Virginia Tech is going back to the Penn State well for its football coach, only this one comes with a lot bigger credentials.
The Hokies made the first big splash of the 2025 carousel on Monday when they hired former Penn State coach James Franklin to lead their football program. ESPN's Pete Thamel reported the news first, which sources confirmed to Tech Sideline, and the Hokies officially announced Franklin as their newest head coach at 6 p.m. ET on Monday.
“I’m honored and humbled to join the Hokie family,” Franklin said in the school’s release. “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.”
He replaces Brent Pry, Franklin’s former defensive coordinator at Penn State, who was fired in September after getting off to a non-competitive 0-3 start in the 2025 season, with back-to-back blowout home losses to Vanderbilt and Old Dominion.
Pry went 16-24 as Tech’s coach, a second straight misfire in the big whistle spot for the Hokies after Justin Fuente couldn’t find sustained success following a strong first two seasons, finishing .500 or worse in three of his final four years.
Interim coach Philip Montgomery has gone 3-4 since taking over for Pry in September, earning hard-fought conference wins against NC State and Cal, though his role was always deemed temporary as the Hokies took a big swing in the coaching carousel.
The 53-year-old Franklin is as big of a name as Hokies fans could have hoped for, coming to Virginia Tech with arguably the best college résumé of any hire in ACC history.
He owns a 128-60 career record, a .680 winning percentage, five top-10 finishes in the Associated Press poll, a 2016 Big Ten championship and a College Football Playoff semifinals appearance last year that ended just shy of a trip to the national title game.
“Laura and I enthusiastically welcome Coach Franklin and his family to Virginia Tech and Hokie Nation,” Virginia Tech president Tim Sands said. “His experience, passion and record of success embody our commitment to compete at the highest level. His selection is the result of unprecedented collaboration by our athletic administration with University leaders, esteemed alumni, including former NFL coaches and players, and our most dedicated supporters.
“James will provide the leadership and inspiration our student-athletes need, and the performance on the field that our university community, alumni, and fans expect and deserve. I can’t wait to be in Lane Stadium when he leads the team out of the tunnel for the first time, the crowd starts jumping and we launch this winning journey together.”
Before his successful decade-long run at Penn State, he resurrected a Vanderbilt program that had gone to one bowl game in the three decades before his arrival. The Commodores won nine games in both 2012 and ’13 on Franklin’s watch, the first back-to-back nine-win seasons in program history.
Only Mark Richt, who was hired at Miami after going 145-51 (.739) at Georgia, with two SEC titles and six AP top-10 finishes that included years when the Bulldogs were ranked No. 2, 3 and 5, has a pre-ACC résumé in the same neighborhood.
Franklin’s 12-year run at Penn State came to an abrupt end after he was fired more than a month ago on Oct. 12.
The Nittany Lions, who opened the season with national title hopes, ranked No. 2 in the preseason AP poll, dropped three straight games. A heartbreaker in double overtime to Oregon at home started the slide, but back-to-back setbacks while favored by 20-plus points to UCLA and Northwestern prompted Penn State officials to make a move.
Franklin’s 4-21 record against AP top-10 opponents, including a 1-18 mark against top-10 Big Ten teams (primarily rivals Michigan and Ohio State), and an offense that underperformed relative to expectations too often ultimately led to his ouster.
It didn’t dampen the interest Franklin drew in this year’s coaching market, however, with his name popping up every time a major job came open. Virginia Tech showed strong early interest in Franklin, who spoke at length with members of the school’s coaching search committee and quickly emerged as the group’s top target.
“Virginia Tech has attracted and hired an incredible head coach and extraordinary recruiter in James Franklin. The Board of Visitors enthusiastically supports this hire,” said John Rocovich, the rector of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. “We signal to Hokie Nation, and the entire nation, the shared importance of athletic support and success.”
The fit makes sense. Franklin hails from Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and has spent a good portion of his career, including seven years in two stints on Maryland’s coaching staff, recruiting in the mid-Atlantic and often being a thorn in the Hokies’ side on the trail.
He landed 14 top-10 recruits from Virginia during his time at Penn State, including the No. 1 or 2 player in the state four times — safety Garrett Taylor (No. 2, 2015), running back Ricky Slade (No. 1, 2018), linebacker Brandon Smith (No. 1, 2019) and offensive lineman Alex Birchmeier (No. 2, 2023).
Penn State teams churned out plenty of NFL talent on Franklin’s watch as well, with running back Saquon Barkley and linebacker Micah Parsons having star turns in the pros, earning first-team All-Pro honors in recent years.
“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,” Hokies 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.”
Franklin played collegiately as a quarterback at Division II East Stroudsburg from 1991-95, setting several school records under offensive coordinator Jim Pry. It was there that he first met Jim’s son, Brent, who was an outside linebacker and defensive back for the school in 1993 and ’94.
Franklin began his coaching career in 1995 at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania before coaching the defensive secondary at his alma mater. Stints at James Madison (1997), Washington State (1998) and Idaho State (1999) preceded his first run at Maryland from 2000-04 as a receivers coach and recruiting coordinator on Ron Vanderlinden and Ralph Friedgen’s staffs.
One year in the NFL as the Green Bay Packers’ receivers coach was followed by two years at Kansas State as the offensive coordinator (2006-07) before Franklin returned to Maryland in the OC job from 2008-10, given a coach-in-waiting designation after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers showed interest in him as an offensive coordinator.
A clause in Franklin’s contract guaranteed him $1 million if Friedgen hadn’t retired after the 2011 season, but the plan never came to fruition.
After Maryland announced in November 2010 that Friedgen wouldn’t return for the 2011 season, Franklin was hired for his first head-coaching gig by Vanderbilt, where he hired a familiar coach as his defensive coordinator — Brent Pry. The two spent 11 years together with the Commodores and Nittany Lions, with Pry being one of Franklin’s most trusted lieutenants and following him to Happy Valley in 2014.
Click here to read Tech Sideline’s coaching candidate profile of Franklin from Oct. 28.James Franklin’s Coaching History
- 1995-96: Kutztown (wide receivers)
- 1996: Roskilde Kings (offensive coordinator)
- 1996-97: East Stroudsburg (defensive backs)
- 1997-98: James Madison (wide receivers)
- 1998-99: Washington State (tight ends)
- 1999-00: Idaho State (wide receivers)
- 2000-04: Maryland (wide receivers, recruiting coordinator)
- 2005-06: Green Bay Packers (wide receivers)
- 2006-07: Kansas State (offensive coordinator, quarterbacks)
- 2008-10: Maryland (associate head coach, offensive coordinator, quarterbacks)
- 2011-13: Vanderbilt (head coach)
- 2014-25: Penn State (head coach)