When Penn State fired James Franklin back in October, it ended a 12-year run with the Nittany Lions. He instantly became the hottest commodity on the coaching market. He was unemployed for just two months before he was hired at Virginia Tech.
It has been widely known that Virginia Tech's search committee was after Franklin and wasn't really going to stop until they got him. They finally did, and it wasn't surprising that he wasn't out of coaching for long. However, his stint in Happy Valley was one that, even though it ended abruptly, was a successful one where it was when he was hired. For example, joining Next Up with Adam Breneman, Franklin explained with his former Penn State player what it was like when he got there.
“We talked about this before,'' said Franklin. "I think when I got the job, most college football programs had anywhere between 16 and 22 offensive linemen on scholarship. We had four, I think, was the number. Yeah. It was, it was, it was a tough situation. That’s before the transfer portal, right?”
However, in the end, Farnklin's inability to win the big game ended up being his downfall, despite what he had built. He was a couple of plays away from having Penn State play for a National Championship two years ago before falling short in the College Football Playoff semifinals against Notre Dame.
“Ultimately, it’s about winning national championships, and we weren’t able to take that last step,” Franklin said. “So, I’m very, very proud and very appreciative of my time.”
Virginia Tech is in a similar spot when they hired Franklin six months ago in terms of needing to turn the program around. Sure, they're in a different position than Penn State was in terms of NIL and the Transfer Portal being available, but the school is making more of a commitment to football, which Franklin said was part of the reason he took the job in Blacksburg.
Look, Virginia Tech has nowhere to go but up; however, they are hoping that the success Franklin had turning around Vanderbilt and Penn State, he can do the same in Blacksburg. Penn State's loss will be Virginia Tech's gain overtime.
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