Old Dominion Head Coach Addresses Speculation About Joining James Franklin's Virginia Tech Staff

Ricky Rahne is a former assistant under new head coach James Franklin and there has been speculation that he could join Franklin in Blacksburg

Sep 13, 2025; Blacksburg, Virginia, USA; Old Dominion Monarchs head coach Ricky Rahne before the game at Lane Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bishop-Imagn Images | Brian Bishop-Imagn Images

James Franklin is off and running as the head coach at Virginia Tech. After the Hokies face rival Virginia this weekend, the program will be fully his and he is already hard at work on making changes. He has not assembled a staff yet (still very early), but there has been tons of speculation about who he could bring on as his coordinators, including a former assistant of his.

Ever since Franklin was seen at an Old Dominion game before taking the job in Blacksburg, there has been talk about if current ODU head coach Ricky Rahne could join Franklin's staff as the offensive coordinator. Rahne was an assistant under Franklin at both Vanderbilt and Penn State. When asked about this speculation, this is what Rahne had to say:

"These rumors that Coach Franklin and I have talked about this job or whatever, that's not true. Coach Franklin has a job to do, I have a job to coach this team. I have every intention in the world about being the head coach of this team. I love this place, my family loves this place."

Old Dominion head coach Ricky Rahne on if he's spoken with new Virginia Tech head coach James Franklin about potentially joining his staff pic.twitter.com/0ztYR4ZWoj

— Kolby Crawford (@kolby_crawford) November 24, 2025

While it might not happen, Rahne would be a very interesting hire for Franklin at Virginia Tech, as ODU has continuously had some of the best offenses in the Sun Belt and the country.

Rahne was the quarterbacks coach in four of his six seasons at Penn State, as both of the quarterbacks he worked with were drafted into the NFL. In 2015, Christian Hackenberg (Jets, 2016) became the all-time leader in career yards passing with 8,457 yards, Three years later, Rahne guided Trace McSorely (Ravens, 2019) passed that mark in 2018 with 9,899 yards. He also coached the tight ends in 2016 and 2017, guiding Mike Gesicki who was drafted by the Miami Dolphins.

Penn State played in a bowl game in every year Rahne was there, including a 2016 Big10 Championship and 2017 PlayStation Fiesta Bowl win over Washington. In that time, Penn State has had four-straight seasons of at least nine wins, and the Nittany Lions are one of five teams to rank in the Top-15 of the College Football Playoff final rankings in each of the last four years.

Prior to joining Penn State, Rahne was the quarterbacks coach at Vanderbilt for three years.

Prior to Rahne's time at Vanderbilt, the program had been to four bowl games in 121 years of football, none in consecutive seasons. The Commodores were ranked in the Top-25 in the final polls in 2012 and 2013 marking the first time they were ranked in back-to-back seasons in program history.