James Franklin reveals lessons he can take from stints at Vanderbilt, Penn State at Virginia Tech

James Franklin arrives in Blacksburg with a reputation as a winner. A program-builder, Franklin will take over Virginia Tech with over a decade of head coaching experience at both Vanderbilt and Penn State.

Leading both of those programs to success, Franklin is expected to take the Hokies to similar heights. Franklin revealed exactly how he plans to do that when joining the ESPN broadcast during Virginia Tech’s Week 13 matchup vs. Miami.

“In the last five years, college football has changed, probably more so than the 75 years before it,” Franklin said. “You could take lessons from from Vanderbilt, and you can take lessons from Penn State. But the reality is, all these places are unique and sophisticated, and you’ve got to have a plan that makes sense. I’ve got to do a really good job of surrounding myself with people that have great institutional knowledge (at Virginia Tech), great community knowledge.”

The NCAA transfer portal and name, image and likeness has emerged at the forefront of the every team’s efforts to succeed in the modern age. Those who don’t can get left behind pretty quick.

“The reality is, I’ve got to get everybody to understand and … embrace the new college football,” Franklin continued, interrupted for a moment by a Virginia Tech first down. “For a lot of places, they struggle with it, right? It’s so far into what people know.

“But the reality is, when the industry changes in any industry, you’ve got to be bold and aggressive in that industry. And that’s what we’re going to do.”

Franklin left State College with a 104-45 record since 2014 when he took the job. He is 128-60 overall as a head coach, which includes his three-year stint at Vanderbilt (24-15).

When he joined ESPN College GameDay after he was fired from Penn State, Franklin declared that he’d go win a national championship somewhere else, and that appears to be his mission statement with the Hokies. However, his biggest criticism was the fact that he finished 4-21 against AP Poll Top 10 teams in his tenure with the Nittany Lions.

Franklin now replaces Brent Pry, who worked under Franklin with the Nittany Lions from 2016-21 as the defensive coordinator. Pry was 16-24 as Virginia Tech’s head coach, but was fired after an 0-3 start this season. Franklin will look to turn the program around in short order, and can begin that effort once the regular season wraps up next weekend.