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Adam Rittenberg
The wildest college football coaching cycle — perhaps ever — has reached the hiring phase.
Schools around the Power 4 that fired their coaches in the first two months of the season — or, in Stanford’s case, way back in late March — are targeting candidates and finalizing deals. Interestingly enough, one of the first major coaches to lose his job, Penn State’s James Franklin, was the first non-interim coach to be hired, as he is headed to Virginia Tech.
New hires always come with hope and optimism, grand proclamations and the chance to get programs on the right track. But not all hiring processes are the same. The financial component with jobs is essential — what schools are willing to spend not just on their head coach, but the assistants and support staff and, perhaps most important, the team roster — and certainly resonated for Virginia Tech.
We will be reviewing all the major coaching hires in the 2025-26 cycle, evaluating how each coach fits in the job, his major challenges and what it will take to be successful. We will also assign an initial letter grade for each hire.
Why is this a good fit?
When Franklin was fired and almost immediately announced his intentions to coach in 2026, Virginia Tech emerged as a natural landing spot for the 53-year-old. He has spent most of his career in the Mid-Atlantic region, twice serving as a Maryland assistant, leading programs in Vanderbilt and Penn State and even working within the state at James Madison in 1997.
He understands the key recruiting areas extremely well. Franklin ultimately was fired for not winning the biggest games at Penn State, but he still won a lot of them (104) and understands how to build a consistently successful program. Virginia Tech ultimately had to do more of the selling here, and convince a veteran coach that it was financially serious enough to contend in the ACC. Franklin isn’t shy about asking for what he needs, and he wouldn’t take the job if he didn’t feel comfortable that Virginia Tech’s investments are sufficient to compete for ACC championships. — Rittenberg
What will be Franklin’s biggest challenge?
This hire would not have happened without the financial investment Virginia Tech is about to make in football. The Hokies have languished behind their ACC counterparts in nearly every area — from staffing to salaries to NIL — and some of that has to do with an outdated way of thinking. The one through line has been the thought that the Hokies could win the way Frank Beamer won. That is a big reason why they hired Brent Pry, who served as Franklin’s defensive coordinator, as head coach in November 2021. That clearly did not work, as Pry never won more than seven games in a season. Virginia Tech pledged to add $229 million to its overall athletics budget over the next four years — a huge concession that the old model no longer works in this new era of college football.
But Franklin has to get the entire athletic department to believe the old Beamer days truly are over and things must be done his way. That is challenge No. 1. The second challenge is to restore Virginia Tech’s prowess in recruiting its home state. Franklin had success taking players out of Virginia Tech’s backyard and turning them into stars at Penn State. Will he be able to do the same now at Virginia Tech, which has lost an enormous amount of ground to powers outside the state? The high school players being recruited now were toddlers the last time Virginia Tech was a nationally respected program, playing in BCS games. They don’t remember the Hokies being elite. Convincing players to stay in state will be a challenge, but one that Franklin can achieve given his track record. — Andrea Adelson
Grade: A
Virginia Tech’s two post-Frank Beamer hires were a coach who had not led a Power 4 program (Justin Fuente) and a first-time head coach (Brent Pry). In Franklin, Virginia Tech gets a proven winner from the Big Ten and SEC, who knows the region extremely well and will be extremely motivated to compete for league titles and CFP appearances.
Franklin’s big-stage shortcomings are a concern but perhaps not as much for a program like Virginia Tech, which is seeking to become a consistent conference title contender again. — Rittenberg