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This is the kind of comment that gets screen captured and shared around to other sites and fan bases to ruthlessly mock VT fans for being hilariously out of touch to or own place in college football right now.

James Franklin is a guy we should be thanking whatever football gods you pray to that he's even interested in us

Since ESPN/Disney/Hulu continues to extort their customers and other services, I won't be watching this weekend. Absolutely wild they can get away with this. My price for Hulu nearly tripled in less than 10 years. Finally switch to YouTubeTV and it looks like they're trying to get YT to pay some ridiculous rate as well.

While true, you know how to beat this?

Win your games. Eventually you'll get some good time slots and ratings.

I dont think he gets enough credit for what's happening today at Vandy. He showed everyone that you could win there. They took a step back because they had no clue what to do after he left because they'd never been in that position. They learned, hire a guy, who learned he need help and then hired a football guy in Jerry kill. They figured it out, but I doubt they do that with out Franklin showing donors and three athletic department that it could be done.

If the offer is on the table we need to try to get him to sign today and get him on College GameDay with a VT polo singing our praises tomorrow morning.

That was one thing that always stood out to me with the Buzz to VT hire. He was immediately putting the VT brand back into CBB by speaking on the March Madness set the day after the hiring.

"His style of program" you mean the one that had Penn St in the semifinals last year? Or the one that put Vandy football on the map?

I do not understand the dislike of Franklin. He's not a jerk like Kelly, not a blow hard like Kiffin, and not a snake oil salesman ala Dabo. He's confident and his teams win. Penn St is about to find out the hard way that the grass isn't greener.

I will concede there is a chance that it all plays out like this. Franklin isn't number 1 on my board either.

That said, his resume still kind of demands that we have to shoot our best shot for him. It's the best of any candidate out there by far, and he really shouldn't be looking for a job to begin with.

As said above, the only hire we could make that would get me to quit altogether would be Brian Kelly Killed a Kid.

Insert the most wildly subjective post I've ever read. I am not sure there is a single data point or metric that exists to support this claim.

This football program needs an asshole right now. Its not 2002 anymore and im not sure enough people in the administration realize that.

And bro, Franklin has career .688 winning percentage. Thats Frank Beamer territory and he has a bronze statue in front of the stadium that's on the street named after him.

Could he flame out? Yeah he could but a total flame out is unlikely. Our record the past decade is his flaming out record.

The only coach they could hire that would make me quit VT football would be Brian Kelly.

I'd point out that Vanderbilt is STILL much improved as a program, so that's probably a bad hill to die on.

Franklin seems to have righted the ship there.

As usual Rayo, you've decided to completely ignore evidence and take a wildly inane position. Quit VT football if we hire Franklin (still unlikely IMO). You'll quickly realize your mistake.

At Vanderbilt in 2012 he went 9-4 and 5-3 in SEC play and was ranked 23rd with six other ranked SEC teams that season all higher than 14th. 2013 they were 9-4 again and saw them beat Georgia, Florida and Tennessee, again finishing ranked, this time at 24th.

Prior to Franklin taking over Vanderbilt, they had TWO seasons with a winning record in FORTY years. 2008 they won seven games and 1982 they won eight games. Even his 2011 6-7 record in his first year at Vandy was more wins than any of those other 38 seasons with a losing record. The last time before Franklin they won nine games in a season was 1915.

Did he have the toughest SEC schedule those two years? No

Did he overhaul a completely dysfunctional program by Year 2? Absolutely.

After he left for Penn State, how many times did Vandy win 9 games in a season? ZERO. This season under Lea is likely to be the first time since 2013 they won 9 games again.

As for the recruiting classes at PSU under Franklin, they were good but not great. Top 10 twice in 12 years but most hovered between 14 and 20. He finished ranked in the Top 10 five times in twelve years and two other years finished 13 and 17. By that look, he surpassed his recruiting classes in terms of overall results.

Here are recruiting classes and final rankings:
2014 : 24th
2015: 14th
2016: 20th. : 7th
2017: 15th. : 8th
2018: 6th. : 17th
2019: 14th. : 9th
2020: 17th. : NR
2021: 20th. : NR
2022: 8th. : 7th
2023: 15th. : 13th
2024: 14th. : 5th
2025: 19th.

I'm not sure he would have made a good HC and it would have been very painful if he got the HC job and then failed

I'm convinced that Bud would have crashed and burned as HC due to his...lifestyle (to put it kindly). Beamer protected him over the years, Bud stayed loyal to Beamer in return (outside of chasing the Clemson HC job when it went to Dabo instead). I don't think he would have done well without the Beamer pseudo-guard rails.

Could you imagine if Bud was the HC in 2018 and that was the way he left college football?

I know some people wanted the fairytale ending of him replacing Beamer but he was never head coaching material to begin with.

Hate it, and shows we're not thinking the hire through 100%. I am very pessimistic about our ability to save the football program if he's on our top list of options right now.

I hate to say it but if we hire James Franklin I will take a serious break from watching and supporting Virginia Tech football. I am thoroughly convinced he will be a failure and it will be a waste of 4-6 years. His style of running a program is outdated and he brings nothing to the table for competing in the new era. He is however a good salesman, so I could see him saying the right things and winning over the right people to get the job. I hated the Pry hire at the time and convinced myself to have false hope for the past couple years, I will not do that again.

Also I'll be real, personality is playing a huge role here. I think the guy is an asshole, a fake tough guy, and a complete charlatan. He was selling snake oil to these recruits at Penn State and they were buying it. When you sign that many talented players, you're going to be pretty good. But take a look at his record, it isn't even really that good, given the talent they had. People are also giving him a pass for the Covid year and year after, where they greatly underachieved given the roster.

I also remember not thinking he was a very good coach at Vanderbilt, and numbers seem to back up that he was mostly a schedule merchant there (still impressive to win at Vanderbilt, but those teams were not as good as their records would suggest)

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