Paul Finebaum calls highly successful college football coach 'bewildering'

Outspoken college football personality Paul Finebaum took part in a bit with AL.com in which he was asked to describe college football coaches with just one word that fits them in their current situation.

Most of his responses made sense: Finebaum described Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer as "steady," new LSU coach Lane Kiffin as "child," new Auburn coach Alex Golesh as "fascinating," new Florida coach Jon Sumrall as "consistent," Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman as "brilliant," former LSU and Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly as "arrogant," etc.

When he got to James Franklin, though, Finebaum had a curious label for the former Penn State and now Virginia Tech head coach.

"Bewildering," Finebaum said.

We asked for one word to describe these top college football coaches, and @finebaum did not disappoint. pic.twitter.com/9KmL2oTMPJ
— Alabama Crimson Tide | AL.com (@aldotcomTide) December 16, 2025

He didn't expound on his thoughts, but Finebaum was notably down on Franklin after he was fired by Penn State in October, making it clear he didn't think Franklin should even be considered for any of the notable SEC job openings.

Ultimately, Franklin was the first coach hired this cycle in landing at Virginia Tech on Nov. 17, kicking off the second phase of the annual coaching carousel.

Perhaps Finebaum was fixating on Franklin's much-discussed struggles against top-10 opponents, going 4-21 in such games at Penn State, despite being otherwise a highly successful head coach.

Overall, Franklin is 128-60 as a head coach at Vanderbilt and Penn State, including back-to-back 9-win seasons at Vandy when that was still a novelty and six seasons with double-digit wins at Penn State.

Or maybe Finebaum was describing this last year for Franklin overall, in which case "bewildering" is a perfect summation.

Franklin's Nittany Lions won 13 games last year and reached the College Football Playoff semifinals, losing 27-24, and then opened this season ranked No. 2 in the AP preseason poll.

By mid-October and a 3-3 start with consecutive losses to Oregon, UCLA and Northwestern, the last two as a sizable favorite, Franklin was out of a job.

Now, he takes over at Virginia Tech, which hasn't finished with a top-10 national ranking since 2009 under longtime legendary coach Frank Beamer. The Hokies have failed to replace Beamer since he retired after the 2015 season, striking out with the hires of Justin Fuente and Brent Pry, who was fired after a 0-3 start this season, only to return to Blacksburg this month as Franklin's defensive coordinator.

The general sentiment around college football was that Virginia Tech hit a home run in landing Franklin, but it doesn't seem Finebaum is much of a fan.