1) Has there been less player turnover at Virginia Tech since Pry arrived than what you would have expected? How does it compare right now to the beginning of the Fuente era? As I recall, we were expecting a lot of players to balk at the culture shock Fuente came in with. It feels like that’s been less of an issue with this coaching change. – VT Ken

Chris Coleman: That’s a good question, and my answer is yes. I don’t remember exactly what it was like when Justin Fuente took over in terms of attrition, but there has been less player turnover at the beginning of the Brent Pry era than I expected. A number of guys left because they weren’t going to play and because Virginia Tech needed to get back to the 85-man scholarship limit, but outside of that, it’s been quiet.

The one thing I remember about the beginning of the Fuente era was that at the first press conference before his first game, he showed up in the media room and announced that a number of players were suspended from anywhere from one to four games at the start of the season. I remember Marshawn Williams was one of them, though I don’t remember who else. It wasn’t a ton of guys, maybe 6-8, and it wasn’t anybody hugely important. But I remember thinking, “Wow! Accountability.”

Tech responded by winning 10 games that year and another nine in 2017. The line of thinking at the time was that the Hokies had improved their discipline and were on to bigger and better things. Then a very young Tech team with no quality depth hit the field in 2018, the team struggled and there were player issues behind the scenes.

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