On Monday morning, Virginia Tech and Brent Pry announced the hirings of Elijah Brooks and Ron Crook. Brooks will coach running backs while Crook will mentor the offensive line.
Brooks comes to the Hokies from Maryland, where he served as the running backs coach for four seasons. He produced multiple draft picks in his time with the Terrapins. Jake Funk (Los Angeles Rams), Anthony McFarland Jr. (Pittsburgh Steelers) and Javon Leake (New York Giants) each landed on a NFL squad after Maryland.
The former head coach at DeMatha Catholic High School from 2011-18, Brooks won four straight Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championships from 2014-17 with a 72-20 record during that time. He coached multiple professional products in his high school years, too, including Cameron Wake (Miami Dolphins), Rodney McLeod (Indianapolis Colts) and Arie and Cyrus Kouandijo.
As a player, Brooks had success as a running back at Kent State and William & Mary, where he racked up over 3,000 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards.
Crook ventures to Blacksburg from South Dakota, where he was the tight ends coach and run game coordinator. A veteran in the industry, Crook coached the offensive line most recently at Cincinnati from 2017-2021.
A Parkersburg, W.Va. native, his coaching career took him to Illinois, Harvard, Stanford and West Virginia, among other places. He has experience at a lower level, too, with stops at Clarion, Glenville State, West Virginia Tech and West Liberty State. He also played offensive line at the collegiate level at West Liberty State.
At various times in his career, Crook oversaw tight ends and special teams as well. He developed 38 all-conference players, nine all-Americans and nine NFL players in 33 years. He also coached in multiple high-profile contest including nine bowl games – the Fiesta, Rose, Peach and Cotton (CFP semifinal) among them – and the Division II playoffs.
Behind his offensive line at Cincinnati in 2021, running back Jerome Ford had a big year with 1,242 yards and 19 touchdowns while averaging 6.2 yards per carry. He mentored Tyler Orlosky at West Virginia, who was named an All-American by multiple outlets, Mark Glowinski, a current New York Giant, and Quinton Spain, a former six-year NFL veteran.
With the Cardinal, Crook developed All-American tight end and two-time Mackey Award finalist Zach Ertz. He coached Levine Toilolo, too, who was also named to the Mackey Award’s midseason watch list. Coby Fleener, an All-American, was another one of his disciples at Stanford once he joined the staff in 2011.
At Harvard, eight of Crook’s players earned first team All-Ivy League honors, including tackle James Williams, who was a three-time All-American. At Illinois, Crook coached All-Big Ten players Dave Diehl and Tony Pashos, an All-American.
Coaching Staff Breakdown
With the additions, former running backs coach Stu Holt moves to tight ends coach. Offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen, who oversaw tight ends previously, is moving to quarterbacks coach.
Here’s an updated breakdown of Brent Pry’s staff:
QB: Tyler Bowen (offensive coordinator)
RB: Elijah Brooks
WR: Fontel Mines
TE: Stu Holt
OL: Ron Crook
DL: J.C. Price
ILB: Chris Marve (defensive coordinator)
OLB/NB: Shawn Quinn
CB: Derek Jones
S: Pierson Prioleau
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Coach Brooks can catch up with Coach Mike Jones from their days at DeMatha. Glad to have them both at Tech.
As long as Tyler Bowen remains Tech’s OC, this team is doomed. Last year’s disastrous results prove my point.
no they don’t. They prove that last year was disastrous.
Dolt – table for 1?
Dolt comment for Hokiecamp. 1 year proves nothing about anyone.
Proves we had no talent and poor performance
The way you list VT coaches in this article, without including their official titles, is misleading and your just creating misinformation among VT fans. You should just list coaches with their official titles (as shown on Hokiesports website). Bowen is not “the QB coach”; he is the “Offensive Coordinator/ Tight Ends Coach”, but sure he might be the main individual coaching up our QBs as he coordinates the offense. Your list doesn’t even list Pry as our Head Coach, you imply we don’t have a special teams coach, and you don’t recognize the coaches’ other titles & responsibilities.
Not sure where he implies we don’t have a special teams coach. He listed position coaches and special teams isn’t a position.
Correction – Brooks didn’t coach Cameron Wake in Hs. Wake was a teammate of Jason Lallis’ under the prior coach and is actually older than Brooks
Is Stu Holt still special teams?
Does T Bowen have any qb coaching experience? Is there anyone on staff that has any qb coaching experience?
@Midwestguy…I read that elsewhere that Bowen had zero QB coaching experience. Not sure any of the others have experience either.
@ David Cunningham :::: the Coach Ron Crook “hyperlink” (in the article) took me to the same article
about Coach Elijah Brooks as his “hyperlink”.
Thanks. Could’ve sworn I fixed that, but I guess not.
thank you!
Go Hokies!
When you say Tyler Bowen “is moving to quarterbacks coach,” is he remaining OC or not? Your list doesn’t show him with that title as it does for Chris Marve being D Coordinator in addition to ILB coach.
Never mind. Just saw the thread on the message board.
Yes, apologies. Was scrambling this morning and forgot to include OC.