Virginia Tech releases details of back-ended James Franklin contract

The bulk of the money that Virginia Tech will pay its new football coach, James Franklin, under the terms of a five-year employment contract made public on Friday, will come in the final two years of the deal, in 2029 and 2030.

Franklin will be paid $6 million in base and supplemental salary in the first full year of the deal, in 2026, with the pay dropping to $5 million in 2027 and $4 million in 2028, before ballooning to $12.75 million in 2029 and $13.25 million in 2030.

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On the record

• James Franklin contract

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I mean, it’s creative financing, which will get Franklin, who signed the deal on Monday – the copy sent to the media by Virginia Tech Athletics showed an original date of Nov. 15, so, Saturday, with that date scratched out, suggesting there was a need for a last-minute change – to an average annual salary of $8.2 million, by spreading the pain, so to speak, to the out years.

The total value is $41.75 million over the length of the contract, which runs through Dec. 31, 2030.

Franklin, per the contract, will be paid for the final month-and-a-half of 2025 a pro-rated amount based on a $6 million annual salary, which should come to $750,000.

That’s how we get to the $8.2 million-a-year figure referenced above.

Franklin had been owed $49 million from his previous employer, Penn State, through the 2031 season, but for reasons still unknown, he took a $9 million buyout instead.

That move by Franklin saved Penn State $40 million, but did nothing to help out the situation at Virginia Tech, where school leaders have acknowledged a pressing need to find more money to be able to compete on something of an equal footing with their peers in the ACC.

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ICYMI

• The first task for James Franklin: Getting Virginia Tech back on an equal footing

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To that end, the school’s Board of Visitors voted in September to commit $229 million in new money, the bulk of that earmarked to come from donors, toward athletics.

The structure of the Franklin contract would seem to be an acknowledgement that it might take some serious heavy lifting to get that money into the coffers.

But give them credit, they’re trying – including giving Franklin a commitment of $15.5 million per year for assistant coaches and support staff, which is an increase of $7 million per year over what his predecessor, Brent Pry, had for assistants and support staff.