James Franklin breaks silence after accepting ACC head coaching job

James Franklin is one of the most well-established head coaches in college football, with more than 15 years leading Power 4 programs.

He held head-coaching stints at Vanderbilt (2011-2013) and Penn State (2014- Oct. 2025), accumulating a .681 winning percentage (128-60 overall record) across both programs.

With the Nittany Lions alone, he won a Big Ten championship (2016) and led the program to its first College Football Playoff appearance in the 2024 season.

Despite a long list of accomplishments, the one prize he never captured was a national championship, a shortcoming that contributed to his dismissal from Penn State on October 12.

After weeks of speculation about his next destination, Virginia Tech announced on Monday that Franklin would be the next head coach, and he issued his first statement as leader soon afterward.

"I'm honored and humbled to join the Hokie family," Franklin said. "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."

Former Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin. — University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Former Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin answers questions from the media following the game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

After his midseason firing at Penn State, Franklin was widely considered one of the top candidates on the open market.

Media coverage tied him to multiple Power 4 openings in the weeks following his dismissal, with Virginia Tech and Arkansas among the programs reported strongly linked to him.

Virginia Tech struggled through a difficult 2025 season, currently sitting 3-7 overall and 2-4 in ACC play under Brent Pry (fired after 0-3 start) and interim Philip Montgomery.

The program has underperformed since its peak in the 2000s, with its last 10-win campaign in 2016 and only three winning seasons since.

Now enters Franklin, who will be tasked with plugging significant roster holes, stabilizing a coaching staff hit by turnover, and reviving stalled recruiting pipelines.

He arrives with a proven track record of program building, strong recruiting in the Northeast and mid‑Atlantic, and experience turning Vanderbilt into a competitive program and lifting Penn State to national prominence.

Whether those strengths produce a lasting turnaround for a program that has lacked steady success for more than a decade remains to be seen.

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