Course Corrections

Firing your buddies is not for the faint of heart.

Last week, Brent Pry announced the dismissal of defensive coordinator Chris Marve, offensive line coach Ron Crook, and strength coach Dwight Galt IV. He boldly went where his predecessors could not, parting ways with his companions and becoming the first Tech coach to officially fire a coordinator in over 30 years.

I wrote about the issues with Tech's defense last week (TL;DR: they put up decent stats, but it was somewhat of a mirage due to backup QB luck, and could never get the linebacker room right). Strength and conditioning, though near impossible to quantify, is more of a "you-know-it-when-you-see-it" type thing: in overtime losses to Vanderbilt and Syracuse, the Hokies gave up two touchdowns on six plays, part of a string of repeated late-game defensive collapses.

But today we're focusing primarily on the offensive line: why Pry had to move on from Crook, and how it relates to roster management as a whole. Crook's departure, well overdue, was a microcosm of a larger problem: after three years, Tech still hasn't fully embraced their stated identity, either on the field or on the trail.