Coaches / Head coach / James Franklin
Form · last two seasons
84
performing to its level
Rating86recent
Peak86best 5 yrs
Career80whole career
confidence
James Franklin
Head Coach · Virginia Tech
Headline rating: as head coach. Every role he has been rated in is below.
Chemistry
55
continuity at Virginia Tech · early
Seasons here1
Programs3
Stints3
Career path
Head-coaching stints since 1936; assistant roles since 2016
Chemistry
vs every head coach since 2016 · 62 = typical
Tenure here
Seasons as head coach at his current school
Staff continuity
Seasons he and his offensive coordinator have worked together
Player retention
Players kept vs. the league norm for similar rosters (fewer transfers out)
Followers
Players and staff who followed him from his previous job
QB & coordinator
How long his quarterbacks have played for the same coordinator
Roster continuity
Share of starters returning from one season to the next under him
Dashed gold ring on the radar = average (62). Chemistry scale: 62 is typical, 20-50 is a warning sign, under 10 is a collapse.
As head coach
Rating86Form84≈ as usualPeak86Career80
2011–2026 · 16 seasonsRecord 128-60National titles 0Great seasons 5 (top ~7% of all teams that year)
- Rating 86: his whole career, recent seasons weighted most, measured as how far his teams stood above their era, crediting him with half of what each program already was when he arrived (about the share that, historically, follows a coach to his next job), fading as the program becomes his own.
- Peak 86: best five-season stretch, 2021–2025 at Penn State (44-17, 4 top-10 seasons by team strength), taking over an average program.
- Career 80 (#55 since 1936): total accomplishment over 16 seasons (128-60), 0 national titles, 5 elite seasons; full credit for the program he inherited.
- Proven at 2 programs: Vanderbilt · Penn State.
Over expectation · 2016 on72Results against what his rosters' talent predicted (program lift, evaluation, recruiting, staff building, game management).
Rating = who he is: his whole head-coaching career (since 1936), weighted toward recent years — how far his teams stood above their contemporaries, how much he lifted programs, his great seasons and titles. Form = the last two seasons. Career = the all-time ranking number.
Program lift69
Evaluation71
Results82
Recruiting48
Staff building71
Game management26
| Season | Team | Record | Season rank | vs contemporaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Virginia Tech | 0-0 | #61 | +0.24 SD |
| 2025 | Penn State | 3-3 | #15 | +1.24 SD |
| 2024 | Penn State | 13-3 | #4 | +1.73 SD |
| 2023 | Penn State | 10-3 | #3 | +2.08 SD |
| 2022 | Penn State | 11-2 | #6 | +1.76 SD |
| 2021 | Penn State | 7-6 | #9 | +1.31 SD |
| 2020 | Penn State | 4-5 | #24 | +0.44 SD |
| 2019 | Penn State | 11-2 | #9 | +1.51 SD |
| 2018 | Penn State | 9-4 | #16 | +1.18 SD |
| 2017 | Penn State | 11-2 | #4 | +1.95 SD |
| 2016 | Penn State | 11-3 | #9 | +1.42 SD |
| 2015 | Penn State | 7-6 | #53 | +0.33 SD |
| 2014 | Penn State | 7-6 | #53 | +0.14 SD |
| 2013 | Vanderbilt | 9-4 | #40 | +0.46 SD |
| 2012 | Vanderbilt | 9-4 | #26 | +0.82 SD |
| 2011 | Vanderbilt | 6-7 | #28 | +0.63 SD |
Season rank = his team among all major-college teams that year; vs contemporaries = how far above the average team (in standard deviations).