James Franklin to become the next head coach at Virginia Tech

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Virginia Tech has finalized a deal to hire former Penn State head coach James Franklin as its next head coach.

Franklin, who coached at Penn State and Vanderbilt, has a 128-60 career record and reached the 2024 College Football Playoff semifinals. His teams at Penn State finished ranked inside the AP Top-25 seven times in his 12 seasons.

He replaces his former defensive coordinator, Brent Pry, who was fired in September after starting 0-3 and compiling a 16-24 record in four seasons.

Franklin became available this season after Penn State, which started ranked No. 2, lost key games to Oregon, UCLA, and Northwestern.

Franklin helped rebuild Penn State when he arrived in 2014 and won a Big 10 championship in 2016. He had six double-digit win seasons but finished just 4-21 against Top-10 teams.

Franklin also has strong recruiting ties in Virginia, often receiving commits from some of the commonwealth's top recruits.