Did James Franklin Shade PSU's HC Search at Va. Tech Signing Day Ceremony?

Virginia Tech head coach James Franklin may have taken a subtle shot at his old employer while formally welcoming the Hokies' 2026 recruiting class.

The school had Crumbl cookies available for those in attendance:

Crumbl CEO Jason McGowan is a major donor to BYU, and his efforts behind the scenes undoubtedly played a role in Kalani Sitake's decision to stay with the Cougars and spurn Penn State. That leaves the Nittany Lions still looking for a replacement for Franklin.

Franklin later denied the cookies were part of hidden message to his former employer in an interview with CBS Sports:

Whether the cookies were a purposefully choice or merely a coincidence, Franklin might be taking some satisfaction from watching what's unfolding in Happy Valley.

Firing Franklin was an understandable call.

The Nittany Lions couldn't consistently get over the hump in the Big Ten. They came up short time and again against top-tier opponents. The coaching staff was unable to develop quarterbacks. In general, the atmosphere around and within the program was turning in a bad direction.

However, we're already witnessing the risk in parting ways with a head coach who had a .698 winning percentage across 12 seasons.

Penn State tried to get a jump on the coaching market by letting Franklin go in mid-October. The strategy has completely backfired because it makes athletic director Pat Kraft look worse for having had so much time to weigh up candidates and nothing to show for it.

One consequence is that it's national signing day in the early period and Penn State is 144th in 247Sports' composite team rankings. Virginia Tech, which has a lot of players who followed Franklin to Blacksburg, has assembled the 30th-best class so far.

Maybe the Franklin era is a disappointment for the Hokies, while the Nittany Lions stumble their way into a great coaching hire. For now, there's a clear winner between the two.