"Situational football" leads way in hiring of Sam Siefkes As Virginia Tech's New Defensive Coordinator
On Monday evening, Virginia Tech announced the hiring of Sam Siefkes as its new defensive coordinator. Siefkes has previous experience with the Arizona Cardinals as linebackers coach, and the Minnesota Vikings as defensive linebackers coach and quality control coach.
Head coach Brent Pry interrupted his recruiting visits, to speak with the media Tuesday evening, ringing the praises of those who have worked with Siefkes.
"I got no more phone calls on anybody than I got on [about] Sam." Quoted Pry." From Kevin O'Connell and Jonathan Gannon, Dave Aranda, it goes on and on about how well thought of Sam is in the industry."
Last year, the Hokies finished far away from the "complementary football" mold Pry alludes to often. Pointing out that the squad's inability to play strong "situational football" was a fixture for the squad's 6-7 record.
"What they do at the Arizona Cardinals was situational football. I hadn't been around, hadn't seen that. Not everybody's doing it. Not at that level, even. Very impressive. How specific and thorough they are with situational football, which was a weakness for us."
Current linebacker for the Cardinals and former Nittany Lion Jesse Luketa was the first person Pry made contact with, over Siefkes to discuss the scheme the former Wofford defensive coordinator had implemented with the Cardinals' linebacker room.
Pry also enlisted the help of former Tech cornerback coach, and defensive passing game coordinator Ryan Smith who is the current cornerback coach with the Cardinals, and a former graduate assistant of Pry's.
Pry harped on Siefkes' ability to adapt to what personnel he was given. Pry later explained that in Siefkes' two years of leading the Wofford Terrier defense, he was forced to switch from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4, all while posting top-25 defenses.
Towards the end of Tuesday's conference, the former Penn State defensive play-caller issued his thoughts on changes he's seen growing in the NFL and where Siefkes' role is on that.
"It's multiple fronts, so 4-3 5-2 6-1, [it's] challenging stuff, whether it's pre-snap or post-snap. The ability to play with three safeties on the field or some teams doing that, that's been attractive to me for a couple of years now. And they do a really nice job with it."
The future of Virginia Tech football will inevitably be up in the air as there are multiple issues still to be ironed out with this squad, however, with Pry's obvious beam over the arrival of Siefkes, there is reason to be optimistic that better days lie ahead.
Additional Links:
Virginia Tech Football: Grading the Hokies’ Hire of Sam Siefkes as Defensive Coordinator
Way-Too-Early Game-By-Game Predictions For the 2025 Virginia Tech Hokies
Virginia Tech Football: Hokies Official Measurements For 2025 Senior Bowl