The college football coaching carousel has been spinning at full speed for a solid two months with high-profile firings one after another, but the real fun of it all is the other part of the equation — who are these schools hiring?
And the first major domino has fallen.
Penn State firing James Franklin in mid-October is really what set the college football job market abuzz, and Franklin is now the first high-profile coach hired in this cycle as well.
Virginia Tech announced the hiring of Franklin as its next head coach Monday.
“I’m honored and humbled to join the Hokie family,” Franklin in a statement through the program. “My vision is simple: to restore unmatched excellence, to build something that lasts, and to serve this University, the Commonwealth of Virginia and our amazing fan base with honor, integrity, and passion. I look forward to getting to work with our players, our staff, and the entire Virginia Tech community.”
Franklin brings a 128-60 career record and immediate credibility to the Hokies’ rebuild, as they look to return to the heights they enjoyed under longtime coach Frank Beamer after failed tenures by Justin Fuente (43-31, fired during his sixth season) and then Brent Pry (16-24, fired three games into his fourth season).
Notably, after hiring Fuente from Memphis and giving Pry his first head coaching job after he made his name as the defensive coordinator at Penn State (coaching under Franklin from 2011-21 at Vanderbilt and PSU), Virginia Tech goes with the most experienced Power Four head coach likely to be on the market this time.
When the 2025 football season started, it would have been beyond unthinkable that Franklin would be the head coach at another school before the calendar even hit December. He was coming off his best season at Penn State, winning 13 games last year, reaching the Big Ten championship game and then the College Football Playoff semifinals, losing 27-24 to Notre Dame to come that close to playing for a national championship.
As such, his Nittany Lions opened the season ranked No. 2 in the AP poll, rolled through a light nonconference schedule at 3-0, leading into a spotlight showdown with then-No. 6 Oregon in a “Whiteout” game in Happy Valley. A little more than two weeks later, Franklin was fired after losing to the Ducks in double-overtime followed by stunning losses at UCLA and home vs. Northwestern as at least 20-point favorites in both games.
While Franklin had six seasons with at least 10 wins in his 12 years at Penn State, he was criticized for his 4-21 record against top-10 teams while with the Nittany Lions. He won a lot of games — just not enough of the big games.
Because of that, he might have been a tough sell at some of the other high-profile jobs to come open like Florida and especially LSU, where winning the big games is a requirement for continued employment.
But Franklin and Virginia Tech feel like a perfect fit.
“James Franklin embodies the spirit, vision, and relentless pursuit of excellence that will elevate Virginia Tech Football back on the national stage where it belongs,” Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock said. “This is a landmark moment for our program — made possible by the unwavering commitment of our Board of Visitors, the Search Committee, University leadership, and donors, who share a bold Invest to Win mindset.
“James is a dynamic leader, a relentless recruiter, and a coach who has proven he can build and sustain elite, championship-caliber programs. We are thrilled to welcome him and his family to Blacksburg and to entrust him with the future of VT Football.”
In the ACC, Franklin will have an easier path to building a perennial contender — and to be fair, he built one of the steadier programs in the Big Ten while taking over a tough situation at the time at Penn State — while also doing it at a program that wants to win at the biggest level.
The Hokies won three Big East and four ACC championships under Beamer in addition to playing in the national championship game after the 1999 season (losing to Florida State). Beamer went 238-121-2 in 29 seasons at Virginia Tech from 1987-2015, including 13 seasons of at least 10 wins (with eight straight from 2004-11).
But that was a different version of college football back then, and to compete on that level in this era it’s all about financial backing for NIL and revenue sharing. As ESPN noted, after firing Pry in September, Virginia Tech’s Board of Visitors passed a plan to add $229 million to the athletics budget over the next four years to make the program attractive to a high-profile coach — like Franklin.
Terms of Franklin’s deal with Virginia Tech have not been announced.
Analysis: Why Franklin Fits in Blacksburg
So back to the point of this being a seemingly perfect mutual fit, let’s break it down reason by reason.
– Franklin steps into a school that has won at a high level historically and is in need of a quick rebuild, and Virginia Tech gets a proven winner who has made a specialty of doing just that. Franklin took over a Vanderbilt program in 2011 coming off back-to-back two-win seasons, went 6-7 his first year and then posted back-to-back 9-4 seasons that marked the program’s most wins in a season in nearly 100 years. Then he stepped into an awkward Penn State situation with the school still in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal and Joe Paterno firing, with just two bridge seasons under Bill O’Brien before Franklin’s arrival. After going 7-6 his first two years, Franklin delivered back-to-back 11-win seasons while getting the program back to national contention.
– Franklin goes to a school that just made a substantial financial commitment, as noted above, to invest in athletics and show it’s not content with mediocrity and wants to get back to its former heights (and beyond). There are only so many jobs that can promise that, and Franklin landed one that also takes him to a conference in the ACC less top-heavy with blue blood perennial national contenders like the Big Ten or SEC.
– Franklin stays in a geographical region where he has spent most of his life and career and has his strongest recruiting connections. He was born in Pennsylvania and played college football there for East Stroudsburg, and then he really launched his rise up the coaching ranks during two seasons as an assistant coach, strong recruiter and eventual offensive coordinator at Maryland, which prioritizes recruiting the same DMV region as the Hokies.
So, to summarize, Virginia Tech hires a coach with the caliber of resume it couldn’t have imagined possible when it fired Pry in September and gets to have him in place in time to rally this 2026 recruiting cycle before National Signing Day in December and the ensuing transfer portal window, giving the Hokies a chance to build a strong roster for Franklin’s first year.
And while Franklin didn’t land the biggest job on the open market, he may well have landed the best fit for himself.
This is a win-win for both sides.