Inside James Franklin’s Penn State Firing, Buyout, Virginia Tech Contract
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
The college football schedule makers came up with a fun Friday night on Oct. 2.
There are pretty much three games, and two of them have James Franklin connections. His new team, Virginia Tech, is hosting Pittsburgh. And his former team, the Penn State Nittany Lines, take on Northwestern.
It might as well be called James Franklin Night on the calendar. Matt Campbell is Penn State’s new coach, for what it’s worth — he came aboard from Iowa State.
With that in mind, let’s revisit the recent happenings in Franklin’s career.
Why Penn State Fired James Franklin
Penn State and Franklin parted ways in large part for his inability to win close games.
The Nittany Lions started the 2025 season 3-0, but then they lost in double overtime to Oregon, 42-37 to winless UCLA and 22-21 to Northwestern.
Penn State fired Franklin the day after losing to the Wildcats.
Franklin had a 4-21 record against AP Top-10 teams while at Penn State.
He was 3-7 against Michigan, and 1-10 against Ohio State.
James Franklin’s Penn State Buyout
Franklin was due a $49 million buyout when Penn State fired him on Oct. 12, 2025.
That was due to be paid out over time through 2031.
Instead, Penn State negotiated a new deal with Franklin once he got his Virginia Tech contract.
PSU ended up paying Franklin about $9 million, according to Onward State.
James Franklin’s Virginia Tech Contract
Franklin signed a five-year deal worth “at least $41.75 million” at Virginia Tech, according to ESPN.
“Franklin’s deal, which runs through 2030, is largely backloaded, with Virginia Tech on the hook for $6 million for the 2026 season and up to $13.25 million for 2030,” wrote ESPN’s David Hale. “But there are perks for Franklin, including bonuses of up to $800,000 annually based on Virginia Tech’s TV viewership. This dovetails with the ACC’s new revenue distribution model that rewards schools with a larger slice of the financial pie based on TV ratings.”
According to that same ESPN article, Virginia Tech committed $9.5 million to Franklin’s assistant coaches and another $6 million for supplemental staff.
“Franklin will also get more money for support staff based on the number of games Virginia Tech wins,” Hale added, “ranging from a $200,000 increase for assistants and $125,000 for supplemental staff for winning six games to $800,000 and $575,000, respectively, for a 12-win season.”
Franklin also had this to say when he was hired:
“I’m going to walk the facility and make it very obvious that, these things are nice and first class, and these things are dated and problematic and we need to get them fixed and fixed fast. There’s work that needs to be done. But there’s also promises that have been made. That’s all of it.”
There’s a lot of football to be played with Franklin as a coach and with Penn State in its post-Franklin era, and time will tell how these moves worked out.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post Inside James Franklin’s Penn State Firing, Buyout, Virginia Tech Contract appeared first on HEAVY.
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos