When Virginia Tech fired Brent Pry after a Week 3 loss to Old Dominion in mid-September, nobody knew where they were going to turn to for his replacement. The one clear thing was this: it was a hire that the search committee needed to nail.
Little did they know that the prefect candidate was about to fall into their lap a month later. James Franklin would be fired at Penn State, and about six weeks later, he was hired at Virginia Tech, replacing his former defensive coordinator at Penn State.
A lot of people saw the hiring as a good one for Virginia Tech. Bill Connolly of ESPN is clearly one of those analysts with the grade he gave for the hiring.
ESPN gives Virginia Tech high grade for hiring James Franklin
Connolly graded the hirings in what was a crazy coaching carousel, and he gave Virginia Tech an 'A' for landing Franklin. Here is what he wrote,
"Last summer, I used stats to look at which coaches have done the best job of overachieving against their school's recent history. Granted, Franklin's average will go down once I've added this year's Penn State team to the mix, but heading into 2025 he was No. 8 among all long-term coaches of the past 20 years,'' wrote Connolly.
"Vanderbilt had averaged 3.1 wins per season over a 35-year period, and he won 24 games in three seasons there. Penn State had enjoyed four top-10 finishes in 19 years and was still dealing with sanctions when he arrived in 2014, and he oversaw five top-10 finishes in a nine-year run. No matter how the run at PSU ended, for Tech to land someone with that type of résumé was an absolute coup,'' Connolly added.
Virginia Tech has been seen as a sleeping giant in a lot of people's eyes in terms of being woken up. If there is someone who can wake it up, it's Franklin. He has hit the ground running in recruiting, and next month, he'll have work to do with the Transfer Portal. Given Franklin's history at Vanderbilt and Penn State, it shouldn't take long for him to turn things around in Blacksburg.