James Franklin opens up to Pat McAfee about his firing, legacy, and future at Virginia Tech
James Franklin details his Penn State exit on the Pat McAfee Show and explains why Virginia Tech is the reset he believes can revive his championship push.
James Franklin walked into the Pat McAfee Show carrying the weight of 12 years at Penn State — a tenure that built consistency, delivered big moments, but ultimately ended in collapse and controversy. He didn’t dance around the topic. Instead, he used the platform to explain what went wrong in State College and why he believes Virginia Tech represents something more than just a fresh start.
Franklin reflects on Penn State’s collapse, his exit, and the decade that shaped him
Franklin’s departure from Penn State did not come quietly. A top-five preseason ranking disintegrated into a six-game losing streak, a 3-3 start set the stage for his dismissal, and by mid-October, Franklin’s 12-year era ended with a single line in a press release. Stability gave way to uncertainty, and a playoff program stumbled into crisis.
McAfee wasted no time getting to the heart of the matter.
“You get let go from Penn State early in the year after a couple-game slide that I don’t think you or anybody could have expected,” he told Franklin. The coach did not flinch.
“I’m forever grateful for that time and experience,” Franklin said. “We’re very proud of what we were able to achieve there. The last three years, we had more success than anybody in the country but four programs,” he said. “When I left Vanderbilt, went to Penn State, I brought 16 people with me. I didn’t do this by myself. I’ve had great people around me and that’s what it’s all about. . . [We were] A few plays away from playing for the national championship. . . In this industry of coaching, we all go through highs and lows. At some point, if you’re coaching, you’re going to get fired.”
Franklin makes it clear that he’s not done coaching elite football
When Franklin sat down with ESPN’s College GameDay weeks ago and declared he was still a championship football coach, Penn State fans weren’t buying it. McAfee circled back to that moment during the interview, asking Franklin if he’d reflected on those words since. Franklin didn’t hesitate. His response sounded like a coach who still believes he belongs in the conversation at the top of the sport.
“There hasn’t been too many guys that have been a head coach in the SEC, a head coach in the Big Ten,” Franklin said. “I’m going to take all those experiences and pour them into my time here at Virginia Tech.”
For a decade, Franklin lived inside a pressure cooker. Expectations rose faster than the program could keep up. The final years turned into a cycle of marquee losses, fan unrest, and an administration running out of patience.
Now, what took years at Vanderbilt and Penn State might take only a single offseason in Blacksburg. The portal and NIL have rewritten the rebuild timeline, and Franklin knows it. Whether Virginia Tech’s infrastructure can support that kind of rapid transformation is another question entirely — but Franklin clearly believes the blueprint exists now in ways it didn’t a decade ago.
“College football’s changed,” Franklin said. “You have the ability to flip your roster a lot faster than when I took over those other two programs.”
Now, armed with portal flexibility and a conference path that might actually lead somewhere, Franklin has the opportunity to crawl out from under the crushing weight of his expectations at State College and redefine himself at a new program.
Penn State Nittany Lions News
Experts say James Franklin’s move to Virginia Tech could send shockwaves through Penn State’s recruiting board
James Franklin’s move to Virginia Tech is already shaking up Penn State’s recruiting board as experts say his aggressive recruiting style could trigger major flips.
