Virginia Tech’s football turnaround has given fans something they didn’t have much of last fall: real optimism.
That’s a long way from the scene in Blacksburg last September, when the Hokies trailed Old Dominion 28-0 at halftime and went on to lose 45-26. Tech dropped to 0-3, Brent Pry lost his job, and the season never really recovered.
Almost 10 months later, the picture looks completely different. Pry is back at Virginia Tech, but now as new head coach James Franklin’s defensive coordinator.
Franklin’s arrival came out of a messy, unexpected chain of events. Pry’s dismissal, Penn State’s decision to fire Franklin, and Virginia Tech’s renewed commitment to athletics all lined up and gave the Hokies a shot at landing a coach who could change the direction of the program. The source of that change, according to the piece, was Virginia Tech finally recognizing how important football success is.
Since getting to Blacksburg, Franklin has already made his mark. He has improved the roster, both for the present and the future. Virginia Tech also has another top class coming in 2027, landed one of the top quarterback prospects in the country and picked up Ethan Grunkemeyer, one of the transfer portal’s top quarterbacks, in January.
Not everyone is impressed, though. Penn State fans, the piece says, are still fixated on Franklin and keep popping up in Virginia Tech conversations to push back on any excitement about him. The writer framed it as Penn State fans being unhappy with their “13th choice for head coach” and still unable to move on.
Paul Finebaum also took aim at Franklin on a recent edition of the “Paul Finebaum Show.”
“Well, he’s not,” Finebaum said on whether he thought Franklin was a great coach, per Jaron Spor of SI. “You’ve got to remember the media is not overly analytical when it comes to people they like.
Franklin got out. Nobody remembered he was fired by the end of the year.
He’s doing ‘GameDay,’ sucking up to everybody... He’s got an easier job.
It’s a better fit for him. He’s followed a bunch of losers at Virginia Tech, so it shouldn’t be very difficult for him.”
The writer pushed back hard on that take, mocking Finebaum’s SEC-heavy worldview and saying that anyone outside the SEC catches his criticism. The piece also dismissed Finebaum’s opinion outright, calling it the kind of noise that only matters because it’s the slow part of the year.
What does matter, at least from Virginia Tech’s perspective, is the mood around the program. Fans are excited again, and Franklin is the reason. That’s a far better place to be than a year ago, when the conversation around the Hokies was still drifting toward a Metallica concert instead of the football season ahead.
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Virginia Tech Just Got The Preseason ACC Respect Hokies Wanted
The preseason nods are starting to pile up for Virginia Tech, and eight Hokies landed on Athlon Sports Preseason All-ACC teams, a sign that the leagues media and evaluators see plenty to like heading into the fall. Several of those same players also showed up on Phil Steeles preseason ACC list, giving the Hokies a little extra credibility as they try to turn offseason recognition into something more meaningful once the games begin.
There is still the usual preseason caveat, of course, because these lists only matter if Virginia Tech backs them up when the schedule starts. The Hokies will get their first chance to do that on Sept. 5 against VMI, a home opener that also brings an added layer of intrigue with the schools meeting for the first time since 1984. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Tech Recruiting Surge Has Fans Wondering Just How Far It Goes
Virginia Techs 2027 recruiting class has become one of the early surprises on the trail, sitting near the top of the national conversation after years when the Hokies were fighting much farther down the board. The class is drawing real attention from evaluators, with multiple four-star commitments giving the program a level of momentum that has not often been part of the conversation this early in a cycle.
The climb has also raised the bar for what comes next, because a hot start only matters if it can be sustained against the heavyweights circling the same prospects. Coaches around the program have pointed to the schools improved reputation and facilities under James Franklin as key selling points, and now the question is whether that pitch can keep holding up as the class continues to take shape. [Read more 🡒]