The Interim Spark: How a Mid-Season Firing Can Unleash a Team's True Potential

The End, and the Beginning

Brent Pry, the former head football coach for The Virginia Institute of Technology (or affectionately known as Virginia Tech) was relieved of his duties on September 14, 2025. On September 13th, they had lost by 19 points (giving up 45 total) to a historically mediocre Old Dominion football team. The Hokies had entered the game as 5.5 point favorites (Fox Sports).

His team, believed by many to be dark-horse contenders for the ACC Championship in 2025, should have well out-talented the Monarchs. His quarterback, Kyron Drones - a Baylor transfer, played fairly well in this game. Throwing for 266 yards and 3 touchdowns, completing 67% of his passes. Regardless, the Virginia Tech athletic administration decided that it had seen enough, and elected to terminate his contract as the team's head coach the following day.

DeShaun Foster, the former head football coach at the University of California Los Angeles, was also relieved of his duties on September 14, 2025. Two days prior, his Bruins had suffered a thrashing at the hands of the University of New Mexico Lobos. His team had surrendered just under 300 yards rushing on the ground, to a team that they should have easily out-talented (according to experts).

This game came at the heels of two other rough losses, one to UNLV (who again they theoretically should have out-played) and one to Utah. This decision, assuredly not helped by the offseason drama surrounding the recruitment of quarterback Nico Iamaleava, came down on the same day as Pry, marking the first two major head coach firings of the 2025 college football season.

The Spark

Historically speaking, the firing of a head coach, and subsequent selection of an interim can go one of three ways. First, and most commonly, the team continues to play the same way that they were (sometimes with slightly more or less vigor) and not much changes. Second, the team crumbles, and in a modern era of college athletics where the transfer portal is open for 30 days after the firing of a head coach this occurs at a higher clip than it used to. The third option, however, is the purpose of this article. On occasion, teams will view the hiring of a head coach as opportunity for new beginnings, and take on an entirely different identity. These new beginnings are different for every team. Some will become far more physically dominant, some will turn to a new scheme that fits better, and some will simply rally around a deserving interim head coach. In any case, the rallying of a team who for all intensive purposes has been written off by experts, is too good of a case study to resist - well, studying.

Beginning with Virginia Tech, who's admittedly had the more convincing turn around. Through their first 3 games, the Hokies averaged 19 points per game offensively, and 37.7 points per game defensively. Even more disparagingly, they averaged 339 yards per game offensively, and 448 defensively. As discouraging as these numbers are, perhaps the most disturbing was the their -4 turnover margin in their first three games.

Upon the firing of Pry, Virginia Tech turned to former offensive coordinator Phillip Montgomery for the remainder of the season. It is obviously impossible to know exactly what conversations went on in the aftermath of this decision, but the difference in the product on the field was clear. In his debut, now Montgomery's Hokies were able to hang 38 points on the Terriers of Wofford College, holding them to just 6. They would then travel to Raleigh to play the North Carolina State Wolfpack. This game would allow for the emergence of running back Terion Stewart. Stewart, a bruiser type back with surprising speed who had seen very limited action in the previous several games, would take 15 carries for 174 total yards. The Hokies would take the game in Raleigh by a score of 23-21, but more importantly, they would show an incredible amount of fight in this game.

While the Hokies would fall in the their next game to a much improved Wake Forest team - more on them in another article. They continued to show flashes of the team that experts thought they could be at the beginning of the season. The key to their turnaround why squarely with the defensive transformation. From Games 4 through 6 the Hokies went from allowing 7.7 yards per play down to 4.2. Moreover, opponent conversion on third down went from 46.4% down to just 37%. They were also able to hold opponents to 25 fewer air yards per game in this time period. The Improvement of these defensive statistics signal not only a more physical team, but also one that is more willing to go and make a play, rather than playing from their heels in a bend don't break style.

For the Bruins, it was far more of an offensive rejuvenation than a defensive one. Prior to their surprise victory over a highly rated Penn State team, the Bruins had averaged just 14.3 points per game across 4 contests. Then, 4 days before the win, they promoted Tight Ends coach (and former Bruin QB) Jerry Neuheisel to be their new playcaller and Offensive Coordinator.

Prior to Neuheisel's installment as Offensive Coordinator, the UCLA offense averaged just 321 yards per game, good for 118th in the country. Moreover, it was a gutsy move for a first-time playcaller to be thrust into action against a national champion defensive coordinator in Jim Knowles. Neuheisel relied on one thing in order to set his team up for success, the run game. Prior to the contest, UCLA had averaged just over 121 yards per game on the ground. In the Penn State match up they ran for 269. One of the driving factors of this run game was the unleashing of dual-threat quarterback and Tennessee transfer Nico Iamaleava. Iamaleava, who had been forced to work almost exclusively as a pocket passer up to that point in the year, exploded for 16 carries and 128 yards rushing.

More importantly, however, Neuheisel was able to get his team to buy into his scheme by trusting them to do what they had been told they could not. In trusting his tight ends and tackles to shut down a normally dominant Penn State defensive front, they were able to lean on Penn State and run the ball effectively. This also led to the effectiveness of the RPO game and the play-action pass.

In terms of the team itself, watching back the film it is apparent that there is a different level of commitment to Neuheisel's offense compared to Foster's. The perimeter blocking, clear progression in pass plays, and general physicality show signs of promise for the Bruins moving forward.

Will the Fire Carry On

For each of these teams, we will get to see if the spark that came recently will continue into the remainder of the season. The Hokies will get to visit Atlanta tomorrow to play at the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, whose quarterback in my opinion should be in the Heisman conversation.  Meanwhile the Bruins will travel to East Lansing, to take on a Michigan State Spartans team seeking to find its footing.

While I candidly do not believe either of these teams will make it to a bowl game this season, it is certainly not out of the realm of possibilities. Particularly in the case of Virginia Tech, the emergence of a running back like Terion Stewart over the past several games could allow them to find great success the remainder of the year.  Having watched Virginia Tech's past several games, it is clear that they have been able to recapture the mindset that comes with playing in Lane Stadium. In the case of UCLA, it will be interesting to see just how far their newfound offensive scheme (and subsequent jolt of energy) can take them. In the event that they are able to continue to stay hot, they will face a gauntlet of a schedule relative to Virginia Tech. The Bruins have yet to play Indiana, Ohio State, Washington, and USC.