Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - REACTION: James Franklin to Virginia Tech is a GAME CHANGING MOVE | How this SHAKES UP the ACC

Episode Date: November 18, 2025

Virginia Tech shakes up the ACC by landing James Franklin as head coach, signaling a new era for Hokies football. Can Franklin’s arrival restore Virginia Tech as the ACC’s next powerhouse and legit national contender after years of mediocrity?Jackson Holzer and Kenton Gibbs break down the seismic impact of Franklin’s hire, debating if Penn State made the right call letting him go and how his recruiting prowess and culture-building could shift the ACC’s balance of power. The hosts spotlight Franklin’s strengths as a relationship builder, his mixed record in big games, and the challenge of building elite quarterbacks, while also questioning the ceilings for programs like Miami, Georgia Tech, and Clemson. Key discussion points include the Hokies’ recent facilities investment, ACC national perception, and which schools stand to lose the most as Virginia Tech regains relevance under Franklin. Will the Hokies become the ACC’s next signature team? Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Virginia Tech hires James Franklin as their next head coach. Right move, wrong move. Let's get into it. You are Locked-on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, everyone, and welcome in a Locked-on ACC. I'm Jackson Holes or the host of Locked-on Syracuse. That's Tenting Gibbs, the host of Lockedon.

Wolfpack and former NC State defensive tackle. Thank you all so much for being with us. James Franklin, former Penn State head coach, is now the head coach of Virginia Tech. And we're going to dive right into it here on today's show, impact on the ACC, whether or not this was the right hire for Virginia Tech or perhaps the wrong hire for Virginia Tech.

Should they have gone in a different direction? Feel free to comment your thoughts right now in the comment section below. But first our instant reaction, instant takeaways to this big time news reported by multiple outlets out there. Before we get to everything, this episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app. Creating account news for Lockdown College for 20 hours off, your first purchase.

Kenton, the floor is yours. What are your thoughts on this move? You know, if you're in Blacksburg, Virginia, if you're a Virginia Tech fan, you got to feel how New Yorkers felt when Funkflex said, if you're in New York right now, reach your hand into the cab. They're cash register. Their money is your money. You've got to be feeling fantastic about this hire. I mean, out of your mind type of excited because this is the type of hire that changes a program. And I don't mean changes the program for the worst because even if you miss here, you are saying to the college football world and you are saying to coaches in the future, we're willing to make the investment.

we're willing to make the investment. I honestly believe that this Virginia Tech job is a lot better of a job than many people nationally have given it credit for being. And that's why I kind of, you know, turn. I snarled a little bit at those saying, would James Franklin want to take this job? I mean, this job feels a little beneath them. In what regard? This is a program that just dumped 50 million in investment.

into this program. And I don't know if that was a one-time deal or if that's like the yearly we're adding on 50. I'm not sure. But either way you cut it or slice it, that is a sizable chunk. And so they are putting the ACC on notice. They are putting the nation on notice saying, you know what? It's not enough to get a proven coordinator. It's not enough to get a proven G5 guy, which I believe Fuentes was at Memphis before he got there. Not enough to do that. We want a proven big-time guy at the power four level. Had success at Vanderbilt, had success at Penn State.

And, you know, even though that this didn't end well, and people are saying, well, terrible record against Michigan, terrible record against Ohio State. Yeah, who doesn't? Who doesn't? If that is your bar, if your bar is terrible record against Michigan, terrible record against Penn State means you're a bad coach, There's three great coaches ever.

Like, that's it. That's just about it. So, you know, I look at this and I'm sitting here saying, and by the way, I don't even think Nick Saban had a great record against Michigan when he was at Michigan State. That's how tough it is to beat those squads when they're rolling at their highest clip. But that's neither here nor there. The reality of this is this is a big-time hire.

This is the type of hire that if it goes wrong, you still shown the college football words you tried your best. And if it goes right, if it goes right, because with all the respect to Virginia Tech, they're one of those schools, eight wins a year, you'll get your name. You'll get your name on the field. Something in that stadium will be named after you. And so I think that that's their floor with James Franklin. I see maybe one or two years of adjustment.

