Virginia Tech introduced James Franklin as its new head coach in November, and now bettors can wager on how successful a Year 1 he will have.
While Franklin gets a fresh start in 2026, his coaching career outlook looked less than favorable just two months ago.
In his 12th season as Penn State’s head coach, his team suffered one of the most shocking upsets in college football, falling 42-37 to UCLA as 24.5-point favorites in Week 6. The demoralizing loss for the Nittany Lions ended up being the Bruins’ first win on the year.
Fans and bettors who believed Penn State could bounce back found out fairly quickly that the situation in Happy Valley was nothing to smile about.
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The following weekend, PSU did it again, falling to Northwestern 22-21 as a 21.5-point favorite.
Fans — and more importantly, boosters and the athletic director — had seen enough. Franklin was unceremoniously fired on Oct. 12, despite the fact he was still owed $49 million on his contract.
Can he bring some magic to Blacksburg next season? Let’s take a look at the odds at FanDuel Sportsbook as of Dec. 17.
Virginia Tech 2026-2027 Regular Season Wins
Over 7.5 wins: +116 (bet $10 to win $21.60 total)
Under 7.5 wins: -154 (bet $10 to win $16.49 total)
James Franklin’s Penn State tenure ended on a sour note, but he still boasts an overall impressive résumé.
Between his time at Vanderbilt and Happy Valley as a head coach, he won 68.1% of his games and had eight bowl wins in 15 combined seasons. In 2024, Franklin coached the Nittany Lions to the semifinals of the College Football Playoff. The 2025 season was primed to be another promising year, as the Nittany Lions were ranked second in the early AP Poll.
However, he has a 4-21 record against top-10 opponents. The resounding narrative that he consistently failed to win the biggest games preceded his Penn State departure.
Based on his winning track record, though, Franklin could be the perfect coach to help steer a struggling Virginia Tech program in the right direction. The Hokies went 3-9 in 2025, 6-6 in 2024 and 2023 and 3-8 in 2022. Their last winning season was in 2019, when they went 8-4.
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