When Penn State fired James Franklin in October, he became the top name on a lot of schools' lists to be their next head coach. Six days after being fired, Franklin went on College GameDay and said that he wanted to return to coaching despite his massive buyout. Franklin's firing came a month after Virginia Tech fired its head coach, Brent Pry.
Pry's firing was coming sooner rather than later, and after an embarrassing Week 3 home loss to Old Dominion, the move was made. As soon as Virginia Tech assembled a search committee, Franklin became its top target. Two weeks ago, it was announced that Franklin was being hired as the next coach in Blacksburg, and his impact is already being felt. His presence is not only felt at Virginia Tech, but also at his former stop in State College.
Penn State coaching search ripped after James Franklin plucks their commits
It has been nearly two months since Franklin was fired by Penn State, and they still haven't found a new head coach. In fact, there have been nearly a dozen openings since Nittany Lions AD Pat Kraft made the move, and most of those openings have been filled. After Franklin plucked more commits from Penn State on Monday, Clay Travis of The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show called out Penn State's coaching search as a mess.
James Franklin is taking many of Penn State’s top recruits to Virginia Tech. The Penn State search is a mess. Signing day is Wednesday and they have no coach there to get recruits signed despite firing Franklin two months ago.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) December 1, 2025
Signing day is Wednesday, and they still don't have anyone in place. All of that leaves speculation as to what might happen, and Franklin is swooping in and plucking off his previous commits and bringing them to Virginia Tech.
There were reports on Monday night from Pete Thamel of ESPN that BYU coach Kalani Sitake is the focus of Penn State's coaching search, but he will be leading the Cougars into the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday. That's not going to help with signing day on Wednesday.
Generally, when you fire a coach, you have a plan, and it doesn't seem like Penn State had a plan. What they have done is they have got a lot of coaches paid with extensions at their current schools who were considered a candidate for the opening in State College. The list is shrinking, and they have nobody in place. Franklin is taking advantage of it and running with it. This is turning into a disaster for Penn State by the day.