BLACKSBURG, Va. — James Franklin admitted he took on too much risk with both staffing decisions and a less hands-on approach at Penn State, vowing to do things differently now that he has a fresh start at Virginia Tech.
Not only has Franklin been more involved with the offense during practices and meetings, he deliberately hired coaches he previously worked with as a way of “getting the band back together.”
“The minute you think you’ve got this all figured out is the minute your career goes in the tank,” Franklin said during an interview that aired on Inside ACCess on ACC Network. “Systems are really important. So that’s one of the things that’s been so valuable for me, getting the band back together.
“We have a system that we all know how to recruit to. I went outside of that system a little bit, took on some risk. And risk is important in business. You’ve got to take on some risk. But I think I probably took on a little bit too much.”
Penn State fired Franklin last October after 12 seasons as head coach. Three straight losses, including back-to-back defeats to UCLA and Northwestern, derailed a year that began with national championship aspirations. A month later, Virginia Tech hired Franklin — after firing previous head coach Brent Pry.
It just so happens that Pry and Franklin worked together for a decade at both Vanderbilt and Penn State. Pry agreed to stay with the Hokies but return as defensive coordinator — the job he had at Penn State when he left for Virginia Tech in 2022.
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Franklin also brought Ty Howle with him from Penn State as offensive coordinator and four other assistants he has worked with previously. Howle spent the last six years with Franklin, including the previous four as co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach. The two spoke extensively about Franklin becoming more involved in the offense, after he took a step back with previous Penn State offensive coordinators Andy Kotelnicki and Mike Yurcich.
“I felt like I had become more and more and more of a CEO, which I think is important. But early on in my career at Vanderbilt, I was heavily involved in the offense, and over years, probably got further and further away from that,” Franklin said. “The hard part is when you go out and hire really established offensive coordinators and defensive coordinators, you want to let them do their job.
“But taking this job and hiring Ty, [we] had a ton of conversations about what both of our expectations were, what he wanted, what I wanted, and we just have so much respect for one another and are comfortable with one another that I think this is going to be a really good situation.”
