Four days before being hired at Virginia Tech, James Franklin was spotted on the sideline at Old Dominion when the Monarchs met Troy. He said that he was attending the game, supporting some of his former coaches, and tailgating.
Last Monday, he was officially hired as the football coach at Virginia Tech, and he hit the ground running in recruiting. He lined up dozens of recruits to be in Blacksburg last weekend for the Hokies' final home game of the 2025 season against 13th-ranked Miami.
As for putting together a staff for next season, Franklin is in the process of doing that, but there was some speculation that he was at ODU trying to recruit Ricky Rahne, who was an offensive coordinator at Penn State for Franklin, among different titles he held, to leave the Monarchs as the head coach and join him in Blacksburg.
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— Kolby Crawford (@kolby_crawford) November 24, 2025
Ricky Rahne commits to staying at Old Dominion
Listening to Rahne, there was a lot of hesitation in his voice. He made it clear that he wasn't interested in leaving Old Dominion, and that was maybe true. However, the hesitation in his voice made it feel like he was caught off guard by the question, something he shouldn't have been.
Just how Franklin goes about filling out his coaching staff and coordinators remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure: Rahne was denying that he discussed a move to Blacksburg with Franklin. Oddly enough, Rahne's win over the Hokies in Week 3 was the loss that ended Brent Pry's tenure at Virginia Tech. However, the hesitation in his voice and the way he gave his answer make you think there might be something there. We'll see how it plays out over the coming weeks.
Franklin will likely round out his staff with assistants from Penn State and former assistants he's had. Rahne coming to Virginia Tech would certainly be a nice addition for Franklin.