Virginia Tech, Brent Pry Hire Chris Marve As Defensive Coordinator

By: David Cunningham | Managing Editor
Chris Marve is Virginia Tech’s new defensive coordinator. (Bob Ferrante)

On Tuesday, Virginia Tech and Brent Pry announced the hiring of Chris Marve as defensive coordinator. He has eight years of coaching experience at the college level.

A former linebacker at Vanderbilt from 2008-2011, Marve was a senior with the Commodores when Pry was the Associate Head Coach, Co-Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers Coach on James Franklin’s staff in their first year at the school. Marve’s career has taken him to a few different places, from Nashville to Mississippi State and most recently Florida State. He joined Mike Norvell’s staff with the Seminoles in December of 2019 and spent two seasons there.

Marve was on the Vanderbilt coaching staff as a defensive quality control analyst and a defensive graduate assistant for his first two seasons. In 2016, he was elevated to coach inside linebackers, a position he retained for three seasons.

From there, Marve ventured to Starkville, where he was Mississippi State’s defensive run game coordinator and linebackers coach for one season before Mike Leach was named the next head coach of the Bulldogs. From there, he traveled to Tallahassee, where he joined Norvell’s original staff. He’s a young coach, just 32, but played under Pry and Franklin and coached with Derek Mason (Auburn DC), Joe Moorhead (now Akron HC) and Norvell.

From his Florida State bio: “In August 2018, ESPN.com named Marve to its 40 Under 40, a list of ascending coaching stars. In 2017 and 2018, 247Sports recognized him on its 30 Under 30 list, and also in 2017 he was included on the American Football Coaches Association 35 Under 35 recognition.”

Marve’s linebackers at Florida State in 2020 totaled 218 tackles and were the top three on the team in that statistic. One of his linebackers, Stephen Dix Jr., earned Freshman All-American honors that season. In addition, he’s produced four NFL Draft picks, three all-conference players and one consensus First Team All-American (Zach Cunningham at Vanderbilt). 

At Vanderbilt, Marve coached Zach Cunningham, now with the Houston Texans. (Getty Images)

Cunningham, now with the Houston Texans, led the NFL in tackles in 2020 with 164. A second round draft pick by the Texans in 2017, Cunningham was the first unanimous All-American in Vanderbilt history. He was a finalist for the Butkus Award as the nation’s top overall linebacker, too. In his redshirt junior season in 2016, he led the SEC in tackles with 125. Cunningham also posted 16.5 TFLs that season. Ironically, Pry was Cunningham’s primary recruiter to Vanderbilt.

From a recruiting standpoint, Marve has a familiar last name on his all-time recruit list: Orji.

Alex Orji is the younger brother of Alston and Anfernee, and he’s a quarterback commit in Tech’s 2022 class. Though Pry hasn’t announced any of his offensive staff yet, the addition of Marve and the connection he has with the Orji family might go a long way in securing Alex’s commitment to the Hokies.

In the long run, Marve seems like a coach that can recruit anywhere. While he doesn’t have a long history, his all-time commits list shows that he’s had success in six different states: Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas.

Brent Pry might still be very hands-on with the playcalling and involved with the defense in Marve’s first season. In his introductory press conference, Pry said it’s going to be hard for him to let go of calling plays.

“I love calling the defense,” Pry said. “But I’m going to hire the right person and the right group of guys. I’m going to be very involved early and when it feels like it’s the right time, those play-calling duties will be turned over. Whether that’s after spring or after Year 1, we’ll see what it looks like.”

As a player at Vanderbilt, Marve was a four-time All-SEC linebacker. One of the most decorated players in Commodore history, Marve’s 397 career tackles rank ninth on the program’s all-time list, and his 30.0 tackles for loss are tied for sixth. He was a two-time captain and a Freshman All-American in 2018.

Brent Pry’s Announced Staff:

J.C. Price: Associate Head Coach, Defensive Line Coach
Derek Jones: Defensive Coach (likely secondary)
Shawn Quinn: Defensive Coach (likely defensive line or linebackers)
Chris Marve: Defensive Coordinator

Virginia Tech’s Press Release: Link

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  1. I was underwhelmed by the initial hire of the head coach. However after a few deep breath‘s and looking into it, I am very optimistic. Like most people say, let’s not have a knee-jerk reaction. The head coach we have now in those defense. If he hired this man, it’s because he recognizes something solid in him. He’ll be able to do his job and have assistance from the head coach if necessary for times when required. Let’s all chill out and remember that next year is probably going to be pretty rough. But we knew that, with the transfer portal and players going to the NFL whether they are ready or not, it’s difficult. We’ve got to give it some time. For god sake‘s we gave Justin 64 years and every advantage possible, let’s do the same for this guy

  2. STOP IT! This looks like the football board on TheSabre.com Good grief. They haven’t coached a down here yet. Buncha NATTs.

  3. What I have not seen in the replys is thoughts on this hire’s ability to recruit. That seems to have been the short coming of many on Fuente’s staff. Without talent we won’t succeed. Let’s see how this new staff does on the recruiting trail before throwing so many new hires under the bus.

  4. Really, really hope he hires an actual OC for the OC position instead of promoting someone with no experience. If not the top 3 program leaders – HC, DC, and OC will all be brand spanking new in their respective roles and we will be starting in a deep hole with none of them having experience in their respective roles to fall back on.

  5. This hire tells me Pry will REALLY be the DC, even if he doesn’t hold the title. With that being said, great leaders hire based on “potential” in addition to “performance.” My guess is he sees great potential in Marve. Guess we will see soon.

