Virginia Tech HC James Franklin throws shade at Penn State for cheap NIL spending before last season
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The 2026-27 campaign will be James Franklin’s first full season as the Virginia Tech Hokies’ head coach after being fired by the Penn State Nittany Lions in October 2025. While he prepares for his new venture with the Hokies, it sounds like Franklin had some choice words about his former program.
After being let go by Penn State, Franklin, who is 54 years old, admitted that last season the program attempted to go all-in on the roster by spending big on NIL money. However, Franklin claimed that that was the only season the Nittany Lions paid up during the NIL era, according to Matt Hayes of USA Today Sports.
“I’ll give Penn State credit, they went all-in last year,” said Franklin. “But they went all in for one year.”
For comparison’s sake, in the 2024-25 campaign, when James Franklin nearly led Penn State to the national championship game, the longtime head coach said Penn State’s NIL budget was just $7 million. Ohio State’s NIL budget, along with other top programs in the nation, was around $20 million that season.
“You remember the 2024 season, right? Penn State lost a gut-punch of a game at home to Ohio State — yet another loss in a big game for Franklin — and lost in the Big Ten championship game to Oregon,” reported Hayes. “The Lions played that season, Franklin told USA TODAY Sports, with an NIL budget of $7 million. Seven million.”
Perhaps the Nittany Lions learned from their mistake. The program spent big on the transfer portal the following offseason, landing several top transfers to help improve the roster. That trend continued this offseason, with the program allegedly increasing the NIL budget to about $30 million under new head coach Matt Campbell.
As for James Franklin, he seems to like his new position with the Hokies. The Virginia Tech athletic department is giving Franklin everything he needs to succeed after increasing the NIL budget to a total of $229 million, which will be spread across all sports at the university.
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