Rahne and Pry Square Up for Friday Night Meeting of Former Penn State Assistants

While you might be focused on Penn State football’s season opener Thursday night, there’s still at least one game on the docket this weekend worth a bit of your time and energy if you’re into games with Penn State ties.

That’s right, former longtime Penn State defensive coordinator Brent Pry will face former longtime Penn State offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Ricky Rahne — both as head coaches — as Pry’s Virginia Tech travels to Rahne’s Old Dominion for a Friday night meeting. For Pry it will be his first as a head coach, for Rahne his third season at the helm of the Monarch program.

Not to mention all the other Penn State connections on the side, starting with former Nittany Lion and current ODU tight end Zack Kuntz.

Then there’s ODU special teams coordinator Kevin Smith, wide receivers coach Mark Dupuis and offensive coordinator Kevin Reihner. That trio all work on the staff at Penn State with Pry and Rahne.

There’s Director of Player Personnel Tristin Iannone who came to ODU with Rahne from Penn State and graduate assistant coach Michael Shuster, a former Nittany Lion player. Don’t forget Assistant Director of Strength and Conditioning Aaron Rittgers, a former intern at Penn State. Then there’s defensive coordinator Blake Seiler and safeties coach Remington Rebstock – both having coached at Kansas State when Franklin and Rahne worked there. [H/T Old Dominion’s website]

“I’m a big Ricky Rahne fan,” Pry said recently. “We’ve pulled for him since he left Penn State. I want to see him do well. I was so excited for him when he got the opportunity at Old Dominion. I thought it was a great fit for him, for a first-time head coach, for him and his family. It’s just challenging because we want to kick their butt, but I want to see him do well outside of our game. He’s one of those guys, if we weren’t playing him, I’d be talking to. We’d be exchanging ideas and doing things, but we’ve got those guys on the schedule for the next couple of years. It makes it tough, but I’d love for Ricky and I to really work together to recruit the state of Virginia, to improve high school football in the state of Virginia, and to work together to have the best two programs we can have.”

For Virginia Tech, this will be a chance for redemption after its last trip to Norfolk, when Old Dominion defeated the No. 13 Hokies 49-35 in 2018 behind quarterback Blake LaRussa’s 495 yards and four touchdowns. VT won the rematch a year later at home, 31-17, though ODU pulled within seven in the fourth quarter. While both coaches were still calling Penn State home at the time, that doesn’t mean the two programs don’t have at least a little bit of history already.

Now entering his third year as Old Dominion’s head coach and second coaching actual games (COVID-19 canceled his inaugural season before it began), Rahne has a chance to notch a marquee win for his program. On the other side of the field, Pry is looking for his first win at Virginia Tech, a program his was hired to take to the next level.

“I’m a competitive person and I don’t hold my tongue very well and neither does Brent,” Rahne said,. “And coach Franklin wanted that. Compete is one of our three C’s here (care and character are the others). We were going to compete because we wanted our players to compete. If we as coaches weren’t going to compete and show passion, what were the players going to do?”

As for Penn State? The Nittany Lions are set to practice Friday so head coach James Franklin and company won’t be making the trip after Thursday’s contest. That being said there will be quite the contingent of coaches wives who will be making the trip, according to Franklin – catching up with old family friends in the process.

The players though? It’s hard not to have some bias for your old coach.

“I definitely have a relationship with those guys,” Penn State defensive tackle PJ Mustipher said this week with a laugh. “I’m a defensive guy. So I’m a little biased but you know, I hope the best for them. They were once part of our program. So ton of respect for both coaches and what they do. And I’m excited to see how that game goes, but you know, I’m a defensive guy, so I’m probably a little biased.”

“When you talk about rooting for one or the other, I think it’s just more so for me just excited to see two men that I’ve really have a lot of respect for … go head-to-head,” Nittany Lion quarterback Sean Clifford added. “I think it’s just a cool moment for all of us who have been in the building with both Ricky and Brent Pry. So I think it’ll be a fun one, that’s for sure. I’m sure there’s a lot of heat and a lot of passion behind this.”

Virginia Tech at Old Dominion kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday on ESPNU.