James Franklin’s lengthy journey with Penn State came to an abrupt end last October. The Nittany Lions lost three consecutive games, and the board fired the coach who led the team to the playoff semifinals a season ago. Franklin, now the new Virginia Tech head coach, is using that firing as a source of motivation at his new gig. 

“I’ve got a huge chip on my shoulder. Kind of an unusual situation,” said Franklin to On3’s Andy Staples. “Obviously, some things happened that were in my control, and I take total responsibility for that. But I’ve got a chip on my shoulder.” 

Franklin was hired by the Nittany Lions in January 2014, with the hopes of restoring the program to its days of glory. The program was competitive under Franklin, clearly moving on an upward trajectory. They won a Big Ten Championship in 2016, posted high win totals and had consistent national rankings, hitting six double-digit seasons during his tenure. Moreover, he had a 13-3 record in 2024 that led to a College Football Playoff run and an overall 104-45 record. 

However, reaching the ultimate goal was just an impossible mission for them during their stint. From being a top-five-ranked team to flopping badly in big games, Franklin’s 2025 was nothing like what he promised. Eventually, he was fired after a 3-3 start to the season, which included a 0-3 Big Ten start that culminated in a 22-21 home loss to the Northwestern Wildcats. 

The program, desperate to regain its dominance in the Big Ten, decided that Franklin was not the right man to restore it. On the other hand, the former Penn State head coach’s feelings are valid as well. He definitely did not expect the lack of patience and understanding from a program he has worked with for over a decade. But in retrospect, he understands where he got it wrong. Sadly, that discovery would no longer be useful to Penn State, as he is now set to transfer those lessons to Virginia Tech.

“Through this experience, my 15 years, and then what happened this past year, I think we took on some risks thinking that we needed to take on some risks to get over the hump and get those last few wins.,, I took on some risks that I typically don’t take on. And then even philosophically, I’m a big 1-0 guy. 1-0, 1-0, almost to the frustration of a lot of people.”

“And last year, again, trying something different, trying to be a little bit more aggressive, allowed our team and our coaches to talk more big picture than we ever have. There’s some risks that you’re going to have to take in any business model, but there’s also some risks that I would not take again,” Franklin said. 

James Franklin moves on with Virginia Tech

Sometimes, the way to heal from past hurt is to find motivation in a new mission. Regardless of how hurt he is by his past, Franklin has to move on, as a new page has opened in his coaching career. Virginia Tech barely gave him a month’s break before hiring him as the program’s head coach. And according to him, he did not just take up the responsibility randomly; he has enjoyed every bit of the experience.

“Extremely motivated. Really enjoy coming in to work every single day, working with a group of people that are passionate about making Virginia Tech proud,” Franklin added. “It is easy to point the finger at the head coaches, but the last two head coaches, I don’t think, had the support that we have right now.”

“I feel a responsibility to coach [Frank] Beamer; I feel a responsibility to Bud Foster. I feel a responsibility to our rector, which is the term that we use here for the president of our board or the chair of our board, and the president of the university, and the athletic director, and the fans and the community. We got a lot of work to do. Most importantly, our players are driven and excited and motivated, and we got a really good core group of guys that stayed at Virginia Tech and guys that we brought from a number of other places, too.”

The Hokies improved their 2026 class under Franklin and brought in talented players from the portal. But will it be a quick turnaround?