Everything From New Virginia Tech Head Coach James Franklin's Introductory Press Conference

Virginia Tech's new head coach for 2026 — James Franklin — spoke to the media at his introductory press conference. Here's the entirety of what Franklin had to say:

Opening statement:

"Good morning. Love, love having the Corps [of Cadets] here. I'm so, so excited about partnering with you guys. It's something that makes this place unique and special. Couldn't be more excited about this opportunity. My wife, Fumi, my brother-in-law, Jason, couldn't be more excited about this opportunity and being with you guys this morning. I want to make sure that I get a chance to thank everybody that's been a part of this process. That's probably the thing I'm most concerned about, that I don't miss anybody. But starting with President [Tim] Sands has been awesome throughout this entire process. His commitment to our program, his plan for the program, the investment in the program. In today's college football, there needs to be alignment. There's no other way to do it. That is from the rector to the president to the athletic director to the head football coach and most importantly, the fans and alumni. And President Sands has been phenomenal throughout this entire process. Could we please give President Sands a round of applause? [Editor's note: The crowd obliged and cheered for Sands.] I'd also like to thank our director of the board, John Rocovich. I was fortunate to have an opportunity to fly to the board meetings yesterday in Northern Virginia. I found out very quickly. John said, 'Look, you'll have your time tomorrow, but I run a tight ship in these meetings, so keep your message short.' But I want to thank John for his leadership as well. That's been phenomenal. And obviously, this relationship is going to be critical moving forward. And then most importantly, Whit Babcock. Whit has been relentless throughout this entire process. He has been authentic. He has been transparent and he's been honest. And the opportunity to be able to get to know Whit on a more significant level has been a big part of this process for me. Back to what I was talking about before, the alignment is so important and having an athletic director with Whit's experience and with his character has meant a lot to me and my family. So, I want to thank Whit for his leadership in this process. I'd like to acknowledge Brent Pry. [Editor's note: Pry then began to tear up.] Sorry. I always say I'm not going to get emotional, but then I get emotional. So, Brent Pry is a good friend. Gosh. Brent Pry's dad was my offensive coordinator in college. Gosh. Brent's dad was my offensive coordinator in college. I've known Brent for over 30 years. Brent's first year coaching was my senior year at the Harvard of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, East Stroudsburg University. I know you guys are all very familiar with it. And then, Brent and his family was with me at Vanderbilt all three years and then I think, for our first seven years at at Penn State. So, I got a ton of respect for Brent and his family. I know he poured his heart and soul into this place. I know this place is better today because of Brent and the and the commitment that he made. So, I just want to show the respect to him. I know how much coaches pour their hearts and souls into this job and I just want to make sure that I gave Brent the respect that him and his family deserve. Been in this profession for over 30 years and have learned a ton of lessons. Started in Division II, worked my way all the way up. Got my first big break in the ACC. Been a head coach in the SEC, been a head coach in the Big 10, and now, obviously fortunate to have this unbelievable opportunity in the ACC at Virginia Tech. But all these experiences, all these lessons that I've learned, we're going to pour them into Virginia Tech. And I feel like it's going to put us in a really specific position to separate ourselves over a ton of different schools. There's very few head coaches that have had the experience in the SEC, in the Big 10 and the ACC. And we're going to use all those experiences and res resources for the betterment of Virginia Tech. I want to thank Penn State. I had 12 years there. It's very unusual in college football to get 12 years at a place. Most importantly, the relationships, the staff, the players. The players here at Virginia Tech are going to find out, I'm a players coach. That's what it's all about for me. That's what it always will be. Just to be very clear, though, just because I'm a player's coach doesn't mean that there won't be discipline and accountability. I'm an old-school guy. I'm gonna coach you hard, but I'm also gonna love you hard, as well. When you do something well, there's going to be nobody that's going to celebrate and show more appreciation than me. But there also will be accountability in our program every step of the way. I believe that young people have a chance to achieve their goals and their expectations both individually and collectively when they know how much you truly care about them. Young people want to be coached. I think there is a myth out there. I think there's a concern out there in today's major college football that you can't coach these guys. I don't think that's true. They're going to be coached hard. They're going to be developed hard, but they're going to be loved and cared for as well. I want to thank Coach [Frank] Beamer. As everybody knows, Coach Beamer's the man and and he built this place. And I've asked for the blessings of two people. Soaya Ala, my father-in-law, I called him and asked for his blessing to marry his daughter, Fumi. And then the night before signing the contract, I called Coach Beamer and asked him for his blessing of taking over his program. I was a little concerned because I called him three times and he didn't answer the phone. So, I called his wife and she said, 