In case you’ve missed it, the Virginia Tech Hokies made a pretty big hire on Monday. The Hokies finally found their new football coach, landing their top target, former Penn State coach James Franklin.
The reactions were unanimously positive — unless you’re a Penn State, Virginia, or Arkansas fan. For some reason, Arkansas fans thought they were getting Franklin. Meanwhile, Virginia, enjoying a resurgent season, is still finding time to be more concerned with the Hokies than enjoying what’s left of its dream season.
While many UVA fans were coping with the news of Franklin’s arrival in the Commonwealth, former Cavaliers star Chris Long summed it up with two (NSFW) words.
That’s the appropriate reaction. While no one knows how the Franklin tenure will turn out, it proves that Virginia Tech leaders are finally serious about football. About time.
Franklin doesn’t come to Virginia Tech without a salary, making him among the top-paid coaches, but, most importantly, he doesn’t come without the Hokies allocating resources to his coaching staff, recruiting staff, strength and conditioning staff, and NIL. Virginia Tech checked all the boxes.
The Hokies and Franklin always seemed like the perfect match. Franklin has spent the majority of his coaching career in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. For years, he’s kicked Virginia Tech’s backside in recruiting. Actually, no coach or team recruited the Commonwealth better as a whole over the last decade better than Franklin or Penn State.
Pete Thamel of ESPN called Franklin a “grand-slam hire.”
Check out Eric Mac Lain and Kelly Gramlich of the ACC Network.
The Hokies will have the funds to build a roster and compete with Clemson and Miami. This isn’t a one-off, either. That should concern not only Clemson and Miami, but also FSU, Virginia, North Carolina, and the rest of the ACC. It should concern Penn State, too. When the Nittany Lions and their next coach come into Virginia to steal a player, they’ll have to deal with Franklin and what’s expected to be a very good coaching staff.
Virginia fans should enjoy this season. The Hoos better beat the Hokies next week, because this is the best chance they’ve had in years.
Immediately after the Franklin news broke, several players either committed to Penn State or who were committed there immediately spoke of the James Franklin effect. Some of these players would never have set foot in Blacksburg. Now, there’s a four-star quarterback from California who could soon be a Hokie.
Look at this statistic:
Florida and LSU fired their head coaches. Almost all those commitments are sticking with their pledges, at least for now. Once Penn State fired Franklin, nearly every commit began reassessing things. Not all of those players will come to Virginia Tech, obviously, but we may be surprised at the number of current PSU players and high school commitments who end up in Blacksburg.
Don’t blame Virginia Tech fans for being excited. It’s been a long time coming. The great news about that is that donations will come in for Franklin and the football program. No other hire would have galvanized the fan base like Franklin.
It’s been less than two days, but the Hokies are lining up a huge recruiting weekend for the Miami game on Saturday.
Buckle up. Football is fun again. By the way, so is basketball.