And then afterwards, you're going to see eight to nine consistently in Blacksburg, which, by the way, I said, if you can survive and do it in Happy Valley, oh, Blacksburg is definitely the type of place for you. Because they've got much more stuff around them than, you know, they did up there in Happy Valley, Pennsylvania. Two things can be true about James Franklin. I think it was the right move for Penn State to ultimately let him go. He was there for over a decade and time had kind of run its course.

He had achieved all he possibly could with. Penn State. And it reached a tipping point. And I think it was the right move for Penn State to let him go. But also, James Franklin is a really good coach. James Franklin has had a ton of success. And so he's going to land on his feet. And chances are, whatever program he goes to, that program is going to be successful. And in this case, that program is Virginia Tech. This is a home run. higher for Virginia Tech. No question. They hit this one out of the park.

Welcome Virginia Tech. You're a serious program again. We missed you here in the ACC for being irrelevant for all those years, toiling around near the middle of the pack towards the bottom of the conference year and and you're out. Welcome back. Welcome back. James Franklin is someone who can build up this program to what it once was, which is

one of the better programs in the entire. country. You can go look at their history of Virginia Tech. They're pretty good. It's just not in recent years. That's all. But this is a guy with a proven track record of success. And two years ago, he was in the college football playoff. Two years ago. But 2026, two years ago, you get the point. College football playoff. Yeah. In the semifinal, all those great seasons at Penn State. He had all those great. He also was great at Vanderbilt in the 2010s, not the NIL era. That was like peak SEC football around then.

And he was with Vanderbilt. Yeah. They didn't have the egg of Javier back then. I agree with you on everything except saying that Penn State was right to let them go. Everything else that you said, I had a thousand percent agree with you. Really? Penn State is a bunch of damn fools. They are a bunch of damn fools.

I don't know how good they think it's going to get for them. I don't know, right? But like in their mind, because, and this is what this signifies to me. To them, it's national championship or bus. Huh. You think you got the, as the old meme says, you don't have the facilities for that big money. Penn State literally does not have the capabilities of being that team.

And everybody keeps lying saying, well, they're throwing a lot of money at it. They're throwing a lot of money at. There are just certain things that in this, new age in this big 2025, it's a different world. It's a different world. If you look at the teams that have gone on to win a lot of championships in recent history, they all have a few things in common.

And Penn State has some things in common with those teams, but they also lack a couple things that those teams have. Generally speaking, as of late, we have not seen teams that are in, unless they're in a state where they don't have professional teams, schools in the middle of nowhere is built are at a great disadvantage right now. All of them. All of them. The NIL part of this is people are greatly underestimating the power of,

hey, we're in the city where we can get you a lot of eyeballs on you, a lot of meaningful, you know, a lot of meaningful money, powerball players that can get you squared away. Happy Valley don't get that. With all due respect, they just don't. have that. You can talk all you want about, oh, yeah, if you're good there, oh, stop it. They got two of the best backs in the country. Who was beating down their door? Have you seen them on any Dr. Pepper ads? Chippella ads? Anything like that for them? Serious question,

Jax? Because I can name you the players that I've seen in those types of ads. One of them played in California, which was Williams. One of them played in the state where they didn't have a professional team and Bryce Young. I've seen multiple guys go on and do all. those great things. And somebody may say, oh, they mentioned Drew Aller recently in one of those ads. Sure, they mentioned them. Terry Cruz mentioned them in that. It's not the same.

And even beyond that, even beyond that, this, the Big Ten is so loaded now. You're not just talking about Michigan, Ohio State. You also got Oregon and contivate over there. Indiana out of nowhere. What the hell is that? Yeah, Kurtz-Denetti. Uh-oh. He was, they were looking at him.

They were like, okay, we're going to fire James Franklin. and we're going to bring in Kirk Signetti from Indiana. And then Indiana said, no, you're not. We're going to extend him. And Indiana is like, we want to be good at this football thing now. Exactly. And Sexton, the agent of all of these big power players in terms of coaches, he knows it's bag season.

