The Josh Innes Show - College Coaching Dominos Falling

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

It appears James Franklin is headed to Virginia Tech. I think this is a slam dunk hire for the Hokies. I think this is a great spot for Franklin. He's a really good coach. He's better when he's an underdog that's chasing the big boys. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right. Let's see here. So what do we have, kiddos? We have college football coaching news, right? So, according to this ESPN story, Virginia Tech is going to hire James Franklin. That's coming down here this afternoon. Virginia Tech is finalizing the deal to make James Franklin, the school's next head coach. The deal is expected to be completed in the near future, blah, blah, blah, blah, 128 and 60 over 15 seasons, brings a resume that includes winning more than 68% of his games and appearance in the semifference. finals of the 2024 college football playoff and a big 10 championship back in 2016. It will replace Brent Pry. I mean, they obviously got a much bigger upgrade there. My man's going to do well there. He did well at Penn State, which was not a good job when he took it over. And I know Penn State people don't want to hear it, but Penn State's not a very glamorous job now. You're going to be having a hard time getting elite level player, super talented dudes that want to go to state college Pennsylvania.

Now, money plays a factor in all of this stuff now, of course, so, you know, money can, you know, help you get whoever you want there. Look, I'm aware that they've gotten talented players there. I know the players that they have had there. But there are a lot of schools like your LSUs, your Florida's and your Alabama's and your old misses and your, you know, and go down the list, Georgia, your schools where, like, for every great player that comes out of Penn State and goes to the NFL, those schools have like 10 of those dudes. So I still don't believe that Penn State was a very glamorous spot. And I think James Franklin did fine. And actually did very well. I think that they overvalue who they are at Penn State, which is fine because you might as well dream big, right?

You might as well dream big and aspire to be something. So like might as well. If you've got the money to spend, you can go set the world on fire with the cash you have. Go ahead. Rock on. But let's play a couple commercials and we'll continue. So as far as people, Penn State goes. Like, I don't view Penn State. Like, it's a very good job because it's a job that's

willing to pay a coach $50 million or $70 million or whatever James Franklin's buyout was to go away. So obviously they care about winning. That's not what I mean when you say, is a job a good job? What I'm saying is it is a job that I don't believe you're going to get top-notch talent, particularly top-notch talent at skill positions in an era where that's what you need to win in college football is elite high level skill dudes. And I don't think you're going to get those there. And I don't think you're going to get high level quarterback play there either. So let's read some more of this story. And so all that said, I think they're getting a very good coach. Like I feel like they're a perfect combo because James, you know, when they look back on it at

Penn State, they'll look at James Franklin and say the guy did a hell of a fucking job. Like he did a really good job. They're not a, you know, a perennial powerhouse like they used to be. And in the era of Joe Pah in the 1980s and shit. But they were a consistent competitor. And look, were they better than Ohio State? No. You know, were they better than Michigan, for the most part? No.

They didn't get to the heights that those teams got. But he did a really good job. Okay? And when you think of Virginia Tech, you think of a place that's, well, first off, you're in the ACC. You know why you take that job if you're James Franklin? And I don't know if he was offered Florida. And I don't know if he was offered Arkansas.

I believe he was offered Arkansas. Or at least Arkansas had. true interest. Well, you have a chance in the ACC if you do things right. Who are you up against? Well, you got broken Clemson right now. You got Miami, Florida State, who's broken. So what do you have? Like, it's a more competitive chance for you. Like, if you start looking around the ACC and see who the teams that are going to possibly make the college football playoff are, you're going to be looking at teams like Duke, like Duke was in the mix, and Virginia was in the mix. You want to tell me that Virginia Tech? And look, maybe I'm sticking with the old school viewpoint here as a guy that

grew up watching college football mid-90s, late 90s, early 2000s, when Frank Beamer was at Votech and they had Michael Vick and they were in the national championship game. Maybe I'm letting that crowd my judgment a little bit. But Virginia Tech will be able to compete with like there's no reason why in a crappy league that they're in. They can't become a perennial top two, three team or should be a top two three team in that conference. Let's look at the ACC standings and ACC football right now. Again, now you get you, I forget who some of the teams are in these conferences. You'll have to forgive me at this point because some of these teams like don't belong

and they're like, how is SMU in the Atlantic Coast conference? But you start looking around the ACC and it's like, you mean, you don't think you can play ball with Cal? You can't play ball with North Carolina State. You can't play ball with North Carolina. You can't play ball with Boston College. Can't play ball with Duke. Like Georgia Tech's having a moment good for them.

But if Georgia Tech can have a moment, you bet your ass so can Virginia Tech, Louisville. Like there are decent mid-level bridesmaidie to like second or third like bridesmaid. Maybe there's a couple of maids of honor like Miami is a maid of honor. You know, in certain years, you know, a Clint, well, Clemson's a maid of honor. They were a bride. Now they've kind of slid into the bridesmaid category. Now they're kind of falling down into like, you know, or they're in the maid of honor. Now they're kind of in the bridesmaid category.