'I'm sorry, Coach. We didn't have your number.' But I was able to get Coach Beamer's blessing and that means a ton to me. I'm somebody that values the history, the traditions, the legends, and obviously, nobody's more important than Virginia Tech football than Frank Beamer and his family. This place has produced some all-time greats. Michael Vick, Bruce Smith, Antonio Freeman, Corey Moore, Kam Chancellor, Tyrod Taylor, Kevin Jones, Christian Darrisaw, David Wilson, D'Angelo Hall, the Fuller family, the Edmunds family. I can go on and on and obviously, some people I don't want to disrespect anybody that I may miss. But there's just been so much history and tradition. And at the end of the day, this is a players' game. I'm not sure why, but the plays just seem to work better when you got really good players. We had a running back, we had a running back at Penn State, maybe you guys have heard of him, named Saquon Barkley. And for some reason, for some reason, when we handed the ball off to him, the plays just worked better. So, coaches get a lot of credit, but this is this is a players' game. When you talk about some other things that I think are important to everybody here is in my 15 years, we've always done it the right way. There's no shortcuts in building a program. And I think we have a track record that shows that and I know that was important to all the men on this stage as well. Winning is really important. There's nobody that understands the importance of winning more than me, but there's also a way to do it with character and integrity. We'll continue to do that and represent Virginia Tech the right way, both on and off the field. The passion is critical. We talked about it on Saturday. We've already started recruiting. Two nights ago, I had 40 players on the phone, young men that are committed to Virginia Tech. Also called all the top players in the state of Virginia, as well. We are going to need this stadium rocking on Saturday. One of the things that was important is me and my wife when we were making this decision. We watched your game days the last few weeks and it was impressive during a challenging season. I want to give Coach [Philip] Montgomery a ton of credit, as well. The stadium is rocking. The guys are playing hard and that's going to be important. We're going to have a ton of recruits this weekend for an official visit and I want them to feel the energy in our stadium. So, I'm going to ask you to pack that stadium for us. I can't wait to run out to 'Enter Sandman'. I've been watching that intro to college football my entire life and it is something special. I'll watch it this Saturday and pay Coach Montgomery the respect that he deserves. But I can't wait to have the opportunity to run out in that stadium. I want to make sure that I go back and thank the search committee. I want to thank Bud Foster, huge part of this. It's great to talk to the administration. It's great to talk to the board members and the donors and the former players. But for me for me to be able to talk coach-to-coach with Bud has been extremely valuable. Bruce Arians, Ryan McCarthy, J. Pearson was relentless. I don't know if everybody knows J. Pearson, but this guy is relentless. He sent me a box of ties and what I call pocket squares. He calls them handkerchiefs. But sent me a box of ties for today. Brad Hobbs, Eddie Royal. I had a tremendous conversation with Eddie Royal, one night as well. So, I want to thank all of them as well. I also want to talk about recruiting the current players. This is a unique situation where I'm here early. One of the challenges always when you're taking over these new jobs, you're always recruiting for the future. The most important thing is recruiting our current players. I'm going to get a chance to visit with those young men today. I think a lot of times the current team is worried about the new coach coming in and wanting his own players. The day I signed the contract to be the head coach at Virginia Tech, they're all my players. That is the current team and that is the players that we're going to bring in for competition. And the reality is people worry about, well, is he going to have favorites? Yes, I am going to have favorites. My favorites are high-production and low-maintenance players, coaches, and staff. As for coaches, I'm going to bring the best fit for Virginia Tech. We're going to have an opportunity to attract some of the best coaches in the country. That will be in terms of spending time with the current staff and seeing who makes sense to keep on with us because those people have obviously poured their hearts and soul into this program. Also bringing some coaches from other places, as well. But that's going to be a very important piece of this process as well. In closing, I just want to thank everybody. I want to thank everybody for coming out this morning. I want to thank the search committee. I want to thank the leadership. Everybody has been phenomenal. And I couldn't be more excited. My family couldn't be more excited about our future here at Virginia Tech. You could not have found a coach that's going to pour his heart and soul into this place more than my me and my family. I give you my word on that. Sorry. You're going to find I'm an emotional guy. I don't take things for granted. My wife makes fun of me. We'll be sitting there watching TV and a commercial will come on and she'll look over and I'm getting emotional about the commercial. She's like, 'Are you kidding me right now?' But I just think it's [that] I don't take this for granted. I don't take my family for granted. I don't take my career for granted. This is this is all I got. I don't have any other hobbies. My wife says I don't have any other skills. I want to be a great husband. I want to be a great father. I want to be a great football coach and represent this place the right way. So, thank you so much for this opportunity. Go Hokies."

