When Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry fired defensive coordinator Chris Marve, strength coach Dwight Galt IV and offensive line coach Ron Crook on December 12, no one thought it would take three months to finalize the 2025 coaching staff.
The Hokies wasted no time hiring Crook’s replacement, hiring Matt Moore less than two weeks later. Virginia Tech took advantage of West Virginia firing its coaching staff, hiring Moore in less than two weeks. That was a massive upgrade for Pry.
The Hokies waited until after the College Football Playoff to hire a defensive coordinator before hiring Arizona Cardinals linebacker coach Sam Siefkes. While the jury is out on Siefkes, there’s a lot to like. He’s been successful as a defensive coordinator at lower levels of college football and had the endorsement of multiple current and former NFL head coaches.
Virginia Tech surprisingly lost offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen after he departed to take over as the offensive line coach at Ohio State. The Hokies surprised everyone by hiring former Tulsa head coach and Baylor and Auburn offensive coordinator Phillip Montgomery as offensive coordinator. This was another impressive upgrade for Pry.
The Hokies promoted Jarrett Ferguson to head strength coach. Ferguson, a former Virginia Tech great, has an impressive resume as a strength coach and has already implemented several significant changes since January.
Of course, when you have coordinators, they want to bring in their own guys. And the NCAA rules have allowed more coaches to be hired and responsibilities to be shifted around. Siefkes brought in a couple of coaches who were familiar to him, while Montgomery brought aboard his son for a staff role. Cannon Montgomery is widely regarded in coaching circles.
In addition to the four primary hires we led this story with, here are some of the new hires.
First, let’s begin with coaches already on staff, receiving new roles:
Shawn Quinn: Outside linebackers coach
Xavier Adibi: Inside linebackers coach
Brent Davis: Tight ends coach (Stu Holt will remain coach of special teams and is an offensive assistant)
In the above roles, Quinn was shifted from Stars/Nickels to outside linebackers, while Adibi was moved from an analyst position to inside linebackers coach. Davis served as an assistant OL coach before taking over as tight ends coach.
Here are the new additions:
Jens Danielsen: Assistant offensive line coach
Cannon Montgomery: Assistant running backs coach
Jireh Wilson: Edges (edge rushers) coach
Bryan Whitehead: Nickels coach
Danielsen comes to Blacksburg from WVU, where he worked with Moore previously. Montgomery, a former college receiver, has spent time at Tulsa, Houston, Houston Christian, and Auburn. Wilson comes to Virginia Tech from Kennesaw State but has prior experience playing for Siefkes at Wofford. Whitehead was on staff with Siefkes at Wisconsin-Platteville.
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