After Virginia Tech fired Brent Pry, the search committee that was put together was looking for his replacement. Little did they know about what was to come their way. A month after Pry was fired, so was James Franklin at Penn State.
As soon as that happened, Virginia Tech's committee didn't waste time before they zeroed in on Franklin. After he was fired, Franklin went on ESPN College GameDay to make it clear that he was ready to move on to his next adventure. You got the hint that he wanted to be on the sideline in 2026.
Over a month after that appearance on GameDay happened, after weeks of rumors and rumblings, Virginia Tech announced the hiring of Franklin in mid-November. How did it all come together?
James Franklin details Virginia Tech's coaching search
Josh Pate was in Blacksburg and sat down with Franklin for a conversation about the process and coming to Virginia Tech for his Josh Pate College Football Show. Franklin admitted that he had never been fired before, and this was all new to him.
“I’d never been fired before, so in the past, we’d turned down a bunch of jobs at Vanderbilt and at Penn State. But you’re never really involved because your agent’s handling this,” Franklin said. “But now you’re out of work, there’s no, ‘Talk to my agent, I’m not dealing with this.’ It was a very different process.
“And people are like, ‘We wanna come see you.’ Virginia Tech was the first school to fly in. The problem was, I thought they were flying in for a first conversation; they were ready for me to say yes that night. 70% of the stuff that was out there was not accurate. It’s kind of how the business is now. But, things worked out the way they were supposed to.”
If there is one clear thing, it's that Virginia Tech's search committee was going to do everything it could to land Franklin as their next coach. They were aggressive, and it paid off. The committee needed to get the hire right, and Franklin was the best option available. It appears the search committee did what they needed to do; they were aggressive in going after Franklin and getting him to turn things around. That match on paper is perfect, and we'll see if the results are what everyone is hoping they will be on the field.
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