After Virginia Tech fired Brent Pry last September, the school formed a search committee to hire the next coach. Little did they know that just over a month later, their ideal candidate would fall right into their lap when James Franklin was fired by Penn State.
A little over a month after the firing, Franklin was hired in Blacksburg to replace his former Penn State defensive coordinator at Virginia Tech. However, to get the former Vanderbilt and Penn State coach to agree to come to Blacksburg with other higher-profile jobs open, the school had to make a serious investment that Pry didn't have in the new landscape of college football. Money.
Where does Virginia Tech rank in college football roster spending?
Before Franklin was hired, former athletic director Whit Babcock started to get the wheels moving to get Virginia Tech the money required to compete in the ACC and nationally. A $229 million investment plan was put in motion, and donations were coming in. With that money and other resources, don't look now, but the investments are skyrocketing Virginia Tech up into the upper echelon of the ACC.
According to The Athletic, Virginia Tech is spending between $ 25 and $ 30 million on its roster for the 2026 season, and that is third in the ACC behind Miami and Clemson.
So, what does that mean? It means that Virginia Tech is making the necessary investments needed to win and compete at the highest level. Let's be honest, this was needed before Hokies athletics got so far behind the times that they would have been passed by other ACC schools.
In order to get a coach like Franklin, the investment was needed. You would not get him or another high-profile candidate without the investment. It just wasn't happening. Could you have lured a group of 6 head coaches or a coordinator from a power program? Sure, but let's be honest, going that route, even with the money investment, would still have been a setback. The hire needed to be nailed with an experienced coach with a strong résumé, and it was.
Now, expecting big results overnight is unrealistic right now. Competing for a National Championship in Year 1 for Franklin at Virginia Tech is thinking way outside the box. However, a seven-win season would go a long way toward building for the future. Right now, the money is there, the investment is there, and the results need to happen over time, and they will. Virginia Tech's investment is waking up a sleeping giant.
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