Andy & Ari On3 - Virginia Tech HIRES James Franklin as its next head coach | Hokies land former Penn State HC

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

Virginia Tech has hired James Franklin as its next head coach in Blacksburg. As Franklin will replace Brent Pry to lead the Hokies, will VT return to national prominence? How quickly will VT compete for ACC titles? Don't miss this INSTANT REACTION here with Andy & Ari. Our show is presented by BetMGM! If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works: 1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB.2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game.3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sureyou use bonus code CFB when you sign up! Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary. See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Join On3 today and get one full year of access to The Athletic included! https://www.on3.com/subscribe/C Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/JW7JAJioB9I Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You hear the sirens. That means emergency show. Andy Narion 3 presented by a bet MGM. Ari, James Franklin is your new head coach at Virginia Tech. This is one they were dancing around one another for a while. We think James Franklin might have been waiting to see what other jobs opened up to make sure he had the most possible options. And now they have apparently consummated. this. And we said this when he got fired. What was the first school we mentioned? Well, if James Franklin

ended up here, he can really show him they got it wrong at Penn State. Was it Virginia Tech, Andy? It was. That is exactly what we said. It just makes sense. First of all, let's just like rate this with baseball hits. Like double, triple, single, home run. What do you think? Home run, baby. Listen, And every time you call a higher home run, and it always ends up bad. No, I know, but let's be realistic about what Virginia Tech could have commanded and what they ended up with. Now, this might not have been a home run if it were a team that is currently competing

for national titles. It might not have been a home run for a team that has won a national title in the last 20 years. I don't know. But when you think about the job market in terms of who is available as an established coach, that's not to say that Virginia Tech couldn't have gone and found somebody that, you know, isn't well known that would have been a less sexy hire that couldn't go on to do good things there. But from what was available and who we're aware of, like thinking about the region that he was recruiting at Penn State, I know that he has some staff connections on the Virginia Tech

staff. Like this to me seems like a pretty solid hire. I would be pretty pumped if our Virginia Tech right now. I would too because, all right, let's ask the question. What does Virginia Tech want out of this. Like when Virginia Tech fired Brent, Brent Pry, if you went to the average Virginia Tech fan, and we asked this question, we had Virginia Tech fans right into the show. And they said, and we said, what do you want? Like, what's your goal? What do you, what do you want out of this next person? Because I don't think they're unrealistic people. I don't think they're like, we want seven national titles. They want to be relevant in the ACC. They want to compete for ACC titles every once in a while. That's, that's where they want to be. When the great schism comes, if it ever comes,

comes when the ACC, if the ACC breaks up or people start picking off ACC schools, Virginia Tech would like to be somewhat close to national relevance when that happens. Well, I think James Franklin can get there. We're talking about a guy who won basically 10 games a year at Penn State, who the last time he had a job that was not Penn State. He was at Vanderbilt. And we're seeing Clark Lee do it now. But before the idea of a guy went in nine games, two years in a row in Vanderbilt was, incredibly insane, and he did it. So I think this is a guy who can come in and very quickly rejuvenate Virginia Tech. It's not, because James Franklin is not one of those guys who had success, who won titles, and then fell off and just suddenly forgot how to do anything. They were not playing well this year. This was his first bad year at Penn State. But I don't think this is a case of James Franklin just forgetting how to do this. I think he's still very much a coach who can win in this environment.

Anybody who watches this show knows I'm a psychopath, okay? And I know to a certain extent that I'm a psychopath too. And I've been trying to workshop how to say this in my head. And I don't know how to say it in my head. So I'm going to say it to you and I want you to help me mold it. Like I'm, I've got pottery. We're making pottery. I've got clay.

I need you to help me form it. Who is the most famous coach in Virginia Tech history? Frank Beamer. Frank Beamer was 280 and 144 in his overall coaching career. Now, obviously, that was much more extensive than James Franklin because he was doing it for 40 years. If you look at what James Franklin's output was during a 10-year period at Penn State, and you look at Frank Beamer's most successful time period as Virginia Tech's head coach during his best run, there is one major difference.

Frank Beamer was able to win four conference championship games. But when it comes to winning for conference championships, I should say? Sorry. James Franklin has won. Okay. Now, there's context involved here because when Frank Beamer was winning, you know, conference championships, like he wasn't in the same division as Ohio State. So like there's a little bit of a difference there.

but, like, is James Franklin's output at Penn State, the 10-year run that he had there comparable in any way in your mind to what Frank Beamer already did at Virginia Tech? Or is Frank Beamer better because it was at Virginia Tech? No, I think what James Franklin did is harder. He's in a better league than Frank Beamer was in. But he also was... Frank Beamer was winning the...