When one great coach gets fire, when one great job opens up, oh, it's bag season for all my boys. He's like a lick at his chops. Oh, when I'm getting fired, oh, I love this part. This is the part I like the most. So I don't think that Penn State ceiling goes above this. And I'll take it a step further. Even if they do find a coach whose ceiling is above this,

I think that that ceiling will be limited. I don't think that this is like the next coach that they hire will have Penn State rolling, how Joe Paul had them in the 80s and whatnot, 80s and 90s. I don't think that's, I think the glory days are going for them. I think that this is their Nebraska firing Bo Polini moment. I think we're going to agree to disagree. It's not just, it's not that I disagree with you on.

the Penn State ceiling for now. It's just that James Franklin was there for so many years. And I think they felt at that point that there was nothing left for him to achieve anymore. And they want to go in a different direction. And we'll see where it goes. They are the ones who are going to have to live with the fact that he's no longer their head coach. And he is now the head coach of Virginia Tech. And coming up here on Locked on ACC, we're going to go over some of the maybe some of the faults of James Franklin, but ultimately why he is still the right coach for Virginia Tech. So stick with us here. on Locked-on ACC.

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Locked on ACCC. I'm Jackson Holes of the host of Locked on Syracuse. That's Tenting Gibbs, host of Locked on Wolfpack and former NC State defensive tackle. James Franklin has a well-earned reputation of not being able to win the big game. It's true. All the numbers that are out there with James Franklin. Should I pull one up right now for everyone, shall we? Let's see. Four and 21 against top 10 teams while he was at Penn State.

Four and 21. So I understand that there are faults with James Franklin, but here's the deal. Here's why this is ultimately the right move anyway for Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech hasn't played in big games in quite a while. You actually have to be good in order to play in big games. And James Franklin, at least to me, is someone who can significant.

significantly elevate Virginia Tech's floor. Now, I don't know if Virginia Tech is going to become a national championship contender all of a sudden, but at minimum with the hiring of James Franklin, they should be near or at the top of the ACC on a consistent basis. Your thoughts? I feel like the can't win the big game thing is greatly exaggerated and don't get me wrong. I do not disagree that, like, yes, he had not beaten Ohio State, Michigan in Oregon and company, you know, on a regular basis. Again, who has?

Who has? You can say his limitations are winning the big game. Sure, I'll give you that. Did he not win playoff games? Just in the last playoff? He did. He beat, what was it, SMU and Boise State? SMU and Boise State.

Absolutely. And you can say, well, he, you know, he lost to a Notre Dame team that didn't look great in the championship. Yeah, they didn't look good against Ohio State. Yeah, I was just about to say, yeah, sure, whatever. They didn't look good against Ohio State. Yeah, you're talking about the same team that drubbed Tennessee last year.

I mean, whoop the wheels. Put the beats on them boys. As much as people were saying, Indiana didn't belong in the college football playoff, I was actually the biggest thing. Guess what the biggest margin of victory was in Brown, I want Ohio State over Tennessee. So I think it's exaggerated that he cannot win the big games and all that. And oh, yeah, he can't beat Ohio State.

He can't beat Michigan. Quick question. Who are the last two national champions? Ohio States and Michigan. Huh. Hmm. So it seems like the rest of the country has an Ohio State Michigan problem too, huh? Seems like it.

And it's funny because one of those losses that Ohio State had last year was to Michigan. Oh. Well, I don't understand it. And then that same Michigan team went on to beat the Alabama team that everybody was saying, I'm sorry, Grady. You know, I got to talk about the time. The Alabama team that everybody said belonged in the playoff over some other teams

they got in. And Michigan goes on to beat them without understanding the concept of a forward pass. They were barely ahead of Syracuse's passing game this year. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. With all due respect. Hold on a, hold on a minute. Hold on a minute. You're being too nice to Syracuse and you're being in Michigan. No, no, no, no, no. You did not watch Michigan pass a forward pass. You did not watch Michigan play USC last year or you would be in the same boat. Have you watched go Filarty against North Carolina? I did. I did. I feel sorry for you. You deserve financial compensation for that. Good news is I've lost on Syracuse. I get financial compensation for watching that game.

All I'm said is this. All I'm said is this. Michigan beat USC by throw. I believe they completed like six passes all game or something like that. The only difference between Syracuse and Michigan the last year is they got some dogs up front that moved around a lot of furniture. That was it. So I'm saying all that to say, James Franklin being told that he can't win the big game,

sure, what's the rest of the nation's record against Michigan? in an Ohio State and Oregon in the past 10 years. I'd love to hear it. I'd love to hear what everybody else's record is against them because I don't think anybody else has done too much better. The one thing that I will say is a very legitimate critique of him, quarterback development and selection. Those are the two things that I will say,

hey, you got your rights to kind of look at him and say, you're looking funny and the like in this realm. Because, you know, for all of the resources, for all of the money for as good as I've talked ad nauseum about how good James Franklin is at recruiting the Eastern Seaboard. Can you name me one quarterback that you thought? James Franklin got his hands on them and they got significantly better before, you know, they were done. No. I mean, I mean, he recruited Drew Aller and then I don't know what happened to the guy.