  7. I think I was also underwhelmed initially…

    But, Pry’s a solid, long time DC. I trust his eye for coaching talent and what he’s looking for to fit his scheme and expectations.

  9. On the offensive side, Tim Brewster became available. He is bff with Mack and who knows if he would recruit against him, but he is an elite recruiter and TE coach for past 30 years.

    Long list of All American and NFL talent he has developed and recruited. He discovered and taught Antonio Gates how to play TE during his three years at the Chargers.

    I never thought we would have the money to attract a guy of his success but who knows?

    https://www.si.com/college/florida/football/florida-gators-coach-tim-brewster-goodbyes-among-several-coaches-leaving

  11. Coach Pry is assembling a good defensive staff. I hope his offensive choice is wrapped up just busy coaching so it can’t be announced. Hopefully the recruits will hear about their future coaches and like what they hear.

  12. Guys that are knocking this and other staff hires, for petes sake, give it a chance! Good lord, we are in good hands on Def with Pry being heavily involved, let it work out and then criticize if it doesn’t. We need young fiery guys to also get out and hustle on the recruiting trail, I think this guy will be great.

    1. I am sorry but if we were going to give it a chance Hamilton and Fuente would still be here. Pry needs to run the program and does not have the time to also run the defense. I have seen ZERO improvement in this new coaching staff. The offensive staff better be stellar!! to compensate for this defensive debacle.

      1. You have seen ZERO from this staff. You know NOTHING about this staff. Neither do I. This staff may be incredible, it may be terrible. I can’t honestly judge a thing before seeing the team play for about 3 – 5 years. Only then will we know for certain. I honestly think we will have some idea this next season.
        So cmon my friend, give it a chance before you get down on it.

        1. Remember that goofy undersized LB that Frank brought with him from Murry State, a guy named Bud. He was a nobody from nowhere and he was hungry and had a unique read on how to bring pressure from all angles all game long.

          Maybe Marve with his SEC pedigree and smarts will learn from an accomplished veteran and become our next Bud…no one knows.

      3. Pry is the CEO – u aren’t 🤣

        If he told Whit he was going to run the defense for a while then so be it.

        Are u not aware of p-5 coaches who have or r now calling their specialty with an assistant to help?

        Narduzzi ran his D when he moved from Michigan State. Offense wise Mullen, Leach, Spurrier all did OK handling head coach and coordinator duties.

        This kid from Vandy is a smart up and comer who Pry coached. He’s going to mentor him till ready. No experience DC would take a backseat while Pryor installs his defense.

  13. Very underwhelmed with this hire. I can’t remember anything good about FSU as a whole in the last 7 years. Seems like everyone on this staff will be new at their respective positions and barely cut their teeth in these key positions where experience would be ideal for a first time head coach. I understand hiring people you know but these hires will be interesting to see how they pan out in the future. I guess you have to start somewhere, so I will give them the benefit of a doubt.

    1. We’ll fortunately for your argument, this guy wasn’t there the last 7 years. Did you read the article

      1. But he was there for two of those seven unimpressive years.

        Hope I’m wrong, but I’m underwhelmed on many fronts by this hire.

    2. Disagree. Young, energetic hire that is very very highly thought about in coaching circles. He had multiple offers to be a DC this yr from P5 programs. This is our Florida guy that can recruit that region.and is going to get wins in living rooms of recruits. You have to trust that Pry knows the type of guys he wants for defense. I love getting a highly sought after young star coach. This guy will pay dividends, but just hope we can hold onto him as he busts out.

  14. I will bet that coach Pry will hire mostly new names to his staff.. to me he is his own man..he has a great personality but I bet you he eats nails for breakfast !! I bet you the flying turkey at linebacker better not try to coach like he did Coach Ham. He might get his wings clipped..and by the way he did on numerous times stand there and listen to what was going on shaking his head in disgust when coach Ham was talking!!!

    Keep going Coach Pry !!!

  15. Yep well everyone liked the lineup of defensive coaches. And, the team had a good set of freshmen recruits for 2022 coming in … but just could not stop bashing Fu … Instead of overhauling the O coaching staff. Let’s throw Fu out, yeah that’s it. Yet, it will not be just Fu or Corn. With $8.5M going to Fu to buy out his contract … that money could have gone for other things.

  16. I keep reminding myself… trust Pry, trust Pry, trust Pry.

    I have no idea if this is a good hire or not. I do wonder if maybe recruiting a FSU isn’t what it was 20 years ago, and acknowledge that may not be a Marve thing.

  19. Great hire. I like plucking a future star before he makes it huge and letting this young buck get out there and energize the team in practice and recruit his tail off. I like this hire a lot.

  20. Maybe I missed it here, but what was his most recent job title at Florida State? And was he currently on the staff there?

      1. Yes it is. But isn’t the point of an article on a new hire to include key details like what position he held previously and whether he was currently a member of the staff, so the reader doesn’t need to research it. The article simply said he joined the FSU staff in 2019 and had been there 2 seasons…so not exactly clear.

  21. I have always thought our legendary Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator retired a couple of years before they left and this contributed in some degree to the failure of our new Head Coach. This was particularly true in recruiting. I think it is important that Coach Pry be given the opportunity to choose his own group of coaches….. the ones he believes will be winners.

  23. All impressive hires, on paper. It will be interesting to see if JHam, Smith, Tyler, Teerlinck or others that we think are good coaches and recruiters on the defense are being considered for positions that they would take.

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