On how the committee approached Franklin (relentlessness, timeline, convincing):

"So, just out of respect for everybody, I'm not going to get into a whole lot of detail with the process. But I will tell you, I think they were very aggressive, right? The very first time we met, I don't want to speak for them, but I feel like they were ready for me to say yes that night. I thought it was just a initial conversation, but I think they were aggressive. And what I will also say, thanks to the leadership of everybody, is what was very obvious to me very early on is that they had a plan, right? They had a plan. I think you'd be surprised going through this process how few people really understand what college football takes in today's day and age. They had done their own homework. So, it wasn't like coming to me and [saying] what do you need? They already had a great list and a really good plan put together on what was needed to be successful in today's college football. Not only in the ACC, because I think that's a mistake that people make sometimes. They benchmark only on their conference. And the reality is we should be benchmarking not only on our conference but also nationally. If we truly have the expectations and the standards of where we want to go, then our commitment must match those expectations. And that's what I was able to feel very early on that there was a plan. There was an approach and mentality that I think aligned with what I was looking for and what my family was looking for. And I think that really helped the process. It wasn't like having a conversation with me. I'm talking about the things that I think we need to be we need to have to be successful at the very highest level. They were already there. So, I think that really helped with the entire process. But, I'd say very aggressive from that point on. Me and Bud spoke pretty much every day, if not multiple times his day. His wife is shaking her head right now. And I think that was really valuable. J. Pearson as well. Very, very aggressive and obviously, Whit was huge in this. For coaches, you want to make sure that you're going to work with good people that are going to be in the foxhole with you and battling all the things that you need. So, having those conversations with the group was really important. I know that's a long answer. You're going to find I can give long answers. I'm not supposed to. They tell you that's not good in media training. But those things I think were very helpful for me in the process."

On his conversations with former Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry:

Yeah, so fortunate for me, I know a ton of people here, right? One of the advantages and one of the challenges from my 12 years at at Penn State is that we had a ton of people leave our program to go be head coaches. We lost Joe Morehead to go to Mississippi State. We lost Ricky Rahne to go to Old Dominion. We lost Manny Diaz to go to Duke. We lost Brent Pry to go to Virginia Tech. And when you lose really good people, that's part of the challenge is you got to continue to try to replace them. The other challenge is when they leave you, they take staff members with them, typically for promotions, right? And that's one of the challenges. You continue to lose really, really good people. The advantage obviously is I'm able to call Brett Pry and he's going to tell me the truth. I didn't really want anybody to sugarcoat it because none of these places are perfect. I'm not perfect. Let's just talk about what are the strengths, what are the advantages, what are the challenges. And Brent was very, very transparent. The first thing that was very obvious is he cares about this place deeply. Going all the way back to when I think he was a GA with Bud in the Sugar Bowl. He's always spoke very, very highly of this place and the community, as well. But that's valuable. It also allowed me and Whit to have very transparent conversations, as well about some of the feedback I was getting. What are the plans for these types of things? But that was really valuable. And then other things, Michael Hazel has been on the staff. Michael was with me really from Day 1 when I showed up at Vanderbilt. Michael Hazel is on the staff. So, having these people that I could have very honest, transparent conversations because I'm no different than anybody else here, right? When you're making a decision that's not only going to impact your career, but also is going to impact your family, you want to make sure that you're making that decision with as much of the information possible, so you can make an educated decision and put my family in the best position to be successful, but most importantly, put Virginia Tech in the best position to be successful. And you can't really do that unless you have all the information. So, Brent's been great through this entire process. I got a ton of respect for him and his family. And I probably would not be sitting here today without Brent's input and thoughts about this place."

