James Franklin said he was close to walking away from coaching before the Virginia Tech job

Virginia Tech’s hire of James Franklin was framed early as a high-stakes reset. In a new interview, Franklin added a more personal layer to that story, saying he was so drained after being fired by Penn State that he considered walking away from coaching entirely. Franklin’s comments come as the Hokies attempt to reverse a downturn that culminated in a 3-9 season last year. According to his account, the sequence of coaching-market events following Brent Pry’s September firing created the opening. Penn State made Franklin the most prominent name on the market, and Virginia Tech moved to bring him to Blacksburg. The close call, Franklin said, was not about whether he could win, but whether he could keep doing the job. In the “Next Man Up” podcast interview referenced by a report, Franklin said he was ready to walk away after Penn State’s dismissal. He indicated that the structure of his next situation mattered because he had a guaranteed contract, but he also emphasized that idling at home would not be good for his family or his mental state. Franklin attributed the decision to pressure from outside his own instincts. His wife, Fumi, and his agent, Jimmy Sexton, told him to keep working rather than staying in a sedentary cycle, and he said they convinced him to take the job. Franklin also described a period where he was weighing the practical reality that doing nothing might drive him “crazy,” while also driving them crazy in return. He pointed to the decision to remain active as an important part of what ultimately brought him back to coaching. Virginia Tech’s renewed resources also mattered to Franklin’s calculus. A report notes that Virginia Tech had recently revealed a “historic” new athletics financial commitment designed to raise the football program’s spending profile closer to the top tier of the ACC. That type of investment, the report says, helped make the Virginia Tech job more appealing than it would have been in earlier years when the Hokies lacked the same financial runway. Brent Pry, Franklin’s closest coaching connection, also figured into the timing. Pry’s relationship with Franklin is described as unusually strong, and the report says Pry encouraged Franklin to take the job and suggested that staying in Blacksburg would allow Pry’s family to remain in the area. Franklin ultimately accepted the role and, rather than ending the Pry connection, hired Pry back as the defensive coordinator, a move that underscores how the Hokies are betting on continuity in their rebuilt staff even as Franklin takes control of the head-coaching job.

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