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James Franklin gets Virginia Tech job: The Hokies hired James Franklin to be their next football coach weeks after Penn State fired him following a disappointing start in Happy Valley. The school will introduce him and make things official Wednesday morning.
The announcement of Franklin's hire is also good news for Penn State. The school owed Franklin as much as $49 million dollars in his buyout. However that buyout included offset language. That means every dollar earned elsewhere would be subtracted from the Nittany Lions buyout. ESPN is reporting that the both parties renegotiated that deal down to $9 million dollars as part of his Hokies deal.
Franklin gets Virginia Tech Job! Franklin has a long record of winning a lot of games. Over 15 years at both Vanderbilt and Penn State he amassed a record of 128-60. But despite leading Penn State to the college football playoffs last year he earned the reputation of failing to win big games. He was 4-21 at PSU vs top 10 teams. This year Penn State began the year as the #2 ranked team in the country. Then they lost in double overtime to Oregon in a matchup of top 6 teams. That led to losses to lowly UCLA and Northwestern before the school fired Franklin on October 12.
FRANKLIN GETS VIRGINIA TECH JOB
Ironically Franklin will replace his former defensive coordinator Brent Fry who the Hokies fired after an 0-3 start this season. Franklin should have some success at Virginia Tech and he will not be under as much pressure as he was at Penn State. For the latest college football talk and analysis tune in each weekday to Craig Shemon and Company from 2-6 pm on ESPN Southwest Florida.
