https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/virginia-tech-hires-james-franklin-head-coach/

And Kiffin and his family have been at UF and LSU in the last week.

The carousel is ramping up!

Now we dont have to worry about VT beating any ranked teams.

Ha, from one college mountain town otherwise in the middle of nowhere, to another (even smaller, yay verily tiny) college mountain town in the middle of nowhere. Welcome to Bleaksburg coach!

Actually I really like Blacksburg, it's beautiful (not unlike Eugene, just smaller than Eugene) but it is tiny and kind of remote (not to be confused with Remote, OR, just 12 miles east of Myrtle Point).

I feel like Franklin might have been able to get a better job. Va Tech haven't been good in a while, and I don't think that program is going to attract talent again. I could be wrong, but I think Franklin should have either gone after another job or waited a bit more.

Edit:

I guess Tech is making a commitment to spend more on athletics, and I guess Franklin already has a lot of recruiting ties to Virginia and the D.C area, so I guess he feels pretty comfortable in that position. After getting his butt kicked constantly by the best teams in the B1G, he would be going against a lot of the same caliber teams that he feasted on. I guess he sees the opportunity to be the big fish in the small pond.

Edited 7 hours ago7 hr by spartan2785

I’m a bit surprised and think Franklin could have done better, if he waited.

Franklin at Florida State would have been a great hire. FSU is more talented than the majority of teams they play and their fans would be happy winning 10+ games per year and making the playoffs.

2 minutes ago, OregonDucks said:

I’m a bit surprised and think Franklin could have done better, if he waited.

Franklin at Florida State would have been a great hire. FSU is more talented than the majority of teams they play and their fans would be happy winning 10+ games per year and making the playoffs.

Part of me is saying VATech could have done better. Tech was once a pretty descent program. To some extent they went the opposite direction as Oregon for the opposite reasons.

Oregon was all about innovation and VaTech was all about, well certainly not innovation at least not in football.

Right now in the NIL/portal world of college sports they are ill equipped financially to compete at the highest levels. That's too bad. It used to be a game at Lane Stadium was probably second only to Autzen in game atmosphere.

3 minutes ago, OhioDuck said:

Part of me is saying VATech could have done better. Tech was once a pretty descent program. To some extent they went the opposite direction as Oregon for the opposite reasons.

There is no way they could get a better coach than Franklin, at least among coaches that have head coaching experience. They might have been able to snatch a really good coordinator, but Franklin is a consistent 10 win coach other than basically his first couple years and this year. Tech haven't had that since Beamer...the first Beamer I mean.

This is a home run for VATech, if I was a fan there I would immediately be super excited about possibly dominating the ACC if he can recruit at a decent level.

I would say the only coach in the ACC that is definitely better than Franklin right now is Key at Georgia Tech. At least until this year Franklin beat the teams he should beat on a consistent basis (I'm looking at you Cristobal and Dabo).

22 minutes ago, OregonDucks said:

I’m a bit surprised and think Franklin could have done better, if he waited.

Franklin at Florida State would have been a great hire. FSU is more talented than the majority of teams they play and their fans would be happy winning 10+ games per year and making the playoffs.

Well, FSU fans lost their patience with Bobby Bowden who never won the 'Natty, but was a big winner.

This one's still a headscratcher to me, who is PSU going to find that's an upgrade? Kind of like just quitting a job because you think can find a better one.

I think this is a great hire for VT, they would be stuck with the crumbs if they didn't act soon. I'm just laughing, what if Kiffin stays at Ole Miss? There's going to be a big scramble and somebody's going to wind up with a big downgrade.

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by noDucknewby

Whenever I see VT my first thought is Vermont, probably because I grew up in Connecticut. 🙂

1 hour ago, spartan2785 said:

I feel like Franklin might have been able to get a better job. Va Tech haven't been good in a while, and I don't think that program is going to attract talent again. I could be wrong, but I think Franklin should have either gone after another job or waited a bit more.

Edit:

I guess Tech is making a commitment to spend more on athletics, and I guess Franklin already has a lot of recruiting ties to Virginia and the D.C area, so I guess he feels pretty comfortable in that position. After getting his butt kicked constantly by the best teams in the B1G, he would be going against a lot of the same caliber teams that he feasted on. I guess he sees the opportunity to be the big fish in the small pond.

Every school that has retained its coach, Fickell at Wisconsin, Locksley at Maryland, or hired a new coach has promised to spend more on football.

This is a step down for a coach who could have had the job at Arkansas or perhaps at UCLA.

The ACC is an implosion waiting to happen. One that has already given into its brand names when it comes to sharing postseason revenue.

He will be recruiting the same territory, and maybe he believes he can win a conference title at VT?

The AD at Penn State is toasting the exit payout mitigation with a V(odka) T(onic) or some other kind of adult beverage.

I think Franklin preferred to go to a school that appreciates him and understands he needs some time to get the football program where he wants it. It would be the exact opposite at the SEC schools. Virginia Tech probably said “We’re glad you’re here”. Whereas an SEC school would probably say “You’re lucky to be here”.

Ole Miss has apparently told Kiffin him they need a decision by the time the Egg Bowl rolls around. It’s looking like he may jump back into the meat grinder of boosters, fans and admin who have zero patience. That may be a challenge he wants to overcome.

I personally feel he’s more equipped to handle the pressure this time and I think he’s will be successful to a point. He may have some SEC championship game and playoff appearances and maybe even have some wins in those games.

5 hours ago, spartan2785 said:

There is no way they could get a better coach than Franklin, at least among coaches that have head coaching experience. They might have been able to snatch a really good coordinator, but Franklin is a consistent 10 win coach other than basically his first couple years and this year. Tech haven't had that since Beamer...the first Beamer I mean.

This is a home run for VATech, if I was a fan there I would immediately be super excited about possibly dominating the ACC if he can recruit at a decent level.

I would say the only coach in the ACC that is definitely better than Franklin right now is Key at Georgia Tech. At least until this year Franklin beat the teams he should beat on a consistent basis (I'm looking at you Cristobal and Dabo).

I'm not as impressed with Franklin as you are. He had all the resources he could possibly want at Penn St. plus a constantly sold out 110,000 seat stadium and couldn't get over the hump to win the big games that would have made them a national championship contender.

He's going to have okay resources at Tech and a rabid if smaller fan base, but it's not Penn St. Tech needs to win with innovation, as I hinted above like Oregon does, not with the conservative philosophy of Franklin.

He may recruit okay there, but he will not dominate the ACC at Tech. I doubt at this point he will even dominate UVA (like they did not too many years ago). He beat who he was supposed to beat at Penn St. often with vastly superior talent. He won't have that advantage at Va Tech.

I see Franklin as very similar to Cristobal.