3-8, giving Virginia Tech its worst season in 30 years. Though Pry remains optimistic about the future — «I'm the right guy for this place, and this place is right for me» — one major question persists:

Can Virginia Tech still compete at the highest level of college football?

Beamer took Virginia Tech to unprecedented heights — six BCS games, including one national championship game appearance, and a string of eight consecutive 10-win seasons from 2004 to 2011. His successor, Justin Fuente, won 10 games in his first year, then went 33-27 over the next five amid what sources described as a «dysfunctional» relationship with the administration.

Now it is up to Pry, a former assistant under Beamer in the 1990s, to return the program to relevance. Virginia Tech has spent more than $100 million to improve its facilities and resources, but is that enough for the Hokies to compete with the ACC's top teams or the charged-up Big Ten and SEC?

Answering that question requires a deeper examination of how Virginia Tech fell so far in the first place. ESPN spoke to more than 30 former and current coaches, players, administrators and staff at Virginia Tech to see how things unraveled in the