James Franklin is at Virginia Tech because he did not win a national championship at Penn State. After coming tantalizingly close to playing for the ultimate prize in 2016, and 2017, and 2019, and 2022, and 2023, and 2024, the bottom fell out in the middle of the 2025 season. We all know what happened there.
At his introductory press conference on Wednesday, brand new Virginia Tech AD Brian White said Franklin will do in Blacksburg what he came oh-so-close to doing in Happy Valley. "I think Coach Franklin is one of the very best coaches in the country. He's going to win a national championship at Virginia Tech and I want to be a part of it, and I want to help him do it," White said.
Sure, there's a bit of a What do you expect him to say?? factor here. Franklin was instrumental in White getting the job in the first place. But there's a difference between making a vague proclamation -- "Coach Franklin is going to be very successful at Virginia Tech" -- and speaking Franklin's, and Virginia Tech's, first football national championship into existence.
White's hiring is indicative in the change in priorities across Virginia Tech seen in recent years. It started in August, when former AD Whit Babcock pitched Virginia Tech's board of visitors on the need for $52 million in new investment to football. “For us it’s really simple,” Babcock said said. “We need to get better (in football) because the better you do, the more money you get from the ACC. So, the recipe is still the same. Be really good in football. Be good in some of your other sports. Don’t operate under scandal and have very good academics. There’s a sense of urgency in the near-term.”
The following month, Virginia Tech committed an extra quarter-billion to its athletics department over the next four years. That led to the hiring of Franklin in November. That increased investment led to a record $75 million donation earlier this month.
And that's where White comes in. The son of former Duke AD Kevin White and the brother of current Tennessee AD Danny White, he has earned his keep in the family business through fundraising. Prior to becoming Florida Atlantic's AD in 2018, White was in fundraising roles at Louisiana Tech, Tulsa, Army, and Missouri. Highlights at FAU included doubling the school's multi-media rights contract and landing the largest football stadium naming rights deal in American Athletic Conference history, along with a Final Four run under future national champion-turned-NBA head coach Dusty May.
Asked what lessons he'll carry over from a "more with less" program to Virginia Tech, White rejected the premise. "I think we need to change that. I think we need to grow our resources, and that's my No. 1 goal.. In today's day and age, resources are critical for success. My goal is going to be to grow our resources and make our resources commensurate with expectations," he said.
Virginia Tech put its football program and its university on the map under Frank Beamer in the 1990s and 2000s, when it was possible to win at the highest level of college football without a budget that matched. That formula, essentially, remain unchanged through the Brent Pry era, until the very public reckoning we've seen take place over the past year. Virginia Tech now realizes it has to become a "more with more" program, evidenced by the creation of two new fundraising ventures and, now, the hiring of White to make it all work.
"I know what it needs to look like," White said. "I've proven that over the years at different places. I believe we can grow the revenues here significantly, from all sides. There's a great, strong, passionate fan base here, there's great history. We have all the tools necessary to grow our resources and give our coaches and student-athletes the necessary investment in order to win championships."