By Jordan SiglerShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberNew head coach Virginia Tech head coach James Franklin will have some evaluating to do as the program finishes the final two games of the regular season.
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Interim head coach Philip Montgomery is getting the Hokies set to host No. 13 Miami on Saturday. VT will then finish the regular season on the road against No. 19 Virginia on Nov. 29.
In the meantime, Franklin will be busy trying to land recruits and building a staff for 2026.
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Pete Thamel of ESPN released details of the new five-year contract Franklin signed with Virginia Tech, and it's good news for coaches looking to join the staff.
Franklin is set to make an average salary of $8.2 million per year. The program more than doubled the staff salary pool from what it had been under former head coach Brent Pry.
"News: James Franklin’s new five-year deal at Virginia Tech includes an average salary of $8.2 million over the course of the deal," Thamel posted on X. "The most interesting number is the increase in staff salary pool to $15.5 million, an increase of nearly $7 million."
"That puts VT near the top of the ACC in staff salary. The deal is fully guaranteed at a total of $41 million, which means a total of $50 million if you include the money from the Penn State reported buyout negotiations."
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One potential hire for Franklin could be Penn State interim head coach Terry Smith. Smith suggested he was open to joining Franklin in Blacksburg.
“Anything’s a possibility,” Smith said on Wednesday following PSU's practice on Wednesday. “Nothing matters about those possibilities except us playing this weekend. I love the game of football. I will be coaching the game of football on Saturday--and God willing next Saturday. And then after that, we’ll let business take care of business."
Virginia Tech is making it clear that it is willing to invest to make the program a contender in the ACC. It'll be interesting to see if Franklin can build the program up like he did with Vanderbilt and Penn State.
For more on the NCAA, head to Newsweek Sports.
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