I don't know what happened to him. Trace McSorily, but I mean, did. all I remember about Trace McSorley is he can throw it on a dime. That's it. He's going to do the song. He's going to do the song, everybody. So you're 100% right about that. I mean, he's not a perfect coach.

Yeah. He's not. He's not a perfect coach. You know, this isn't Virginia Tech hiring Nick Saban or anything like that. Right. James Franklin is a well-respected, very good power conference proven head coach. That is what he is. And that's what Virginia Tech needed because I was looking through Virginia Tech and their history over the years.

They, early to mid 2000s, this was an elite program stacking 10 plus win seasons every single year. Yep. Every year. And then all of a sudden, the program just went, boop. This is a well respected program normally, but it had kind of gotten away from. And then you hire James Franklin. he's going to raise the floor of this team significantly. He's a very good recruiter.

He knows how to build relationships. I think there's a reason why a lot of players decommitted from Penn State versus what you're seeing at Florida versus what you're seeing in LSU with the lack of decommitments there. And I think that shows you how good of a relationship builder James Franklin is. Because a lot of those guys committed to Penn State because of James Franklin. Not because of Penn State. Meanwhile, you go look at Florida, you go look at LSU.

Those guys are committing more to the brand. Yes. They're committing to the brand. And so when they fire the head coach, okay, maybe a couple of them are going to leave. But overall, they're going to stay because they're Florida and their LSU. Penn State's still a big program and they couldn't keep a lot of guys because of James Franklin getting fired. It's a hard sell. It's a hard sell.

You talk about Penn State versus LSU. Where would you rather be? Baton Rouge? Happy Valley. You talk about Florida. Tallahassee? Happy Valley. No, no, no, no, no. That Florida is in Gainesville. Oh, I'm sorry, Gainesville.

You're correct. Gainesville is the middle of nowhere. Gainesville. I was just about to say Gainesville is less attractive than a Baton Rouge. There is nothing in Gainesville. But compared to Happy Valley, stop it. Stop it. You're telling me Gainesville is as middle of nowhere territory, is as

as unappealing to an 18-year-old as Happy Valley? Stop it. Come on, dog. Come on. Come on. Hey, listen. Listen. I'm just saying they're both in the middle of nowhere.

I agree. I'm just saying Gainesville, more appealing. It's just more appealing. And this is, at the end of the day, when you look at James Franklin, the recruiter that he is, the relationship builder that he is and all that, again, I go back to the inability to develop quarterbacks and receivers has been a little bit shocked. It's been a little bit shocking based on how well he recruits and all those things. And I'm going to tell you, one of the worst things that could have happened to James Franklin in terms of getting fired right now is San Diego State having a lot of success.

You know why? Because San Diego State has a head coach by the name of Dionne Lewis, I believe it is. And let me tell you something. Coach Louis or Sean Lewis, not Dion Lewis. I'm thinking to Dion because he was with Dion Sanders at Colorado a few years ago. let me tell you something. Sean Lewis can, he can do it. He can't.

He can put together an offense. He can put together. And if San Diego State was bad, he would have a good time going over there and said, hey, come on, come on, be my offensive coordinator. Come on, get this thing, rock and rolling and, you know, make some good things happen with that. Unfortunately, San Diego State is 8 and 2.

And, you know, Sean is probably going to get a bigger job this offseason. But I will say, if James Franklin can figure out that piece of it, that's like Thanos getting the last infinity stone. That's, the game's over. The game's over. There is no Iron Man coming to save the day, ladies and gentlemen. That's it. That's it.

But again, that's his biggest limitation. And it's cost them because when you think about those big games and what's going wrong for them every time, teams have just said, you know what? Let's stack the box. Let's stack the box. Let's see what they do. Let's, we'll go one-on-one on the outside.

