After 12 seasons as Penn State’s head coach, James Franklin was let go by the Lions following a disastrous start to the 2025 campaign. Naturally, you’d think a person would want a breather, like the ones Brian Kelly is taking right now. However, within months, Franklin was back in action as Virginia Tech hired him to revitalize its struggling program. For the Hokies’ head coach, the decision came down to a simple thing.

“So, first of all, my wife and agent were like, ‘you’ll drive yourself and us crazy, so you need to get back into it,’” James Franklin told Josh Pate on the April 15 episode of his show. “That was a part of it. Just the more I spent time, I’m not a relaxer in general, even on vacation, like I need to be busy, I need to be a part of a cause.”

“I need to be making a difference. I gotta be involved. I didn’t really see myself being one of these guys that just travel around and visit people, although I get the value in that, it didn’t seem to make sense for me. But to me, this is how I’m wired.”

James Franklin was fired on October 12, 2025, following a 22-21 defeat to Northwestern, which came after a 3-3 start following a three-game losing streak. He had joined them from Vanderbilt, where he got his first head coaching job in 2011. Hence, his exit from PSU was going to be the first time in 15 years he would be anything else but a college football head coach.

For a man who had never been sacked all his life, Franklin had always been used to moving directly from one job to another and was beginning to approach his joblessness with some desperation. He was so unaccustomed to being jobless that, six days after his sack, he made an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay to discuss the situation, despite initially questioning the idea.

“Then, my wife and agent convinced me that ‘hey, go on ESPN GameDay, this will be a great idea. I said yes, then slept on it. I’m like ‘I’m not ready to do this, like what am I doing, right?’ But that ended up being really good. We were in Georgia at the time, so that worked out really well.”

During his College GameDay appearance, Franklin hinted at his restlessness when he said that he does not “know anything else; I’ve been doing this for 30 years.” Unsurprisingly, he got back to his old ways in no time. Eventually, the Virginia Tech job came on November 19, a month and a week after his sack, giving him a good chance to get his hands back in the game. And with the Hokies, he understands the history, admires the environment, and loves the challenge.

“This is what I want to do. I hope that’s telling to the players, and I hope that’s telling to the staff that I’m in this because I love to coach and I love to make a difference in young people’s life. And I want to be a part of the community and build something special in a place with great history and tradition. But there was a lot of soul searching and a lot of pushing and shoving and pulling to get to a good place. But this was definitely the right decision for me and my family.”

Why Virginia Tech was James Franklin’s pick

Franklin had several reasons for returning to coaching just one month after losing his job at Penn State, but he chose Blacksburg as his destination because of certain qualities he observed in the program. The Hokies were not just persistent in their approach; they were honest enough to let him understand the void they are bringing him to fill.

“With Virginia Tech, one of the things I think was helpful is, and you saw this, Virginia Tech recognized they had not made the commitment to football that they needed to make,” Franklin said. “And they had already made the decision financially that they’re gonna invest in football in a way that they had not probably in the last ten years. So, that helped when we got the job. And the things we’re asking for are not far off from where they already did their benchmarking. That was helpful.”

James Franklin has expressed his joy in Blacksburg and his motivation to work with a new team. But beyond his ecstatic feelings, the former Penn State coach has expressed his desire to return Virginia Tech to the very top.