But other than that, Virginia Tech with the right people in place and the right coach can win football games there. And at Virginia Tech, if you're a consistent eight, nine, if you, you'll consistently win eight, nine games and pop a 10 or an occasional 11 in there, you're a hero. That's the kind of place that is. I think that's a smart move by him. Because I think if you, if you're James Franklin, he knows this life because he lived in the SEC life as well. You know, if you're not at one of the true halves in the SEC, it can be tough. He was at Vanderbilt before Vanderbilt became what it is now, which is a Pavia school, and they'll fall off a cliff once Pavia's gone, and that's fine.

But at Arkansas, which was the other name, that's the opening that was realistic. Like, I don't think Florida wanted James Franklin. Maybe they did. Maybe they didn't. I think they're all in on Kiffin, just like LSU seemingly all in on Kiffin. And it appears that Kiffin is family's in Baton Rouge. You're talking about a fun story. Lane Kiffin's family has been flown to Baton Rouge to tour Baton Rouge.

I don't know that you want someone touring Baton Rouge because bless Baton Rouge's heart. Baton Rouge is a shithole. I love Baton Rouge. It's my town. It's my people. It's our shithole. But Baton Rouge is not a charming place. The Kiffins ain't moving to Baton Rouge because they like Baton Rouge.

They're moving to Baton because they think Lane can win a championship at LSU. Because fucking Ed Ogeron and Les Miles did it. So he can go coach there and win a championship and be a hero and he can live a nice life. It's a fine place to live. I guarantee you Oxford, Mississippi is an exponentially better place to live. A charming little college town to live in. superior to Baton Rouge, which is just a mid-sized semi-metropolitan shithole with a college in it. But anyway, we'll talk about that in a second. But I believe, like if you would have gone to

Arkansas, let's say you're someone like James Franklin, Arkansas is open. Arkansas can be better than it is. But at Arkansas, if you win eight, nine games, you're a hero there, kind of like Virginia Tech. The difference is Arkansas almost has no chance of ever competing for the championship. because they will never get those horses and they will never win that way. Virginia Tech, in the right years in the ACC, with the right schedule in the ACC, you can get there. I believe that with Virginia Tech. Like, I don't believe it with most of the teams in the ACC, but I believe it with Virginia Tech

because I've seen Virginia Tech get to a very high level when they had a legit coach. Again, different era, different world. I understand that. 1999 is not 2025. I'm well aware. But I think James Franklin can and will be successful at Virginia Tech. It just depends on your expectations. He's not competing for the national championship every year, but James Franklin will compete

to be a player every year. And I think that's, if you're Virginia Tech, that's basically what your existence has been. Oh, like, hey, here's Michael Vic. We went to the national championship. Most years, you want to be a perennial eight, nine, and then occasional double-digit win team and upset some people and have a fun program. They will never be Alabama, Georgia, LSU. That's not who they are.

Ohio State, Michigan, that's not who they are. They're not blue blood like that. But they can be in that next tier. And I think James Franklin made the right choice. And if you start thinking about Arkansas, Arkansas has a shit ton of money. Then they're a basketball school, but they've got tons of cash. And they want to win in football. It's just something they never do.

The other question I have is, I wonder how much of his deal has been, or how much of that like 70-something million or whatever it was that he's got. in his buyout, like that's actually going to bail out Penn State. That's why these buyouts are kind of funny because if a guy gets another job, then, you know, it's, I think it's mitigated by the amount of money that you, that you're getting from another job. Let's see here. After losses to UCLA, Northwestern Penn State fired Franklin, they were originally on

the hook for 49 million of his contract, but that number is subject to offset and would end up being significantly less pending on the terms of the Virginia Tech contract. And in theory, Virginia Tech can get away with paying him a little bit less than they would have. And they would still, like as I said, if someone fired me, I'd want them to have to pay every fucking dime of it in some way. So I think it'd be fantastic. If Virginia Tech's like, we will pay him $1 a year and the rest of it will be paid by Penn State. Because it doesn't feel like something you can double dip on. If you're James Franklin, I don't think this is a double dip scenario.

Like, I don't know if there's a way to make, like if it's offset, like how many per year? Like you might be able to. That kind of goes to the point my friend Matt was making about the deal with Brian Kelly is that Brian Kelly, in theory, if he just takes a lump sum now, which LSU wants to buy him out for a lump sum, he would get that money. It would be burdened a hand. And then you go get another job and it's acting as if you're double dipping. You're getting less of your overall $50 million you're owed.

But like there's a chance if you go and get a high-end job that pays you $6, $7 million a year, then you're not really going to get any of that money, which is the point that I get and I didn't really think about it until I heard Matt talk about it and I'm like oh that makes sense I can get down with that I respect that but I think James Franklin and Virginia Tech always felt like something that made sense I think he is a I think James Franklin is a great chaser I think James Franklin is great at being kind of the little guy I you know Penn State when Penn State was you know coming out of sanctions like that's a good spot for him Vanderbilt when it's us against the world's a good spot for him Virginia Tech in the toilet right

now. That's a good spot for him. With James Franklin being preseason top 10 and you've got to find a way to beat Ohio State, Michigan schools like that, Oregon, that ain't it. But James Franklin at Virginia Tech schedule will be a lot lighter. You'll have some resources there. I think this is a great spot for Franklin. And hell, I didn't even get into Lane Kiffin. The Lane Kiffin story's fascinating too, the way that thing's all playing out at LSU. Like things are really starting to come together and the drama with the people at Ole Miss. It's actually a fun story. Let's get into that here in a second.