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James Franklin Talking About Airports Again
By Matt Schultz
Published:
Virginia Tech is 6-2. They’re looking pretty good. Coming off a rock-bottom 3-9 campaign in 2025, James Franklin has stepped in and completely turned things around, transforming the bottom-dwelling Hokies into a solid ACC team. There are certainly tons of fascinating stories and insights into how Franklin was able to pull off such a drastic 180 so quickly. But Franklin wants to talk about airports again:
This quote is so funny to me. First off, it’s so damn long. James Franklin talks so much in this quote. Also, it starts off incredibly normal. For anyone who doesn’t feel like reading it all (I understand), basically all he was saying in the first 500 words of his answer is how hard it is to keep his team focused in the face of distractions and social media. Very true, James. I bet that’s tough to do as a coach. Good insight.
But then, truly out of nowhere, instead of merely wrapping up the train of thought he’s already on, Franklin abruptly veers into the topic of aviation. With zero conversational connective tissue linking one thought to the next, the Hokies’ head coach begins talking about how there are no international airports near Virginia Tech’s campus, which puts his team at a big disadvantage compared to teams whose campuses are closer to the airports with the big runways that can handle big planes. Roanoke is nearby but it’s just a regional airport.
My favorite part of the whole thing is that this isn’t the first time Franklin has complained about airports. Real Franklin Heads out here will recall that he made this exact same complaint at Penn State.
From 2024:
James Franklin dives into travel issues and concerns in the new look Big Ten Shares that the limited length of the runway at the State College airport forces Penn State to have to bus over an hour to Harrisburg just to be able to fly to Los Angeles https://t.co/YoEzSjcA51
— Brandon Walker College Football Show (@BFWshow) October 8, 2024
As far as the actual content of what he’s saying goes, I don’t disagree with Franklin here. Flying anywhere is bad enough; having to drive very far to even get to the airport makes it that much worse. It’s tougher to recruit when you can’t get to certain places directly, or when you have to drive to Harrisburg just to fly to California. I bet it does play at least a small role in the outcomes of games. Good point, James.
But truthfully, I don’t really care about any of that. I just enjoy when people have a take so important to them they can’t help but fire it off over and over throughout their lives. Feels like when Larry David felt so strongly about something that he put it in Curb Your Enthusiasm years after he already put it in Seinfeld:
Good stuff here, James. Looking forward to the next time you yell at us about airports.
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com