Former Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin is expected to be a hot name during this winter’s coaching carousel, despite being fired just six games into the 2025 college football season.

Franklin took Penn State to within one game of the national championship last season. He’s one of the winningest coaches in college football over the last couple of years — he’s going to have plenty of head coaching opportunities this winter.

One program, specifically, makes a lot of sense for Franklin.

National college football analyst says James Franklin would be a home run hire for Virginia Tech

247Sports’ Chris Hummer suggested this week that Franklin would be a home run hire for the Virginia Tech Hokies.

Virginia Tech fired Brent Pry last month after the Hokies got off to an 0-3 start.

Pry served as Franklin’s defensive coordinator at Penn State from 2014 to 2021 (Pry also worked under Franklin at Vanderbilt).

“He’s a home run if you’re Virginia Tech,” said Hummer of Franklin. “He is the ultimate floor raiser. Virginia Tech, quite publicly, has said it needs to raise the floor to make more money from the ACC revenue-sharing distribution….That’s a marriage that makes a ton of sense on paper. It’s just a matter of whether Franklin wants that job. If you go to Virginia Tech, you are not competing for a national championship every year.”

Franklin’s recruiting connections in the mid-Atlantic area would definitely be helpful at Virginia Tech.

It’s possible that Franklin will hold out for a “bigger” job — such as the Florida Gators or the Auburn Tigers (if either job opens) — but Virginia Tech would certainly be a nice landing spot for the former Penn State head coach.

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