Penn State fired James Franklin in 2025 after three back-to-back losses, despite his dominant 2024 playoff season. Of course, Franklin had some issues, including his failure to win against ranked opponents. A few months later, Franklin accepted the Virginia Tech job. In hindsight, Franklin wishes that there had been some time between the switches.

“In some ways, I wish there was a little bit more time because you’re going through a process, right?” Franklin said on the August 7 Virginia Tech Athletics’ podcast. “It’s 12 years you’ve given yourself and your family. You’ve poured your heart and soul into something, and all of a sudden it changes like that, and you don’t have a whole lot of time to process it, right? You’re trying to process it.

“You’re trying to learn. And you’re trying to grow. But we tell the players all the time that you need to be constantly growing and learning and evolving and getting better… But as you’re doing those things, you’re trying to take the time and you say like, you know, you wanted to get back in, but it took some time.”

Even though Franklin has an incredible 2024 season with Penn State, the program regressed a year later. Not only did his team lose games against top teams like Oregon, but it also failed to show up against struggling teams. So, when James Franklin couldn’t quite lead his team to a win against Northwestern on October 11, PSU decided to part ways with him despite a $49 million buyout.

After exiting Penn State, Franklin didn’t sit idle. He appeared on College GameDay with Nick Saban and Co., echoing his desire to continue coaching. Even Nick Saban felt his firing was “unfair” because the expectations he himself had created got him the axe.

When he was hired in 2014, PSU was heavily crippled by NCAA sanctions, and recruiting was abysmal. However, in just two years, he turned the program around and won the 2016 Big Ten championship. Then, 2024 was probably the peak. He reached the playoff semifinals; his team was just one good Drew Allar throw away from the national title game. Beyond that, he developed elite recruiting from scratch and consistently produced top-10 classes.

That record was also the reason several programs started chasing him immediately after the firing. He left Happy Valley with a stellar 104-45 record. But also because firing him for three-game losses over his 12 years of development seemed absolutely unfair. Programs including Arkansas, Florida, UCLA, and Maryland pursued him immediately. At last, though, he landed at Virginia Tech.

VT has now offered him every resource, including their $229 million ‘invest to win’ initiative. Never mind his 5-year $41 million contract and a whopping $15.5 million per year coaches’ salary pool.