One Coach Off Florida’s Possible Candidate List
James Franklin is Virginia Tech’s next head football coach. Franklin was introduced at a news conference Wednesday.
Franklin taking the job in Blacksburg means that one of the top candidates for the Florida job is off the board. If top candidate Lane Kiffin of Ole Miss waits until after the College Football Playoff to make his decision, the Gators could miss out on other deserving candidates.
“We were a drive away last year from playing in the national championship,” Franklin said Wednesday. “So, I know what it looks like. I know what you need to do. We learn from that experience. Again, the alignment, the commitment based on what we’ve done in our past as well. You pour all these things together at a place that’s got great history, that’s got great traditions, that’s got great pride.”
The move comes after Franklin’s stunning and sudden exit from Penn State. He had been the Nittany Lions’ head coach since 2014 and led the team to the College Football Playoff semifinal just 10 months ago. Unemployed for a mere five weeks, Franklin gets a fresh start with a struggling Virginia Tech program. The Hokies have not won more than eight games in a season since 2017 and are on track to tally their fifth losing season in six years.
Franklin went 104-45 over 12 seasons at Penn State. Despite the impressive record, Franklin’s team had a debilitating flaw: it could never win big games. During his time in Happy Valley, Penn State went 4-21 against Associated Press top-10 opponents and 1-18 against top-10 Big Ten teams. After a dramatic 27-24 loss to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff semifinal this past January, Penn State was the No. 2 team in the country entering the 2025 season.
However, Franklin’s infamous fault reared its head in late September, when No. 6 Oregon defeated No. 3 Penn State in double overtime at Beaver Stadium. The wheels then came off the wagon. The Nittany Lions fell to winless UCLA the next week and to perceived Big Ten bottom-feeder Northwestern at home the following week. Franklin was promptly fired after the three-game losing streak tanked Penn State’s playoff hopes.
Featured on the Gators’ short list of candidates, Franklin instead decided to coach in a wide-open ACC and at a school located in the DMV – a region he has strong ties. Franklin was an assistant at Maryland and is familiar with recruiting in the area.
Following the Virginia Tech announcement, Franklin’s $49 million buyout was settled for a reduced number. At the time of his firing, that number was the second-largest buyout in college athletics history and was scheduled to be paid through 2031. Franklin’s future earnings would have offset a significant portion of his total buyout, so he and Penn State negotiated the payout to just $9 million.
After Franklin’s hiring, Gators athletic director Scott Stricklin’s search will have to go elsewhere, especially if Kiffin decides to stay in Oxford or jump ship to Baton Rouge. Other coaches in contention for the Florida gig besides Kiffin include Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz and Washington’s Jedd Fisch, the latter of whom graduated from UF.
Category: AAF, College Football, Gators Football
