When Virginia Tech hired James Franklin in mid-November as their new football coach, it quickly excited the fanbase and rightfully so. The school and search committee formed by the school needed to nail the next hire and, boy, did they.
Franklin is an experienced coach who landed a new job just over a month after getting fired by Penn State. As soon as he took over, he hit the ground running in terms of flipping Class of 2026 recruits from Penn State to Virginia Tech and evolving the Hokies' roster. As expected, there was some turnover with the roster with the Transfer Portal, but there was also some key retention.
Expectations are quickly rising in Blacksburg. Austin Nivison of CBS Sports had one post-spring overreaction for each ACC school. His for the Hokies was a promising one.
CBS Sports said out loud what Virginia Tech fans are thinking
At Virginia Tech, Franklin doesn't have to deal with Michigan, Ohio State, and Indiana almost yearly. Instead, it's Miami and then a bunch of up-and-down programs. The path to contending in the ACC is much different than the Big Ten or SEC, which makes a turnaround likely quicker at Tech.
"No ACC team returns more starters than Virginia Tech's 14. There's a fair debate over whether returning that many players from a 3-9 team is a good thing, but there is something to be said for stability and continuity in an era of all-time-high roster turnover. That's especially true on defense, where the freshly fired Brent Pry returns as the defensive coordinator on Franklin's staff. Given how murky the middle of the ACC is, would anyone be surprised to see Franklin turn this program around rather quickly?" wrote Nivison.
Could Franklin turn things around quickly in Blacksburg? Sure, he doesn't have far to go in terms of improving the record after a 3-9 2025 campaign. However, there will be a significant difference in talent from last season's roster with the portal additions Franklin brought in.
What is worth keeping an eye on next season is what Nivison mentioned, Brent Pry coming back as the defensive coordinator. It takes a lot of guts to return to the same building, but in a different office, after being fired as the head coach. However, the success that Franklin and Pry had in the same two positions in State College should not go overlooked.
Virginia Tech does return a fair amount of starters, but it might not be as bad as some think in terms of returning 14 starters on a 3-9 team. There was some talent on both sides of the ball last year, and there is no doubt that some of those starters returning are good players.
The ACC being murky will help Franklin, and making some big strides in 2026 wouldn't surprise many people.
Add us as a preferred source on Google