James Franklin, second from right, Virginia Tech's new head football coach, holds up a No. 25 jersey with, from left, Virginia Tech Board of Visitors memver John Rocovich, Virginia Tech President Timothy Sands and Athletic Director Whit Babcock, after Franklin was introduced during an NCAA college football news conference, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, in Blacksburg, Va. (AP Photo/Robert Simmons)

First off, I want to wish James well.

He treated me and the media professionally, almost without exception.

He came to Penn State at a fragile time, won 70 percent of his games, including a Big Ten title in 2016, and represented the university with class.

But you never got the idea he loved State College or that he’d be here his entire career.

His big-game record eroded the public’s confidence in him — even for a patient fan base — and in turn wore him down.

When his third-straight midseason loss this year resulted in his firing, unfortunate timing but hard to argue, it gave him and the Nittany Nation a fresh start.

He’s now found a perfect landing at Virginia Tech, probably the best job he was going to get this year, despite the bevy of attractive openings.

Franklin’s forte is recruiting, and he’ll be in an area familiar to him that is rich with prospects.

So in answer to today’s question, what he’ll have to improve at Virginia Tech is much, much better game management.

There are too many examples to provide even a partial list of situations that he and his coaching staff totally botched.

A condensed rundown would be highly questionable timeout use (or non use), too many blown leads because the run game couldn’t kill the clock and the defense would be gassed in the end, horrendous situational football (losing at Indiana in 2020 when taking a knee would have won the game), stage fright in the biggest moments vs. the best teams and a string of offensive coordinators that were either the wrong fit or he ruined.

Other than that, he did a good job here.

Of course, that’s a little like saying, “Well, how did you like the rest of the play, Mrs. Lincoln?”

Unlike the Big Ten, which has an established kingpin in Ohio State and formidable powers such as Oregon, Michigan and traditionally successful programs like USC, Washington and Iowa, the Atlantic Coast Conference is a cut below.

To nip the narrative that grew here, Franklin will need to beat the best in the league before too long. That means Miami. Clemson and Florida State are rebuilding. Tech has a two-game series with Notre Dame in 2027-28.

While the ACC hasn’t challenged for the College Football Playoff title since Clemson’s reign (2015-19), the league has several other good but not great teams in Louisville, Georgia Tech, SMU and Pitt.

Virginia, North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest, North Carolina State, Syracuse and Boston College all have respected coaches – some recently extended.

Without improvement on the day of the game, Franklin won’t outcoach many of them between September and November.

When Franklin got it rolling at PSU, he could be counted on for double-digit wins, which would be applauded in Blacksburg since the Hokies are riding six straight losing seasons and have lost seven or more games in five of the last eight years.

Tech’s best record in the last 15 years is 11-3 in 2011.

Brent Pry’s dismissal was accompanied by the school’s pledge to invest $229 million in the athletic program, and Franklin will have no problem spending that. It’s another thing he’s good at.

He’ll also stick his nose into the schedule, and you can bet your house he would not have agreed to a non-con that buried Pry by opening with South Carolina and Vanderbilt this year.

The 2026 non-conference opponents — VMI, Old Dominion (led by former Franklin aide Ricky Rahne) and James Madison — are more his speed, although he’ll soon want to get out of the JMU deal.

He found out the hard way that Nevada, Florida International and Villanova were not adequate preparation for Penn State this year.

Just as somebody on his multi-layered staff will need to advise him on better scheduling, maybe that same person can help coach him up once the ball is kicked off.

Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.