Q: In this era of college football, in your opinion, what does it take to succeed? And what about this program at Virginia Tech do you feel like is set up so the Hokes can thrive here?

"So, I think the first thing is alignment, like we've already talked about from the board, the president, the athletic director, the head football coach. Some of those things deal with a financial commitment, which has been made. Those things started early in the process and before I was even a candidate. And then I would say after that, it's about getting the right people in place, starting with the head coach all the way down to the assistants and players. Those things are obviously really, really important and critical. But I think the things that kind of stood out to me right away is the passion for Virginia Tech football. The things that kind of align from a regional perspective. I got tremendous respect for the state of Virginia, the high school football, and also when you take about when you talk about a six-hour radius from campus. The number of high-level football players, the types of coaching that they're getting and the attractiveness of Virginia Tech to them, as well. So, it really started with the the the plan and it started with the alignment and then after that it was just [a question of] 'Does this make sense for both parties? Are we going to be able to achieve all of our goals and dreams here?' And I think that's a place we can do that."

On taking from the time of reflection and analysis after his firing from Penn State and what he plans to do differently in Blacksburg:

"So, I think the first thing is, you take a deep breath. 15 years as a head coach, a lot of success, three straight years at Vanderbilt going to bowl games. Two seasons where we won nine games, at Vanderbilt, we beat Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida all in the same season. That had never happened before. You go to Penn State, our first year off of sanctions. We win the Big 10 championship. In the last three years, there's only four programs in the country that won more games than us. And last year, a game away from playing for the national championship. So, I say all that just to say there is a core belief system of how we do things that works. We believe in that and we have conviction in that. But there's also time to say, 'What things can we do better? How can we evolve? How can we grow?' And I think the most important thing is we all got to look in the mirror. We got to be authentic and we got to be transparent and say 'What do we need to do to take the next step to be as successful as possible?' And that's hard. That is hard to do, to be that honest with yourself and be honest with the program. Just like everybody else, it probably starts with your phone, right? Being able to write notes in my phone. I have next staff notes. I have things that I learn through the process. Some of those things are for public consumption. Some of those things are for private, for me and my family. But areas that I know we need to grow and get better. So, a lot of time to do it, more time than I've ever had in my life to do it. To be honest with you, last week, I was at the Old Dominion game. I tailgated for the first time ever. Ate a hot dog, drank a beer. I'm not so sure if I'm supposed to say that or not. But tailgated for my first time ever in my life. And that time was good. It was painful, but it was good. And for us, me and my family to take a minute, recharge our battery, [it] was very important. So, we're going to take all those experiences, all those lessons learned and pour them into Virginia Tech. But I will also say this, people that have been following my career and the things that we did at Penn State, what I'm talking about is what you see right now. The leadership, the commitment and the alignment. And the nice thing for me is I'm walking in here and that alignment already exists. And now, I'm looking to partner with these men and women to put Virginia Tech in the best position to be successful long term."

On building the roster in regards to high school recruiting vs. the transfer portal:

