Former Penn State coach James Franklin is a candidate for the Virginia Tech job.
Nittany Sports Now can confirm that, and it shouldn’t be a surprise.
Franklin wants to coach.
Virginia Tech needs a coach, and Franklin would not just be the best realistic option it could hire, he would be, almost by default, the best coach it’s had since Frank Beamer.
Beamer made Virginia Tech a winner and, at its peak, a national powerhouse when he was there from 1987-2015, winning 238 games and finishing in the top 10 six times. Beamer is a VT legend, and has a statue to prove it.
But the program started toiling in mediocrity years before Beamer retired, and afterward, things only got worse.
Justin Fuente succeeded Beamer, and, initially, he did succeed, going 19-8 over his first two seasons.
But Fuente went 24-23 over the next four and got fired with two games left in the 2021 season.
Succeeding Fuente was one of Franklin’s best friends in former defensive coordinator Brent Pry, and Fuente gave Pry next to nothing to work with. The 2020 recruiting class finished 77th in the nation and the 2021 class finished 44th, making Pry’s job more difficult.
The recruiting got little better in Pry’s tenure, and so did the team. Pry went 16-24 over three plus seasons, and after an 0-3 start this year, he was fired Sept. 14.
Report: Former Penn State Assistant Brent Pry Will be Fired by Virginia Tech
At that time, nobody thought Franklin would meet the same fate less than a month later.
But he did, and now, Franklin is looking for a job, and many feel Virginia Tech is the perfect fit.
But is it?
Sure, the thought of him leading the team out to “Enter Sandman” is perfect. But what about the rest of it?
WHY IT’S A PERFECT FIT
Virginia Tech’s weakness is Franklin’s strong suit: recruiting. As recently as 2018, VT had a top 25 class. But since then, it hasn’t cracked the top 30, and the last two seasons, it’s been outside the top 40. Now, it would be naive to think that Franklin could have the same recruiting success at Penn State, where he put out multiple top 10 classes, at VT. But it would be equally naive to think Franklin couldn’t do better than Fuente or Pry, especially with a financial commitment to the athletic department approved shortly after Pry’s firing.
A big reason Franklin won big in recruiting at Penn State was players from the D.C., Maryland and Virginia region. Tyler Warren, Chop Robinson and Olu Fashanu are among the many who came to Penn State from the DMV (in Robinson’s case, he transferred from Maryland) and thrived at Penn State.
Franklin knows how to recruit, and knows how to develop (Warren was a three-star, remember), and his connections in that region are part of what make him an ideal fit from VT’s perspective.
Another factor is that the ACC isn’t on the same level as the Big Ten or SEC. There isn’t a boogeyman in that conference like there is in the Big Ten (Ohio State) or SEC (Alabama). Heck, the University of Virginia is 4-0 in that conference.
Why couldn’t Virginia Tech have that type of success?
WHY IT ISN’T A PERFECT FIT
The big question to consider is this: What is the best case scenario for Franklin at Virginia Tech?
The common answer to that question would probably be along the lines of: “he builds a consistent 10-win program that becomes a College Football Playoff regular.”
But unless the answer involves the words “winning a national title,” it’s hard to see Franklin elevating himself at Virginia Tech.
Franklin has done everything there is to do at the college level except coach in a national title game and win it. At Vanderbilt, he proved he could build a program. At Penn State, he proved he could get a program to the cusp of a national title.
So if he goes to Virginia Tech and wins 10 games a year— a scenario that isn’t a guarantee for any coach anywhere, let alone at a place that hasn’t played in a major bowl game since 2012— what does he prove that he hasn’t before?
Think about this: Franklin took on the ACC regular season champion in last year’s College Football Playoff, won by four touchdowns, and that wasn’t enough to make people believe he was a good big game coach.
The ACC being below the Big Ten and SEC makes it an easier place to build a winning program. But unless Franklin regularly gets to play teams like Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama, Georgia etc., it will be hard for him to shut people up.
FINAL VERDICT
If James Franklin wants to be at a place where being good every year is enough to make fans happy, VT is a great destination.
But based on Franklin’s own words, I don’t think that will be enough for him.
A man who says “we’re just gonna go win a national championship somewhere else now,” doesn’t seem like a man who would settle for something less.
At Virginia Tech, he’d either have to settle for being “great” and not “elite”— again, that’s the best case scenario— or use it as a stepping stone for a bigger job.
Franklin is 53 with 15 years of head coaching experience at the Power 4 level, 12 of those being a place many feel is a “blue blood.” That doesn’t sound like somebody looking for a steeping stone.
I’m not predicting that Franklin won’t take the Virginia Tech job. It’s certainly possible. But based on Franklin’s own words and what he’s accomplished, going to a school that has a shot to win a national title in the near future seems like the best bet.
The Florida State job could well be open by December, and that’s a fit that makes more sense.
