Virginia Tech’s James Franklin Sends Strong Message on NIL, Recruiting

James Franklin received his official welcome as Virginia Tech football’s new head coach with an introductory press conference that featured Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” tears flowing, and strong statements about the Hokies’ future, including recruiting, the transfer portal, and NIL.

Reports emerged earlier this week that Franklin would become the new coach, following in the footsteps of his former defensive coordinator, Brent Pry, with whom he worked at Penn State. Pry coached the Hokies for just over three seasons before his recent firing, and offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery then briefly served as the interim head coach.

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“I always say I’m not gonna get emotional, and then I get emotional,” Franklin said while acknowledging Pry.

“Brent Pry’s a good friend. Gosh. Brent Pry’s dad was my offensive coordinator in college. Gosh,” he said while fighting tears.

Franklin mentioned working with Pry all three years he coached Vanderbilt, and then for seven years while he coached at Penn State.

“I know this place is better today because of Brent and the commitment he made. So I just want to show the respect to him. I know how much coaches pour their heart and soul into this job,” Franklin said.

During the media session at his Virginia Tech press conference, Franklin addressed questions of what he’ll bring from his previous experiences to the program and what he might change.

“It’s about getting the right people in place, starting with the head coach, all the way down to the assistants and players,” he said, before later addressing his coaching stance.

“There is a core system of how we do things that works, and we believe in that, and we have conviction in that,” Franklin said, regarding what he’ll bring from coaching Penn State to Virginia Tech.

At Penn State, he coached the Nittany Lions to a Big Ten Championship in 2016 and nearly to the National Championship last season, as they lost in the College Football Playoff semifinals.

A question popped up about what Franklin will do regarding high school recruiting versus the transfer portal to build the Hokies program.

“I’m a big believer that this is still a developmental game of young men and that’s developing them on the football field, in the classroom, and to be prepared for the next phase of their life,” he said.

“I want this to be transformational, not transactional. There is more of a business aspect to college football than ever before, but I still believe you can still run your program in a way that’s transformational, that starts with education and setting these guys up to be successful for the next 50 years of their life,” he said.

Franklin stressed that Virginia Tech football “needs to look, feel, and operate like a big-time program” when recruits visit to help them make their decisions. He also mentioned the “reality” of having an “NIL component” in college sports.

“For us, we’re not going to lead with money. I want young men to choose our program because this is where they want to be, but for us, we then we need to be competitive with all these other schools as well, because we’re not gonna ask these young people to walk away from significant money,” he stated.

The Hokies’ new head coach said they’d build the program mostly with high school recruits and “complement it with the portal,” noting they might use the portal differently in his first year than in later years. Franklin indicated that he didn’t want it to become a “live by the portal” cycle for Virginia Tech, where they’d need to replace 30 to 40 players because of getting a lot of seniors from it.

Excitement and expectations are certainly high with Franklin as head coach, based on his overall winning record and previous achievements at Penn State. He has just two games left on the Virginia Tech schedule for this season, including his official first game as coach at Lane Stadium on Saturday when the Hokies host the Miami (FL) Hurricanes.

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