Virginia Tech coach James Franklin was one of the dominoes to fall during the intense coaching carousel that gripped college football last season. Franklin was fired after a stunning loss to the Northwestern Wildcats completed a shocking three-game slide that almost certainly dropped the Nittany Lions out of College Football Playoff contention.
James Franklin Details Job Hunting After Penn State Firing
During Tuesday’s segment of “Josh Pate’s College Football” show, Franklin spoke about approaching the college football job market after being fired by Penn State and being hired by the Virginia Tech Hokies.
“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.”
Franklin was one of the most coveted coaches on the market as teams dealt with heavy head coach turnover. Ultimately, he was hired by the Hokies and the Nittany Lions, who owed Franklin a reported $49 million buyout, negotiated a reduced $9 million settlement with their former coach instead.
Franklin was fired after 11 and a half seasons in Happy Valley, during which he had come to within a Drew Allar pass completion from reaching the national championship game against the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2024.
After the fateful loss to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Orange Bowl, Franklin was fully backed by the Nittany Lions. He hired defensive coordinator Jim Knowles from the reigning national champions, making him the highest-paid defensive coordinator in the country.
In addition to recruiting smartly via the transfer portal, he also convinced several players, including quarterback Allar, to return to Penn State ahead of an expected assault on the national championship the following season.
Franklin’s Nittany Lions were ranked No. 2 in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll and were one of the teams expected to contend for both the Big Ten championship and national title before the slump that led to his firing.
The biggest criticism of the Franklin era in Happy Valley was his inability to compete against AP Top-10 teams, finishing his tenure with a 4-21 record against such opponents, including a woeful 1-18 record in Big Ten games.
