Whenever someone is fired from a job, it hurts. That is the case with most, if not all, coaches who get let go in the middle of the season, which they worked so hard to build. Last fall, several coaches got fired from their schools and it started early in September with Virginia Tech firing Brent Pry.
A month after Pry was fired, his former boss, James Franklin, had the same fate at Penn State. Pry's firing wasn't surprising, and in the overall big picture, neither was Franklin with the Nittany Lions. However, when Franklin was canned, despite making some guaranteed money from Penn State after he was let go, he didn't want to be sitting around much over the next year.
Virginia Tech coach James Franklin opens up about being fired at Penn State and quickly finding another job
After he was fired at Penn State, Franklin went on ESPN College GameDay and made it clear that he was looking to get back on the sideline sooner rather than later. He wanted to get back for the 2026 season. It didn't take the Virginia Tech search committee long to zero in on him. In a recent conversation with Adam Breneman, Franklin explained why he hoped to get right back into another job right away.
“I’ve got a guaranteed contract; I don’t have to work. But my wife and my agent were like, ‘Look, you need to go to work, because not only are you going to drive yourself crazy, most importantly, you’re going to drive them crazy,’” said Franklin.
Enter Virginia Tech. They needed to nail the next hire in Blacksburg after Justin Fuente and Pry failed to get the program where it was used to under Frank Beamer. Virginia Tech couldn't wait out another first-year head coach as a coordinator to come in and do their thing. This needed to be a hire with experience as a head coach and, more importantly, one who is glued to the current state of NIL and recruiting.
Enter James Franklin.
Sure, Franklin didn't have to come right back into coaching. He could have done some work on TV or even just stayed out of the spotlight. That's not James Franklin. Virginia Tech's search committee came calling, and he answered. Once a deal was struck and behind-the-scenes work with both Penn State and Virginia Tech was worked out, he was hired in mid-November.
Not only did he return to the sideline, but he also got the band back together and even did the unthinkable: he brought Pry back as his defensive coordinator. That's right, three months after being fired, Pry was back in the building in a pivotal spot. Franklin and Pry worked so well together at Penn State in those roles, why can't they again, as awkward as it may seem?
James Franklin was the best option available for Virginia Tech's search committee, and they landed him. It helped that he didn't want to be sitting at home and doing nothing, and that he wanted to be back on the sideline. We are less than two months away from his first game at Virginia Tech vs. VMI at Lane Stadium on Sept. 5. Who thought that it was possible that would happen one year ago?
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