Franklin Hire First Move of Virginia Tech’s New Big-Spending Mentality

Virginia Tech’s hire of James Franklin as its next football coach is the first major step of the school’s new nine-figure investment in athletics that’s aimed at returning the Hokies to prominence in the ACC and national college football landscape.

“There is more of a business aspect to college football than ever before,” Franklin said Wednesday during his introductory press conference in Blacksburg, Va. “But I still believe you can still run your program in a way that’s transformational.”

In September, shortly after firing former football coach Brent Pry following an 0–3 start to the season, Virginia Tech approved a four-year budget plan it is now calling the “Invest to Win” fund, which will inject $229 million into the athletics department. 

Beyond hiring Franklin and paying players through revenue-sharing, some of that money will be used to build out a modern football front office and improve training facilities. Virginia Tech is raising some student fees and seeking an extra $30 million annually of donor support to fully realize the plan.

Cashing In

Franklin has signed a five-year, $41.75 million contract with Virginia Tech. He joins the Hokies just over a month after being fired by Penn State. Franklin was initially owed a $49.7 million buyout, but he negotiated that down to a $9 million settlement before accepting his new job (offset language would have prevented him from being paid the full amount while working at Virginia Tech).

“Today is a statement about where we are headed as an athletic department and as a university,” Hokies AD Whit Babcock said. “One built on alignment, investment, and ambition.” Babcock previously lamented the lack of funding at Virginia Tech, which likely led to the new investment strategy.

Franklin said Virginia Tech was “very aggressive” in the hiring process, and he cited the new university-wide financial commitment as an attractive aspect of taking the job. “In today’s college football, there needs to be alignment,” he said. “There’s no other way to do it.”

New-Age College Football

Virginia Tech will hire a football GM, with Babcock saying Franklin, who will make the hire, already has a candidate in mind. 

A GM will help recruiting efforts that will be ramped up for Virginia Tech as well, including more national travel utilizing private flights out of the Virginia Tech Montgomery Executive Airport, that’s practically on campus. 

“We’re gonna be very aggressive in doing that,” Franklin said. “That’s also where some of the budget decisions are important—to allow myself and the assistant coaches to get out and to be efficient with our time when there’s really not enough time in a day to do it all as it is. So, all these things are really important and critical all the way back to my days at Vanderbilt when I was flying Southwest. Things have changed.”