PSU Football
News & Information
News—Nov. 17, 2025—Updated 11-22
James Franklin Hired at Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech has announced that former Penn State Head Coach James Franklin will be the next Head Coach of the Hokies. He will be officially introduced on Wednesday. Franklin had been rumored to the be Tech’s top choice for the past few days. Franklin was fired by PSU in October after a shocking 0-3 start to a Big Ten season in which Penn State was heavily favored to compete for the national championship. Per Audrey Snyder of Inside the Lions, Franklin will receive a negotiated buyout of $9 million from Penn State paid out over the remaining 6 years of his last PSU contract. This is a substantial savings over the original buyout amount of $48.6 million owed Franklin had he not found a new job so quickly.
UPDATE—Nov. 22—Franklin VT deal reportedly 5 years, $42 million.
UPDATE—Nov. 19—PSU General manager of Personnel/Recruitment Andy Frank and Chief of Staff Kevin Threlkel has left Penn State for Virginia Tech. They are both long-time associates of Franklin who followed him to State College from Vanderbilt in 2014. Reportedly, 7 other staffers have also left the PSU athletic department and might be bound for Blacksburg. This follows right on the heels of Franklin’s official introduction as the head coach at Tech.
Ironically, Franklin will replace his own former assistant (at both Vanderbilt & PSU) Brent Pry who was let go by the Hokies in mid-September after an 0-3 start. Pry was Franklin’s DC or co-DC at Penn State from 2014 through 2021. Also, former Nittany Lion middle linebacker, Jan Johnson, is one of the current assistants at Virginia Tech and will likely remain in Blacksburg with Franklin.
Franklin taking the job at Tech could be an uncomfortable experience for Penn State fans since such close proximity of the two schools could be a lure for both current Nittany Lion players and the current classes of recruits (many of whom already have de-committed from PSU). It will also add an interesting flavor to future recruiting in Virginia, Maryland, and even Pennsylvania for the next Nittany Lions head coach.
James Franklin arrived at PSU in 2014 (replacing Bill O’Brien who left for the NFL’s Houston Texans) and was in his 12th season as head coach (3-3, 0-3) when he was dismissed by current Athletics Director Patrick Kraft. Overall, Franklin was 104-45 with the Lions (64-36 in the Big Ten & 7-7 in all post-season games)—the 104-win total is tied with Rip Engle for second all-time in State College behind Paterno’s 409 wins. But Franklin’s teams struggled against Top 10 opponents, and he had only beaten rival Ohio State once in his tenure. Franklin was in the fourth year of a 10-year contract extension which was signed back in 2021 under previous AD Sandy Barbour and was scheduled to run through the 2031 season.
