This time, James Franklin won’t get an 11-year honeymoon. But Franklin just might end up having a very happy — and lasting marriage — at Virginia Tech.
As Franklin was officially introduced as the new Virginia Tech football coach Wednesday, he spent a good bit of time reflecting on his past. He talked about his time at Vanderbilt where the Commodores had unprecedented success, going to three straight bowl games and had two nine-win seasons.
Reflecting on Vanderbilt and Penn State
Franklin also talked about his time at Penn State, where he lifted a proud program out of NCAA sanctions and the long aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. He pointed to the fact that in the three seasons prior to this one, Penn State won more games than all but four Division I teams. And Franklin proudly reflected on Penn State coming within a game of playing for last season’s national championship.
Almost, but not quite. That pretty much sums up Franklin’s 11+ seasons at Penn State. He won a lot of games, but not the ones that mattered most. That, much more than an early-season Penn State collapse this year, led to Franklin’s firing. In Happy Valley and the entire state of Pennsylvania, fans expect the Nittany Lions to at least compete for an occasional national championship, if not win one now and then. Franklin couldn’t make that happen.
Expectations are a little different for Franklin as he arrives in Blacksburg. Virginia Tech has had some very good teams through the years, but the Hokies never have won a national championship. The Hokies fell on hard times with an 0-3 start this season and that led to the firing of Coach Brent Pry, a long-time friend and former assistant coach to Franklin.
A Stronger Foundation at Virginia Tech
But Franklin is starting off on far better ground than he did at Vanderbilt and at Penn State. In both cases, Franklin faced a total rebuild. That won’t be the case at Virginia Tech. There is some good talent on the current roster and Franklin, who is known as a players’ coach, will go out of his way to prevent a mass exodus of transfers.
It’s also highly likely that Franklin will bring in some of his former players at Penn State as transfers. He already had some commitments for next year’s recruiting class and you can bet he’ll try to sway them to change plans and come to Blacksburg. Also, Franklin had a staff of top-notch assistant coaches at Penn State and he said he already is working on bringing some of them to Virginia Tech.
In Blacksburg, Franklin will have time to do what he does best — build. And he’ll get a chance to do it without ridiculous expectations, at least in the early years.
It’s likely Franklin will get Virginia Tech back on track quickly and he’ll win a lot of games. As he does, expectations will start to grow. When that begins to happen, Franklin’s next challenge will be to do what he couldn’t do at Penn State. Eventually, he’ll need to win some big games to keep the honeymoon going.
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