Why James Franklin Is the Perfect Fit to Revive Virginia Tech Football
When Virginia Tech football closes in on its next head coach, the most natural fit isn’t an up-and-comer or a nostalgic Frank Beamer disciple.
It might very well be former Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin, who, despite his early exit in his 12th season at Penn State, is a proven program builder who already knows his way around the Hokies’ backyard.
Franklin understands the modern college game and can sell a vision strong enough to wake a hibernating giant.
Why James Franklin Would be a Home Run Hire for Hokies
James Franklin owns the recruiting map Virginia Tech needs to reclaim.
Before Penn State, the Langhorne, Pa native made his name recruiting the D.C.–Maryland–Virginia corridor while a wide receiver’s coach at Maryland.
Those same high schools, DeMatha, Good Counsel, St. John’s, once funneled talent to Blacksburg.
Franklin’s established relationships and DMV credibility would instantly reopen a pipeline that’s dried up for a decade … Or, at minium, has been re-routed into Happy Valley.
He built his last two programs from scratch, in Vanderbilt and Penn State, rebuilding the latter one under crippling sanctions.
At Vanderbilt, Franklin won 18 games in two years and delivered the school’s first back-to-back nine-win seasons in history. In Happy Valley, he inherited an NCAA-stripped roster and turned it into a Big Ten champion within three years.
That experience matters in Blacksburg, where the Hokies need both roster reconstruction and brand rehabilitation.
2. James Franklin understands the modern roster economy.
With the transfer portal and NIL reshaping the college football landscapes, Franklin has proven to be adept at adapting.
Franklin’s comfortable in living rooms, on Zoom calls, and inside donor meetings.
If hired, he’d immediately mine the portal, possibly even attracting ex-Penn State players and 2027 recruits who followed him before his exit a few weeks ago and that would give Va Tech a talent jump it hasn’t seen since the Michael Vick era around the turn of the century.
The ACC is an easier road than the Big Ten.
At Penn State, Franklin’s teams repeatedly ran into the Ohio State–Michigan wall.
In the ACC, that obstacle doesn’t exist. Clemson has slipped, Florida State is volatile, and the 12-team playoff now rewards 10-2 seasons. Franklin could pitch recruits a realistic playoff path, something he could never guarantee in Happy Valley.
Not only would the ACC, and Virginia Tech offer Franklin a more navigable path to the College Football Playoff and perhaps a National Championship, but those selling points could make following him to Blacksburg a far easier sell to recruits than it did to State College and the Big Ten.
He can sell, and he has credibility
Franklin’s charisma and energy make him one of college football’s elite recruiters. He’s mastered the art of vision-casting, painting a future players want to live in.
Give Franklin Virginia Tech’s resources, a loaded region full of talented recruits, and the ACC platform, and the program becomes instantly relevant again.
He’d bring an identity back.
Frank Beamer’s Hokies had “Beamer Ball.” Justin Fuente and Brent Pry never found their own brand. Franklin builds cultures around standards: family, accountability, swagger.
Virginia Tech has lacked that emotional spine. Franklin’s programs are designed with purpose and that’s what the Hokies’ missing heartbeat has been.
Buy The Newest Penn State Gear From Fanatics | Shop Penn State Merchandise on Amazon
Why the Hokies Have Fallen Short
To understand why Franklin fits so cleanly, you have to understand what’s been missing since 1999, the last time Virginia Tech played for a national title under Beamer and quarterback Michael Vick.
Beamer built the blueprint, elite special teams, a suffocating defense, and a disciplined culture, but Beamer’s teams rarely evolved offensively. As college football transitioned into a speed-and-space arms race, the Hokies’ conservative offense lagged. They were good enough to win 10 games, never explosive enough to win it all.
After Beamer retired in 2015, the decline in Blacksburg accelerated.
Justin Fuente (2016–2021) arrived from Memphis promising modernization. His first year delivered 10 wins and an ACC Coastal crown. It looked like a reboot. Then the wheels fell off. Fuente’s relationship with local high-school coaches soured, the DMV pipeline dried up, and his offense regressed. By 2020, Va Tech’s 27-year bowl streak ended.
