Is James Franklin’s Career at Virginia Tech Doomed?

James Franklin was fired mid-season after his pre-season ranked #2 Penn State Nittany Lions dropped three games in a row to fall to a 3-3 record. Franklin was at Penn State for 12 seasons and compiled an overall record of 104-45. But he was a paltry 15-28 against top 25 ranked teams.

Franklin was on the free market for weeks before Virginia Tech, who also fired their head coach, came calling. This week Franklin signed a $41M – 5-year deal to coach for the Hokies.

So, how will it play out for Franklin in Blacksburg? Virginia Tech is a bit of an odd ball place to recruit top players to come play. It’s in the middle of nowhere Virginia. It is surrounded by farmland and the closest large city is Roanoke, which is roughly an hour away. It’s not exactly the glitz and glamor offered by big schools located in or near large vibrant cities.

Frank Beamer was able to recruit well when he was head coach of Virginia Tech after establishing himself over many years as a coach with a system and philosophy of disciplined football. It didn’t happen overnight.  In fact, he didn’t score his first 9-win season until being at the helm for 7 years. This is something which wouldn’t fly in today’s game.

Beamer always said that if he could keep native Virginia players from going to play outside the state, he would have great teams. The best Virginia players almost always left to play at bigger, more successful programs in Georgia, the Carolinas, or Florida. Under Beamer they started sticking around. His efforts paid off. With players like Mike Vick and even a championship game appearance, Virginia Tech was squarely on the map as a top tier program for at least a decade.

Virginia Tech’s program was never the same after Frank Beamer retired in 2015. They only had 4 winning seasons in the next 10 years. Something had to give. They had to bring in a big name in hopes of bringing back the culture which departed with Beamer.

Franklin will bring his guys with him to Blacksburg. Name recognition alone will instantly boost recruiting for the school. But Virginia Tech simply does not have the history and prestige that Penn State does. When Franklin took over at Penn State, the school had already been successful for a very long time. Kids in the Pennsylvania area grow up dreaming of playing for the Nittany Lions. The same cannot be said for Virginia Tech.

Will Franklin be successful at Virginia Tech? It’s possible. He will have to recruit top talent in Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina if he wants to build something special. He must convince them that he is there for the long haul and that he is hungry to win the ACC and eventually something bigger and better.

My prediction is that is that it will start off slow and he will most likely land a few years of .500 football. His third year is where we will see if he really has something or not. If they don’t win at least 8 or 9 games in each of his last two seasons, this may be a relatively short stay for Franklin and his staff.