Virginia Tech’s James Franklin Uncovers Unexpected Fashion Struggle After Leaving Penn State – The Reason Will Shock You!

When James Franklin swapped Penn State’s iconic blue and white for Virginia Tech’s maroon and orange, it wasn’t just a fashion change — it was a seismic shift in lifestyle, identity, and legacy. I mean, how often do you think about a coach’s wardrobe as a metaphor for their entire career? After 12 years entrenched in Happy Valley, leading the Nittany Lions through storms and triumphs (not to mention tying a program legend’s win record), Franklin’s departure felt less like a clean break and more like ripping off a second skin. You can almost hear the weight of those colors — it’s everything: family, legacy, heartbreak, and hope all rolled into one. And now, stepping into the Hokies’ shoes — literally and figuratively — he faces a fresh but daunting challenge. Will maroon and orange prove a new dawn or just another chapter in the rollercoaster of college football drama? Hold onto your jerseys, folks — this story’s just getting started. LEARN MORE.

Some things go overlooked when college football coaches get fired from old jobs and find new ones. But James Franklin didn’t let his change of attire — from Penn State’s classic blue and white, to Virginia Tech’s iconic maroon and orange — go unmentioned after becoming the new Hokies coach.

“I will tell you this, this was hard,” Franklin told reporters after his introductory press conference, via Inside the Lions’ Audrey Snyder. “When you’re at a place for 12 years, I don’t really have anything that’s not blue or white. It’s everything. It’s not just your job, it’s your family, it’s a lifestyle.”

For more than a decade, Franklin’s family and his lifestyle were in Happy Valley, where he led the Nittany Lions just as they were emerging from a catastrophic child sexual abuse scandal. During his 12 seasons as Penn State’s head football coach, Franklin won 104 games, which tied Rip Engle for the second-most in program history, as well as the 2016 Big Ten Championship, the 10th anniversary of which will almost certainly be celebrated next fall.

All good things, as they say, come to an end, though, and for Franklin, things came to a disappointing end on Oct. 12, one day after Penn State’s 22-21 upset home loss to unranked Northwestern. The Nittany Lions began the season as the second-ranked team in the country, but after an uneasy 3-0 start, Penn State lost to No. 6 Oregon in double overtime. PSU then lost to winless UCLA, which had already fired its head coach, in one of the most shocking results in recent college football history before falling to the Wildcats in what became Franklin’s final game as coach.

Despite his shortcomings, which were often cited ahead of and in the aftermath of highly anticipated games, Franklin wasn’t expected to be out of work too long. That expectation proved correct, as he formally became Virginia Tech’s head coach, coincidentally succeeding his former longtime assistant, Brent Pry, on Monday.

Virginia Tech, which began the season 0-3 under Pry before his firing, is 3-4 since. The Hokies have No. 13 Miami this weekend in the season’s home finale before facing rival Virginia, which is currently ranked No. 19, next week in Charlottesville.

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