"A couple things, right? I'm a big believer that this is still a game, a developmental game of young men and that's developing them on the football field. That's developing them in the classroom. That's developing them to be prepared for the next phase of their life. I still believe that you can run your program from an old school perspective. I want this to be transformational, not transactional. There is more of a business aspect to college football than ever before. But I still believe you can still run your program in a way that's transformational, that starts with education and setting these guys up to be successful for the next 50 years of their life. But I would say it also has to do with these young men that we're going to be recruiting. They're going to be recruited from all the top programs in the country. They need to walk in to Virginia Tech football and it needs to look, feel, smell and operate like big time. Every aspect of it. Every aspect of it. How we make them feel when they come into building. How important they are to what we're trying to do. When they walk around our facilities and they see the stadium and they see the indoor facility and also when they get inside the football facility, it needs to look and feel and operate like a big-time program because they're visiting all these other places. And the reality is. it's not what you have because everybody has it, the programs that we're competing with. What stands out is the things that you're lacking. You've got to do that. Every box needs to be checked. And then the reality is in today's day and age, there's an NIL component. And for us, we're not going to lead with money. I want young men to choose our program because this is where they want to be. But then, we need to be competitive with all the other schools as well because it doesn't make sense for us to ask these young people to walk away from significant money. So, that's what we're going to do. We're going to build it with high school recruits. We are going to complement that with the portal. But I also think, in Year 1, we're going to have an opportunity to maybe use the portal this year in Year 1 and probably different than we will in other years. So, we'll do that. I just think you have to be careful. If you are a portal team, you live by the portal, then every year you're going to have to live by the portal. You bring in 15 high school players and 30 transfer portal players. Most of those guys are seniors, they have one year, and now all of a sudden, you got to replace 30 guys that are leaving out of your program with the transfer portal. It's hard to ever get out of that cycle. So, it's going to be a high school developmental program that we are going to complement with the transfer portal. I would probably describe it a little bit like how a lot of programs in the past use junior college to fill holes in the roster while you're developing young people to get ready to be able to go out there and compete on the field. I'm a big believer it starts up front with the O-line and -line. Can have all the skilled players you want, but if you can't dominate the line of scrimmage, you're going to have challenges. The line of scrimmage, the closer you get to the ball, that's a grown man's game in there. It's different being a wide receiver or corner at 18, 19 years old compared to being 22 and 23 years old and 300 pounds up front. That's a grown man's game and you got to be able to make sure you have those guys on your roster, especially for what we played in last year, which was a 16-game season. The depth is critical."

On what in the process stood out that made Franklin think he could win a national title at Virginia Tech:

"It starts with alignment and it starts with commitment when you ask about why do you have that type of confidence because we were a drive away last year from playing in the national championship. So, I know what it looks like. I know what you need to do. We learn from that experience. We grew from that experience. Again, the alignment, the commitment based on what we've done in our past, as well. You pour all these things together at a place that's got great history, that's got great traditions, that's got great pride. You look at today, you look at how this how this facility is packed. Again, my good friends, the Corps over there as well. There's some things that are unique. But I will also say this. One of the mistakes that I think coaches make and one of the things that I think search committees make is they try to go hire somebody to go bring that to their place. All these places are unique and sophisticated. There are lessons from Vanderbilt. There are lessons from Penn State. But the reality is, I'm gonna need to lean into all these men, Coach Beamer, Coach Foster and understand the institutional knowledge, the community knowledge, and be able to take my experiences and intertwine them with the university with the community knowledge with the institutional knowledge to put Virginia Tech in the best position to be successful. And that's what this sprint and marathon at the same time are going to be about over the next six months so that we can put a product on the field that everybody's really excited about."

Q: You mentioned the portal earlier, but I was curious in terms of high school recruiting, how much of your success recruiting in Virginia made you lead you to believe that Virginia Tech might be a better fit for you than maybe some other options you had out there?

"Yeah, you know, I've been fortunate. My wife is from Spokane, Washington. I've coached in every conference, as well as the NFL. So, I think those experiences were valuable and and give me the confidence that really feel like I could go coach anywhere and be successful. I truly believe that. But at the end of the day, it just came down to the history, the traditions of this place, the plan and commitment that was communicated and also the the aggressiveness that they went about it. So, for me, being in the footprint is important and we're excited about that. It allows us to hit the ground running because we already have significant relationships with most of the players in this area. But in today's college football, you're going to recruit nationally. You're going to need to go wherever you have to go to fill the roster. There are going to be some years where the state of Virginia is going to have enough players to be a good portion of our recruiting class. There's going to be other years that it isn't. We're going to have to widen our our nets. That's always the case. That's the nature of college football. So, having these relationships in the footprint are important, but we also have to be able to go nationally. That's where having an airport right on campus is going to be important. We're going to be very aggressive in doing that. That's also where some of the budget decisions are important as well to allow myself and the assistant coaches to get out and to be efficient with our time when there's really not enough time in the day to do it all as it is. So, all these things are really important and critical all the way back to my days at Vanderbilt when I was flying Southwest. Things have changed. So, we embrace the opportunities that are here."