Now, they were in the Big East when they went to the national title game with Michael Vick. So that was a pretty good league, but not as good as the current Big Ten. The ACC, when Virginia Tech entered, they thought it was going to be great. But remember, that was when Bobby Bowden was on the downslide at Florida State, and Miami stopped being good. So they dominated a pretty weak league early in that tenure. And Virginia Tech was the dominant team. Like when Virginia Tech joined, it was the dominant team.

for the first few years it was in the ACC. It's very hard. When Wake Forest won the ACC, Georgia Tech won the ACC, that's when it was pretty open, kind of like it is now. Yeah. He won the ACC in 2004, 2007, 2007, 2008, and 2010. So if you do the records, though, from like 2000 to 2015, which is the same, it's hard to compare records because Beamer was there for so much longer than Franklin was at Penn State.

but my point is that you could make the case that from a winning standpoint, he is every bit as accomplished as Beamer was while he was coaching. Now, whether he'll be able to do it because Virginia Tech is kind of behind the eight ball right now, you know, when you ask what is Virginia Tech hoping for, I think what they're hoping for is sustained success, nine win, you know, seasons regularly, some 10 or 11 win seasons when things are good and maybe some seven win seasons when they're bad. But I think all Virginia Tech fans really want is,

to compete for an ACC championship semi-consistently, which is once every three years, right? And I don't think that that's too much to ask for somebody who has as much cachet in that geographical region. And it feels like to me that this was a position or hiring of power. This wasn't just another name that no one is aware of. This is a pretty good hire to me. I think they have a real shot to do something here with this.

Well, and the other piece of this is you got to go back to the beginning of the season. It was actually a little before that. At the end of the summer, Whit Babcock, the athletic director, went to the board at Virginia Tech and said, hey, we are not spending the way other ACC programs are spending. And here's evidence of that. Here's a list of how much we spend and how much they spend. And Virginia Tech was essentially near the bottom of the ACC in spending on football and definitely the bottom of the public schools in the ACC. And so they had to make a change. they had to make a decision.

And essentially it was it was Whit Babcock saying, fund me or fire me. And they've chosen to fund him. So they've committed more money. And that's probably why they pulled the trigger as quickly as they did on Brent Pry, who by the way, is a former James Franklin assistant. They said, we're going to commit this money to you, but we want to have the right coach in place to spend it. And so James Franklin will come.

Now, it will not be. what he had at Penn State. And it's interesting because Penn State did not really get super serious about spending on football the way, say, Ohio State and Michigan do until about 2022 when Pat Kraft became the athletic director and they got a new president. So James Franklin was actually budding his head against the wall quite a bit for much of his Penn State tenure about money. We'll see what happens because he's going to have less than he had at Penn State.

But it's going to be more than Brent Pry had at Virginia Tech, if that makes sense. Yeah, well, the number one criticism of James Franklin during his entire tenure at Penn State wasn't that he wasn't a good coach or that he couldn't win games. It was that he couldn't win big ones. Guess what? If he gets Virginia Tech back into a position to be playing in big games, he's not going to be playing in big games against Ohio State unless it's in the playoff. Their big games are going to be against Miami.

And, you know, maybe Clemson again. Clemson could be comparable to that if Davo figures it out again. But he's not going to be budding his. head against the Michigan, Ohio State wall either. And I think that's an important aspect to this. Like, if he had Penn State's teams at Virginia Tech during the last 15 years, they would have won the conference four or five times, period. And I don't know if he'll be able to build Penn State teams there,

but it doesn't have to be as big or as deeper as talented as Penn State had to be to compete in the Big Ten in order to win the ACC anymore either. So I think he's going to win there. I like this higher. Ron in the chat, Virginia Tech or Penn State. State to play in a conference championship first. Can we answer that after Penn State makes us higher? I think we probably should wait, but here's the thing.

So I just did this column today on the different scenarios to make the ACC championship game. There's six teams alive to make the ACC championship game. Well, okay, let's name the six here. and you tell me which league you think you're going to get to a championship game in sooner because I think it's probably the ACC. Georgia Tech, Virginia, Pittsburgh, SMU, Miami, and Duke.

