What seemed like a bold dream a month ago has become a reality in Blacksburg as Virginia Tech has hired former Penn State head coach James Franklin as its next head coach according to multiple reports including ESPN's Pete Thamel.
Franklin arrives at Virginia Tech after a highly successful 12-year at Penn State during which he went 104-45 with six 10+ win seasons, one Big 10 title, two Big 10 title game appearances, a 2024 CFP run to the semifinals, and four New Year’s Six Bowl victories in seven NY6 appearances. In the process, Franklin led Penn State out of severe and rightful NCAA sanctions that decimated the program and back to being among the top 10 programs in the country on a consistent basis. He also won big at Vanderbilt with three bowl games in three seasons including two nine-win seasons at the end of his tenure prior to taking the Penn State job.
Franklin was one of the most prized candidates under consideration this coaching carousel with the Hokies making him their top target soon after his stunning midseason dismissal at Penn State, less than ten months after he was a late fourth quarter Drew Allar INT away from leading Penn State to the national championship game.
This is a tremendous coup by Virginia Tech amidst a coaching cycle where Franklin had plenty of interest including from Auburn and Arkansas. Additionally, it’s very possible that Florida State would have pursued him if they would have opened while Florida and LSU both could have easily considered him depending on their pursuits of Lane Kiffin.
Franklin instantly becomes the most accomplished, modern era coaching hire for Virginia Tech and will have the unique edge of being able to solely focus on the recruiting trail for the next few weeks. That includes the chance to host a major recruiting weekend for Tech’s home finale against Miami.
The fit with Franklin and VT is seamless as Franklin is a proven program builder who knows what it takes to build a sustainable winner that gets its chances on big stages. He also is a proven recruiter who has been a force in Virginia throughout his tenure and will be able to fire up his recruiting machine in Blacksburg immediately as if he was never off the sidelines for even several weeks.
This is also only the third time this century that an outside coach has been as a school's next head coach prior to the end of the season at the FBS level and the first time at the Power 4 level. The only other two happened in 2021 in Clay Helton to Georgia Southern and Jim Mora Jr to UCONN.
We will have more as this story develops.
My early comment on Coach Franklin didn’t age well. If he can bring comparable talent to Blacksburg that he got to commit to Happy Valley,
The Hokies will be an ACC contender very quickly. Congratulations to the search committee! Go Hokies!