Brent Pry (2022–2025) was supposed to restore the Beamer toughness, but his tenure became a defensive-minded echo of the past. His Hokies were organized but uninspired, disciplined but dull. Recruiting stayed mediocre, the offense ranked near the ACC basement, and another rebuild stalled.
The result was a proud program drifting in place, too respectable to collapse, but too limited to contend.
Why James Franklin Could Succeed Where Others Didn’t
He’s not a coordinator learning on the job, he’s a CEO.
Fuente and Pry were system guys. Franklin is a culture architect.
Franklin knows how to run an entire operation: recruiting, NIL fundraising, staff management, and national branding. He’s already done it in the pressure cooker of the Big Ten.
He blends old-school accountability with new-school adaptability.
Franklin’s teams are structured but flexible.
He’s shown he can adjust on the fly whether retooling offensive coordinators, recalibrating recruiting strategy, or shifting to the portal. Virginia Tech needs that balance, tempering discipline without rigidity.
He can restore the pipeline and the pulse.
For the last two decades Virginia Tech’s recruiting identity has evaporated.
Franklin could rebuild it overnight. His presence would immediately make the Hokies competitive for every top-25 recruit in Maryland and Northern Virginia, the very same kids who’ve been heading north to Penn State or south to Georgia.
He brings national credibility and instant relevance.
Franklin’s name alone guarantees national TV windows, recruiting buzz, and donor enthusiasm. That matters. In the era of playoff expansion and NIL, perception drives momentum and Franklin definitely generates attention.
He thrives where others see ceilings.
Franklin won big at Vanderbilt, rebuilt Penn State from sanctions, and routinely produced top-10 recruiting classes while competing against blue-blood monsters. Virginia Tech isn’t broken, it’s just stagnant. Franklin’s track record shows he can turn stagnation into spark.
The Big Picture
Virginia Tech has passion, facilities, and a proud fan base still packing Lane Stadium on Saturdays. What it needs is belief, someone to convince players, donors, and recruits that the mountaintop isn’t an impossible climb.
James Franklin brings the map, the message, the method, and the sherpas.
He knows the region, understands the era, and has the scars of big-time experience.
The Hokies don’t need another coordinator with potential. They need a CEO with a blueprint.
If Virginia Tech wants to matter again in the national conversation, this isn’t complicated and they shouldn’t overthink it because those who don’t learn from past transgressions are doomed to repeat them.
Loved this story? Get all our Penn State football coverage and insider updates first. Join our FREE newsletter — your front-row seat to the Lions.
A note to our readers; If you make a purchase through one of our affiliate links, we may receive a commission
It was at PRISM where Staszak produced live games and began his career as an on-air reporter.
After a couple of brief stints with CBS-3, WB-17 and WGAL-8 in Lancaster, PA, Staszak began a 12 year stretch at FOX 29 where he became the lead sportscaster in 2007. It was there that Staszak found himself in the middle of Philadelphia Phillies World Series Championship coverage that earned him an Emmy nomination for best sports reporter in 2008.It was one of five Emmy nominations that Staszak earned over the course of his career.
All told Staszak covered three World Series, two Stanley Cup Finals, an NBA Finals and one Super Bowl during his television run.
Staszak left the TV business for 97.5 The Fanatic in 2013, where he enjoyed eight years bloviating his beliefs on how a professional football team should be run.In 2018 when he fortunate enough to be the first sports talk host in the city, along with cohort Zach Gelb, to provide post-game coverage of the first Super Bowl Championship for the city’s beloved Philadelphia Eagles.
Staszak was also a writer for 97.5 The Fanatic along with 4 Philly Sports and now covers Penn State athletics for NittanyCentral.com.
- Why James Franklin Is the Perfect Fit to Revive Virginia Tech Football - October 29, 2025
- Urban Meyer to Penn State? Why the Rumors Won’t Go Away … and What It Would Mean for College Football - October 29, 2025
- Brian Kelly’s Firing Changes Everything for Penn State Football’s Coaching Search - October 28, 2025