Virginia Tech coach Brent Pry bringing back famed lunch pail with Bud Foster’s blessing | Virginia Tech

Prioleau first earned the honor two games into his junior season after a standout performance against Rutgers. Prioleau had seven tackles with a tackle for loss, fumble recovery and quarterback hurry in the 59-19 win.

He recalled the moment on Friday afternoon when discussing how excited he was that new coach Brent Pry was bringing the lunch pail back this fall with the blessing of retired defensive coordinator Bud Foster.

“I had to watch a lot of really good football players carry that lunch pail around, guys like J.C. Price, Cornell Brown, Torrian Gray, Myron Newsome,” Prioleau said. “I had to watch a lot of good football players carry that thing around, and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on that thing.

“And the first time I got my hands on it, I immediately understood the honor, but I also immediately felt the responsibility of being the person to carry that lunch pail.”

Prioleau added some context to the tweet put out by Virginia Tech on Friday announcing the lunch pail’s return. According to Prioleau, the lunch pail will be handed out weekly, but the decision-making process for who earns the honor will be kept in-house.

Foster would start out the week of practice by putting the lunch pail in the locker of a deserving defender. The honor could rotate weekly or stay with the same player for weeks on end.

The idea came out of discussions among the defensive coaching staff during the offseason.

“It was a no-brainer for us,” Prioleau said. “Anybody that’s been around this program understands what that lunch pail brings to the value, not just to this team but to this community. So to have that thing back on our sideline is big-time.”

The lunch pail’s retirement lasted two seasons.

Former coach Justin Fuente decided in consultation with then-defensive coordinator Justin Hamilton and athletic director Whit Babcock to put the tradition on hold. A lunch pail remained on display in the Jamerson Center, and there was a banner in the stadium honoring Foster with the lunch pail’s image.

Prioleau was on the staff as a director of player development for the defense, and thought the decision was the right one at the time.

“I think when Coach Foster left the sideline as a defensive coordinator, that decision was made in respect of him,” Prioleau said. “It wasn’t this program turning their back on the moniker or all the things that the lunch pail represents, but with the new era, the opportunity to bring it back, it was an easy decision to make.”

The origins of the lunch pail date back to the 1995 season when Foster was co-defensive coordinator with Rod Sharpless. They wanted a tangible object to represent the blue-collar work ethic they wanted to build their defense around.

Sharpless found one in the suburbs of Trenton, New Jersey, from his mother-in-law’s neighbor, the late Arnold Stawrosky.

The lunch pail’s contents varied each season, and it gained added significance when the football team filled it with the names and ribbons of the 32 victims killed in an on-campus shooting in 2007.

The lunch pail Tech used during Foster’s last season was given to Charley Wiles, his longtime defensive line coach. Wiles was let go from the staff in the weeks leading up to the 2019 Belk Bowl. The only person to have permanent possession of one was Darryl Tapp, who ended up on the coaching staff the next season.

“Guys understand you’re not really playing to get the lunch pail, but you’re playing the best that you can be to be the best on the football field at any given time,” Prioleau said. “Everybody’s playing the best that they can possibly play and it’s with that reward that you assume the responsibility of being the very best.”