Our series of Virginia Tech head coach candidate breakdowns continues today as we take a look at one of the likely top targets for the Hokies this cycle: former Penn State head coach James Franklin. You can take a look at our other profiles at the links below.
- Former Northwester HC Pat Fitzgerald
- UNLV HC Dan Mullen
No one could have imagined that Franklin would be fired midseason when Penn State was battling Notre Dame all the way to the end of their semifinal matchup in last season's College Football Playoff. However, Franklin is a proven head coach who probably ranks among the top 15 or so in the business still even with how his 2025 season went.
So with that said, let's dive into my candidate breakdown.
Positives
Proven Winner and Program Builder
Let's start with the obvious about James Franklin and the fact that he is a high-level proven winner and program builder.
Since Franklin was at Penn State over a decade, many have forgotten how Franklin was the one who actually rebuilt a Penn State program coming off severe NCAA sanction and two solid caretaking years by Bill O'Brien. Franklin turned the once proud but rightly disgraced program back into something respectable, winning a Big 10 title in his third year at the helm in 2016.
Overall, Franklin was 10+ games in six seasons in State College with five finishes in the top 10 of the final top 25 plus a CFB Playoff semifinal appearance in 2024, four victories in New Year's Six Bowls, and an impressive 104-45 overall record. Add in his impressive tenure at Vanderbilt prior to PSU where he led the Commodores to bowl games in all three seasons including two 9-win seasons at the end of his tenure and it's impossible to deny his success.
Franklin is someone who knows how to win and has been able to achieve that driven largely by defenses where he's put the right person in charge to lead that unit whether it was Bob Shoop, Brent Pry, Manny Diaz, or Tom Allen. He's also been someone who is unafraid to make a fairly quick change when things aren't working as seen by some of the offensive coordinator changes he made over the past few years with his OC hiring of Andy Kotelnicki in 2024 helping Penn State elevate their offense enough to have a 13-3 season.
Even when Franklin seemed on the brink after a rough 2020 season, he was able to turn it around and show that 2020 was simply a blip on the map rather than a sign of things to come. If Franklin would have been given another year in Happy Valley, I wouldn't have been surprised if he would have done the same.
It also helps that Franklin is only 53 years old and has lots of tread left in his coaching career unlike 64-year old Brian Kelly who seems on the decline, especially with some of what has come out since his firing.
No available coach can match the resume of Franklin, and there's a reason why many across the nation have declared how Franklin should be a primary candidate for the Hokies including myself hours after he was dismissed by Penn State.
