James Franklin: Virginia Tech must operate like big-time program - ESPN

BLACKSBURG, Va. — A year before Virginia Tech came as close as it ever has to winning a national championship, it installed an empty trophy case in its football facility. The idea, the program's leadership believed, was that the case would eventually be filled. Frank Beamer had built the Hokies into a power, Michael Vick turned the program into a national brand, and championships were sure to follow.

As the years passed, the empty case instead became something of a punchline to mark Virginia Tech's slow fall from the upper echelon of college football to a middle-tier ACC team to an afterthought. The case was removed in 2014, and things have gotten only worse, culminating with this year's 3-7 campaign in which the school fired coach Brent Pry after three games.

On Wednesday, Virginia Tech took what athletic director Whit Babcock and others said is the first major step back up the mountain, announcing the hiring of James Franklin as the Hokies' new coach.

«Does it look, feel, smell and operate like a big-time program?» Franklin said of his plans for Virginia Tech. «All those things need to be in place.… I think the previous coaches here were in some challenging situations. That's the truth of it. There's some things that we're going to have to look at, and it's not just James Franklin. It's the marketing office, the ticketing office. Everybody's got to take some time and look in the mirror and say, 'Are we operating like a big-time program?'»

A year ago, Franklin had Penn State on the doorstep of the national championship game. By October, after a three-game losing streak, he had been fired. He largely avoided discussion of his 12-year stint at Penn State aside from acknowledging his dismissal came as a surprise, but he