Of those Miami's the only one that spins and recruits in a way that's on par with Penn State or the good Big Ten programs. If Virginia Tech can get into that group with James Franklin and be in that group every few years, they're going to be happy.

And I'm telling you right now, the way the ACC is currently constituted, you can get in that group next year if you're James Franklin. You can do it immediately. Yeah. Also, his big-time recruiting battles aren't going to be against,

you know, he spent his entire career like budding up against Urban Meyer in New Jersey. Like, that's not true anymore. Yeah. Oh, Producer River wants to show us the top six in the big 10 right now, which I think is a great,

idea. Indiana, Ohio State, USC, Oregon, Michigan, Iowa. Now, Penn State's going to get back in that group, but guess what? They can't all make, like five of those teams actually are mathematically alive for the Big Ten championship. Realistically, unless Michigan can pull off some sort of miracle win against Ohio State, it's going to be Indiana, Ohio State. like that's what you're dealing with and and you know four of those teams three of those teams we think can compete for the national title this year three of those teams Indiana Ohio State Oregon right yeah I think I think what if USC beats Oregon on Saturday maybe you you might be them too maybe a long time 20 ACC teams can compete for the national title right now one and it's not going to play in the conference championship game yeah James Franklin has an easier road now. So the 2006 Virginia Tech schedule, in case you're wondering.

He won't get the easy introduction to the conference, probably. We're assuming Clemson will be decent again and not what they were this year. But Virginia Tech's at Miami and at Clemson next year. Obviously, they play Virginia, which is having a really good year this year. We'll see if that continues. Out of conference games at Maryland. and then James Madison comes to Blacksburg. We'll see if James Madison has the same coach or not. Bob Chesney. Bob Chesney may actually end replacing James Franklin at Penn State for all we know at this point.

You know what's crazy. He may wind up with another job. If he wins eight games next year, which he's operated under the fear of for the past 10 years of his life, he's like a hero. Like imagine like the mindset change. Now that doesn't mean that he's in a slack or not taking it as serious. of course he will but the the bar of success at penn state became to be ohio state to be michigan to be alabama you know what i mean they wanted to win a national title virginia tech wants to compete

for acc championships and then if they get more great but that's not the expectation and maybe one day we'll be talking me and you as the podcast is still going about why he can't get over the hump and win a national title of virginia tech well okay you know like this is i'm glad you brought this up. Because what is the knock at Penn State? The knock at Penn State is when they play the teams that are supposed to be better than then they never beat them. And they haven't won one of those games since 2016 when they beat Ohio State. Well, next year, he's going to have to play teams like that. Like, Miami's going to be considered that. Clemson is going to be considered that. Those games are on the

road. We'll see if, you know, is Brent Key still at Georgia Tech? They might be in that boat. Pittsburgh. They still might win the conference title this year. So what happens if he starts winning the games he's not supposed to win? And winning those games is easier than winning the games that he wasn't supposed to win in the Big Ten. Yeah, I think there needs to be a clear acknowledgement too that Penn State had the resources and the players, especially this past year, to actually do that. And it's going to take some time for Virginia Tech to match what Penn State had athletically. So, like, even though they may never match it.

Remember, they don't have the money Penn State has. And so as we discussed that the bar is lower for success at Virginia Tech, we also have to acknowledge that the bar is much higher in terms of, like, what the baseline talent level at Penn State had to be. So, like, those two things are kind of commiser with one another. Like, if it cost $5 to buy, you know, a bike in 1960, but you made $21,000 a year as a rich person, then of course it costs $100 a lot.

Everything is relative. So I don't know. I think that he would be a very, the one thing I will say about James Franklin that needs to be said to, Andy, when he left or when he got fired from Penn State, what did you see? You saw a lot of people standing out and banging the table for all the great things that not only he did for Penn State as a football program,

but for the individuals who came through it. And I think that, you know, at times he's been given, you know, the brunt of some criticism publicly. But from all accounts, he's a tremendous man who cares deeply about his players. And I think that he could make Virginia Tech into a very attractive transfer portal destination. Like, and I know that Penn State was engaged in that a little bit, you know, this past year, they got Trevor Pena, they got a few guys to come in and help. But like, what if he just recruits the areas that he was recruiting and is going,

for the type of player that wasn't necessary to get at Penn State, but did a good job evaluating and then picked up some really big transfers. They could be really good. Like I could be really good. And the thing is, who do you, like, where do you recruit at Penn State? You recruit Pennsylvania, obviously, you recruit New Jersey. You recruit the DMV area, the D.C., Maryland, Virginia. Like, it's the same places you're going to recruit at Virginia Tech.

