James Franklin has all but lined up his first Virginia Tech staff as the Transfer Portal opened. The former Penn State coach has gone back to his State College days to pluck some former assistants, as well as retaining some of Brent Pry's staff. Heck, he's even bringing Pry back as his defensive coordinator, the same position he held at Penn State before coming to Virginia Tech.
Franklin retained wide receivers coach Fontel Mines, as well as offensive line coach Matt Moore. Those were two huge retainments for Franklin, both in terms of coaching and recruiting. Mines was considered one of the bigger recruiters for Pry, and Moore was able to bring some of his former players from West Virginia with him to Blacksburg. He has also been a good recruiter at some of his previous stops.
Speaking of recruiting, another one of Pry's assistants who did a ton of recruiting and was instrumental in some of the recruits Virginia Tech got was outside linebackers coach Shawn Quinn. He did a terrific job on the recruiting trail, and he is the latest to leave Virginia Tech.
Former OLB coach Shawn Quinn leaving Virginia Tech
Quinn posted on his X account that he was leaving Virginia Tech, and he thanked the fans. According to A Sea of Red, Quinn has accepted the defensive coordinator position at Liberty. This is a huge addition to the Flames staff, and Quinn should do quite well there.
Quinn's ability to recruit will be a massive plus for the Liberty program, and he did a nice job coaching the linebackers at Virginia Tech and was a key piece to the defensive staff. It isn't surprising that Quinn is moving on from Tech and will not be a part of Franklin's staff, but he should do a nice job of calling plays and recruiting for the Flames.