Two big-name college football programs fire head coaches

Brent Pry's buyout figure is more than $6M

The Hokies began the season by falling short against South Carolina and are now sitting at 0-3 after being clobbered at home by Vanderbilt and rival Old Dominion. Pry was on the hot seat at the end of 2024 and made some personnel changes during the offseason.

This included hiring former Arizona Cardinals linebackers coach Sam Siefkes as his defensive coordinator. Pry was 16-24 during his four full seasons in Blacksburg and only achieved one postseason victory in 2023. His buyout is set at more than $6M.

As for UCLA, the Bruins haven’t smelled the win column in 2025 so far as they have been dismantled by Utah, UNLV and New Mexico. After a mediocre 5-7 campaign a year ago, there was some anticipation around Foster’s squad, especially with the addition of quarterback Nico Iamaleava.

However, the Bruins haven’t been able to find their footing on either side of the ball. Tim Skipper, who served as Fresno State’s interim head coach in 2024, is set to be the interim moving forward.

A year ago, the first in-season firing didn’t occur until Oct. 20, and the first power conference coach to be let go was North Carolina’s Mack Brown in November. These early firings indicate that the coaching carousel could be far more active this time around.