Virginia Tech Welcomes Derek Jones to the Pry Coaching Staff

We are starting to see what Coach Pry is looking for in the coaches he is surrounding himself with. The latest is Derek Jones.

Coach Jones is not just a coach, but also an author, having written a book in 2017 of motivational quotes, Always Play to Win, all about positivity and inspiration in life.

He is, by all accounts, a very well liked leader. Brent Pry is looking for leaders on his staff to be able to help grow his players from boys to thoughtful young men and in Coach Jones, he seems to have found someone who fits the bill.

It’s also someone Coach Pry can trust. The coaches worked with each other at Memphis. One of the things that Coach Pry has talked about in his first few days on the job is the importance of building relationships and keeping those relationships for years and decades in the future. It’s obvious that in choosing someone like Derek Jones he is trying to live out exactly what he is preaching.

Derek Jones is a defensive coach, mostly focusing on the secondary. He’s been able to develop players who been drafted in the NFL even though they were at best 3-star talents out of high school. While we love to think of Virginia Tech as getting 4 and 5 star guys in the Beamer age, one of the most important things that the program was continuously able to do is take 2 and 3 star high school talent and turn them into All-Conference and NFL level talent. That isn’t to say that every DB that comes to Tech is making to the NFL, but bringing back DBU is something that all Hokies past and present would love to see.

We welcome Derek Jones to Blacksburg. We wish you the best and hope that you enjoy the next (decade plus?) here with us. Welcome to the Hokie Nation!