When Penn State fired James Franklin in October, the school still owed the football coach about $49 million, per the terms of his contract, which he could have collected while sitting by a pool, an ocean or a lake, depending on his preferred way to spend an afternoon. But Monday, Virginia Tech announced that it had hired Franklin, which means he won’t just ride off into the sunset, which no one expected in the first place.
And while, in theory, the new job would have lessened the amount Penn State has to pay him, the sides already had worked that out in recent weeks. They agreed on a $9 million settlement, paid in a lump sum, according to a person familiar with the terms who confirmed reporting by Penn State football news outlet Inside The Lions. The person spoke with The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity because the settlement had not been made public.
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Now why in the wide world of silly, stupid money would Franklin agree to such a thing, since 9 million is a much smaller number than 49 million? There was language in his Penn State contract that required him to search for another job after the firing, according to multiple people familiar with those terms. This is common in deals for head coaches and often is referred to as a “duty to mitigate” clause. Then there also was language saying that earnings in that potential next job would offset what Penn State owned him (which goes back to that $49 million figure).
Shortly after Penn State let him go, Franklin appeared on ESPN’s “College GameDay” and expressed a desire to keep coaching. It was clear, then, basically from the beginning, that Penn State wouldn’t be on the hook for all that money. But since Penn State couldn’t know just how much its obligations would shrink, settlement talks were logical, leading to the $9 million agreement. This ultimately means that Franklin’s salary with Virginia Tech, whatever it ends up being, has no bearing on the payout by Penn State.
On3 and Front Office Sports first reported key details of Franklin’s Penn State deal. Pennsylvania’s restrictive open records laws make it so Franklin’s contract wasn’t subject to public records requests.
Franklin replaces Brent Pry, his former defensive coordinator, who was fired in September after an 0-3 start to his fourth season. Franklin led Penn State to a College Football Playoff semifinal last winter. From 2014 to 2025, he led the Nittany Lions to a 104-45 record, including 64-36 in the Big Ten. But you, uh, have maybe heard about his inability to win The Big Game. And you, uh, may have seen that his team fell to Oregon in September — when Penn State was ranked No. 3 and the Ducks were ranked No. 6 — then dropped games to UCLA (which was 0-4 at the time) and Northwestern (which was Northwestern at the time).
It was a two-week stretch that changed Franklin’s life. Now Virginia Tech should be much better for it, no matter Franklin’s record in The Big Game. Though to let Hokies fans decide for themselves, his record against top-10 opponents at Penn State was 4-21.
Still, the Hokies need an injection of something — anything — that will bring them into the modern era of college football, in which a team’s payroll is as important, if not more important, than any offensive or defensive scheme. Franklin is a proven program builder. He should excite donors from day one.
The school also plans to boost its investment in football for Franklin, which is the sort of thing that happens, and is often required, when a big-name coach arrives. That would build on a previous vote by the Board of Visitors to boost the athletics budget by $229 million across the next four years.
“James Franklin embodies the spirit, vision, and relentless pursuit of excellence that will elevate Virginia Tech Football back on the national stage where it belongs,” Virginia Tech Athletic Director Whit Babcock said in the program’s official announcement Monday. At the top of the news release online, there was a link for fans to donate and another to buy tickets for 2026. “This is a landmark moment for our program.”
With the Virginia Tech opening filled, there are still vacancies at LSU, Florida, Auburn and, of course, Penn State, among other programs. And as with Franklin’s firing, it took a lot of money — silly, stupid amounts of money — for LSU to get rid of Brian Kelly, for Florida to get rid of Billy Napier and for Auburn to get rid of Hugh Freeze.
But agents, lawyers, general managers and other college football insiders in recent weeks said this probably is not the end of massive guaranteed contracts as we know and love them. As long as there are football games to win, donors to satisfy and TV money to collect, there will be football coaches with more leverage than you could image. That’s the prediction around the industry, at least. We’ll see how it shakes out in the next two months.
The post James Franklin is off to Virginia Tech. His $49 million payout shrank before that.
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