They won't do anything throwing the ball. and historically speaking, if you look at those big games, they have pissed down their leg as a passing game. I said against Notre Dame last year, if this game comes down to quarterback and receiver play,

Notre Dame is going to win this football game. And everybody called me crazy. They know, oh, Riley Leonard's been terrible. They don't have any receivers at Notre Dame. Who threw the interceptions? Who threw three interceptions that game, one of which got called back. Wasn't Riley.

Wasn't Riley. So that's the last piece for James to figure out. If he could figure that out, Coach Franklin will be in that Kirby Smart tier and that where Davosweeney used to be tier. He'll be there. He'll be there. He's knocking on the door right now. But if he figures out that quarterback,

he's going to kick that thing on now. Kenton, I can't believe we're mostly in agreement right now. This is a rare, rare, rare occurrence here on Locked-on ACC. Me and Kenton have agreed with each other for the most part for about 20-plus minutes of this show. Now, coming up, we'll talk about the impact on the ACC with this hiring of James Franklin and Virginia Tech. And we'll see whether or not we still agree with each other. So stick with us here on Locked-on ACC. see. College football is in the final month of the regular season, and I am so excited.

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$20 off your first purchase terms applied. Again, that's promo code locked on college. L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-C-O-L-EG for $20 hours off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go, download game time today. James Franklin to Virginia Tech. What is the impact on the ACC? Kenton. What are your thoughts on this? What's the impact on the ACC here? Well, don't worry, Jackson. If we agree too much, we could talk about the least favorite Starburst flavors because I know you're a maniac when it comes to that probably. But. Warbur, I don't like Starburst.

See? See? I knew it. I knew you were going to do it at some point. I knew Starburst would be a point of contention between us. But impact on the ACC, this boost the national relevance of the ACC. This boost the perception of the ACC. If you are an ACC team, it is a love, hate moment for you.

because on one hand, yeah, we're getting better coaches. We're getting all these things. Virginia Tech is investing in football again. That's great. And then you take a second to think, oh, hell, Virginia Tech's investing in football. They've got a great coach. We got to play them. They're going to be on our schedule.

So it's a plus and a minus if you're an ACC coach. If you're an ACC fan from the outside looking in, just purely from a, I support the conference getting better standpoint, there's no way that you don't support this move. But again, if you're a Virginia, Virginia fan. Oh, man, we finally figured it out. Then this goes and happens, right? Like Tony Elliott's finally starting to make some inroads. Ah, this happened.

You know, you're one of those teams that you thought, oh, I'm in the middle of the pack. I could climb up and make some better footing. Yeah, yeah, it's looking tough. It's looking real dicey for you out there. So ultimately, this is a great move for the conference overall, but you're going to hate to see this team on your schedule because they're going to be well coached. they're going to do all the things that it takes to play winning football, honestly and truly. And the biggest thing that I think James Franklin does do at an extremely high level is the ability to pump out edge rushers that are fantastic.

That is something that he has done these past few years where it's like, do they have a factory of some sort? What are they doing in happy that? Are they just making clones of the same guy? I'll do Carter, Micah Parsons, so we can go on and on. Chop Robinson. I mean, every time you look up, there's a new one of them, and they're just dominating. So, you know, you get that type of pass rushers, those type of, that type of edge play. Miami has shown us, that's the recipe.

You get you some good edges. You get you a good offensive line, which again, that's another position that James Franklin does a fantastic job with. You get you those big boys, some good big guys. Oh, the sky's the limit. The sky is the limit. There's nothing you can't do when you build from the inside out, which James Franklin does better than anybody. So if you are one of the schools that heavily recruits from the DMV, he's coming to pick your pockets. If you are one of those schools in Pennsylvania, I'm looking at you, Pitt, he's coming to pick those pockets.

If you are a school really on the Eastern Seaboard in general, he's coming. Debo coming. You better tuck your chain, baby. I don't like that as a Syracuse fan. man. Although Cran Brown can recruit anywhere in the country. So we'll see. He can deal with James Franklin once. You can deal with him again. He's already dealt with them before. I think the ACC needs a new power. That's the problem right now at the ACC. And I think it's one of the main reasons why they don't get a lot of respect nationally. They don't have a big time power right now. What team do you look at in the ACC and you say, that's the team. You know, that's the team that every year, We can hang on to saying, they are going to be a national title threat. Every year, that's honestly the ceiling for Virginia Tech now when you hire James Franklin. You're in the ACC.

