Consider me as someone who will believe the James Franklin to Virginia Tech rumors when it gets done and everything is signed. There have been rumors and smoke surrounding the potential hiring happening, and it got weird on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday.
That hasn't been the only smoke around the subject this week, and more analysts hinted at the possibility of Franklin to Virginia Tech being a real possibility. The latest was ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit and Joey Galloway.
ESPN analysts Kirk Herbstreit and Joey Galloway hint at James Franklin to Virginia Tech
On their latest Nonstop podcast, Herbstreit and Galloway hinted at a potential landing spot in Blacksburg for Franklin. Galloway spoke about Franklin being a head coach sooner rather than later and of course, Virginia Tech was brought up.
"(Franklin) will be a head coach in a few weeks." Galloway continued. "Let's say he goes-- I've heard Virginia Tech." Herbstreit promptly answers, "Yeah."
So, let's remember that Virginia Tech's search committee signed NDA's last month when the process to find Brent Pry's replacement began. Bruce Arians, who is part of the committee, smirked on McAfee's show on Tuesday when the topic was being discussed. Read into that what you choose to.
Whatever ends up happening is going to take time, but the question is, how long will Virginia Tech's committee wait for Franklin's decision if things are really close? At some point, you would have to think that they would pivot to another candidate, as with all the openings there currently are, and high-profile ones at that, time will be of the essence.
Franklin is clearly the biggest free agent name in the coaching carousel, and his agent, Jimmy Sexton, is not someone who closes deals quickly and easily. You get the feeling that is the case here after Auburn opened on Sunday. For now, all we can do is wait, despite the large amount of smoke surrounding the topic.