Two days after being hired as the next football coach at Virginia Tech, James Franklin was introduced at a press conference at Cassell Coliseum. He got up and spoke to the media, and looked like someone happy to be back in coaching just six-plus weeks after being fired at Penn State.
He thanked a lot of people, including the coach he was replacing in Blacksburg, his former defensive coordinator at Penn State, Brent Pry. He got emotional talking about Pry and what he meant to not only Franklin, but also his father.
"Brent Pry is a good friend,'' Franklin said. "Brent's dad was my offensive coordinator in college, I've known Brent for over 30 years... Brent and his family were with me at Vanderbilt all three years, and I think for our first seven years at Penn State. I got a ton of respect for Brent and his family, and I know he poured his heart and soul into this place (Virginia Tech).''
Little did anyone know what was about to come.
James Franklin planted the seeds to hire Brent Pry at Virginia Tech at his press conference
Late on Saturday night, it was reported by Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports that Franklin was closing in on hiring Pry as his defensive coordinator at Virginia Tech. That's right, the coach who was fired after a Week 3 loss to Old Dominion at Virginia Tech is close to returning to the campus three months later at the DC.
The reviews on this have been mixed, to say the least. It has been well documented how close Franklin and Pry are. It was joked about at the time the "James Franklin has a chance to do the funniest thing.'' Guess what. He's close to doing it. All that is needed is the official announcement from the school.
Just how this ends up working out, if it officially happens, remains to be seen, but can you imagine the first backlash as soon as something goes wrong? Pry had a lot of success running Franklin's defense in State College and could do the same in Blacksburg. Regardless, the seeds for the move were planted at Franklin's press conference on Nov. 19 for the move to happen.