It's not as difficult as the Big Ten. You want to know why? You're not playing Michigan and Ohio State every single year. You're not. Oh, you got to take on Clemson? Clemson ain't the same program anymore. They're not. You got to take on the Miami Hurricanes?

Are they ever, are they ever going to do? Are they just, is Miami just going to continue to be really good? If you never be able to push through? When are they going to do it? I'm still waiting on Miami. The door is open. Do you believe in Virginia, do you believe in Georgia Tech long term?

Because I don't think that Haynes King guy is going to be back for them next year. You believe in them long term? I do. I actually do believe in them long term. As a national power, not as a consistent. No, not as a national power. No, no, not as a national power. good program. Not yet. Not yet. I think they're on the way, but I don't believe in them as a national

power as a now. I believe in them as an ACC power, but a national power, that's where I'm at too. That's where I'm at. Yeah, Georgia Tech, they can be good consistently year and in year out with Brent Key. I still need to see whether or not they can do more than that, whether or not they can be that consensus top five team in the country. Let's relate it to basketball here for a moment. Last year, ACC basketball, awful. It was pathetic. There was one good team. But that's, one good team was Duke. The Duke Blue Devils, who you can count on every year, is going to be cream of the crop elite. The ACC does not have that right now in football.

They used to have it with Clemson. They sort of had it for one year with Florida State when they went undefeated. And other than that, they don't happen. And so the door is open. It's for anyone to take. And if you are Virginia Tech now and you're talking about an impact, on the ACC, this is your moment. This is your ceiling. This is the opportunity right now when when no other program can seemingly get their act together. Virginia Tech could be the team with

James Franklin now that says, well, all right, we're going to be the team that's consensus top five in the country year in and year out. And we're going to be the team that consistently represents the ACC for the college football playoff. And we're going to be the team from the ACC that can consistently elevate the conference just by being one great team. That's how I view this higher overall. That is the ceiling of Virginia Tech. But at minimum, it's a floor raiser and it's another very respectable program within the conference, which doesn't hurt the conference.

But as you said, Ketton kind of hurts the teams within the conference because now you have to deal with Virginia Tech. It's no longer a circled win on your schedule. you're going to have to play a pretty good head coach. You're in and you're out. So ACC, you better be ready. But overall, Kenton, last thoughts on this. Well, I don't think Virginia Tech was ever a circled win,

but I do think that it's now going to turn into a circled loss for some teams. Go ahead and say, hey, go ahead and chalk that off. But overall, great hire. Again, great hire. We've talked about, you know, James Franklin's strengths here as a communicator, as a relationship builder and all those things. We've talked about his ability to build an entrenching. is, again, I still believe despite the record against the top teams, because how many coaches,

if you take their record against top 10 teams, you see something exponentially better than that, right? And so ultimately, great hire for Virginia Tech. And again, national media proven wrong again in terms of, oh, his job is beneath them. Oh, he's just, this just doesn't make sense. this was a match made in heaven all along. And last thing I'll say, before we get out of here,

I am almost guaranteeing you. Penn State will go through a long drought because of this. They will go through a long drought of winning, you know, bringing in a mat rule or something like that and winning seven, maybe eight on a good year

for quite some time because this is a different world. The NIL deal, The transfer portal deal has dropped every team's floor to much lower than what it traditionally would have been. With you on that, we'll see if Penn State can recover from this. I still think it was the right move to ultimately let him go. He had been there for a very long time.

But they are the ones who are going to have to live with it and ultimately try to make a hire that is even better than James Franklin. Again, congratulations to Virginia Tech. You are finally a real program once again. and you should be taken very seriously with this James Franklin Hire. And folks, what are your thoughts? Feel free to let us know in the comment section below. Hey, Kenton's very smart.

He gives very expert analysis. Tell me why I'm an idiot and why you want to see Alex Dono back for the next episode here on Locked on ACC. So, folks, thank you all so much for watching. Thank you all so much for listening. If you like this podcast, be sure to hit that like button. If you really enjoy the podcast, be sure to it subscribe. Tell all your friends about Locked on ACCC.

And finally, congratulations to Virginia Tech.