And he knows exactly who he's looking for. also people who might be willing to come to Virginia Tech as transfers because it maybe didn't work out at their first school, he's probably already recruited and evaluated. He probably knows about them. Whether they were a take at Penn State is another story, but he and probably the staff he'll bring in will be aware of these people and probably have a good idea of how they fit at Virginia Tech. So they're going to hit the ground running.

I am sure they will hit the ground running. the one thing I'm not worried about at all is them fielding a competitive roster at Virginia Tech next year. I think they will immediately have a competitive roster. Yeah, and I'm happy for him. He's always been good to me. He's good on the show. And I don't know. The thing is that, like, I simultaneously believe and understand that Penn State had to

fire him. Like, I get it. He had plenty of runway there to get over the hump, and he was unable to get over the hump. But that doesn't mean that I think it's been well documented how I feel about his record against top five opponents. You know, a lot of those games were played when he didn't have top five talent. So, like, it's just not a fair thing. But I think that he is, I would have hired him at Auburn. I would have hired him at other places too. So the fact that Virginia Tech was able to get somebody that I thought would be a good enough hire for Auburn. It's probably an exciting thing. So like, if you're Virginia Tech right now, I mean, your number one battle isn't to go win the ACC. It's to not fade off

into obscurity. Like, that's the level we're at right now. Like Virginia Tech doesn't even move the needle. Well, that's the level they were at. Yeah. Three hours ago. Right. Now it's to go in the ACC because I'm telling you, they're looking at Virginia.

They're staring across the state to Charlottesville and going, if they're in the mix for the ACC title game right now, we should be in the mix for the ACC title game right now. There's no reason you can't be in that mix this time next year, no reason whatsoever. So I am very happy for James Franklin. You were there. We were together on the day he got fired at your house. And I texted him right after he got fired. And I said, can't wait to see you go kick ass somewhere else because I think he will.

I do. There are coaches who get fired, who I think have kind of lost a step. and I'm reluctant to say they're going to be good at their next job. He hasn't lost a step. He had a bad year this year. He's never actually had a bad year as a head coach before that. I don't think that's a trend. I think it's a blip.

I think he's going to be good at Virginia Tech, and I think Virginia Tech is going to be really happy about this. And we don't know what they're paying him. but it comes off the tab of Penn State's buyout. Penn State owes him $8 million a year. Virginia Tech, you can't get away with paying him like $2 million and saying, hey, pick up the rest of the tab, Penn State. But you can probably get a little discount.

Like, if James Franklin was not fired Penn State coach James Franklin, if you just had to get him on the open market, what do you think he costs? Like $6.5, $7 million? Yeah, I think we get $6.5. I bet they're not paying him that. yeah so they probably got a better coach than they could have afforded because of this situation it's like buying a car used that's in really good condition but the owner didn't want to fix the muffler is that a good i think so i try too hard with analogies sometimes but if i'm james

franklin the first thing i'm doing andy is i'm calling the top 15 or all 12 of penn states to any 26 commitments and already trying to flip those guys. Like, I think, come play here. Yeah, it doesn't mean they'll all come. But it ain't going to hurt to ask. So this is going to be fun to watch. We have the updated coaching openings graphic. So the last opening remaining in the ACC,

at least for now, unless another job opens, we'll see what happens at Florida State. Stanford. The Big 10 has UCLA and Penn State still open, the Big 12, Oklahoma State. The SEC, Arkansas, Florida, LSU, and Auburn. Oh, my God, the Lane Kiff and stuff going crazy. It's plane tracker season.

We got guys in Baton Rouge snapping pictures of Lane Kiff and family members getting off the plane. That's going to get wild. So stay tuned to Annie and R on three. We have a show every day, three o'clock Eastern Time, every weekday, Monday through Thursday during the season. Saturday, of course, we have the post-game show, 11.30 p.m. Eastern time.

Come see us. We're going to be deep, deep in the coaching carousel for the next few weeks. And, yeah, there'd be probably quite a bit of James Franklin and Lane Kiffin talk on Tuesday's show. I was scheduled to have Booger McFarland as a guest, proud LSU grad. So I imagine there will be a decent amount of Lane Kiffin and LSU job talk on that show. Thank you so much for joining us to talk about James Franklin. And we will talk to you again very soon. You know,

Matt,