Multiple members of James Franklin’s original Penn State staff are leaving State College before the regular season ends to join their old boss at Virginia Tech. The Nittany Lions no longer list Associate Athletic Director – Chief of Staff Kevin Threlkel or General Manager of Personnel and Recruitment Andy Frank on their online athletics staff directory. BWI’s Sean Fitz first reported their departures on The Lions Den message board Wednesday morning. Both were anticipated departures as soon as Franklin took the Hokies job. But, they will not finish out the season under interim head coach Terry Smith.

Both Threlkel and Frank came to Penn State with Franklin back in 2014. At the time, Threlkel was the Director of Football Administration and Frank the Director of Player Personnel. Each has earned new titles over the last decade. But what hasn’t changed is their loyalty to Franklin and inclusion in his inner circle. For Threlkel, that dates back to the mid-2000s when he worked with Franklin at Kansas State and then Maryland before Vanderbilt. Frank, meanwhile, was on Franklin’s first Vanderbilt staff. Both left Nashville to come to State College when Franklin did. Now, both will follow him to Blacksburg.

The duo is the first but hardly the last members of the Penn State football program who will join Franklin at Virginia Tech. It will be interesting to follow Franklin’s first staff buildout at the ACC program. He will bring some more former Nittany Lions on- and off-field staff members with him, without question. Which ones, though, will likely be unclear until after the regular season ends.

Other former Penn State staff members no longer in the directory include:

Brett Arnold, Assistant Director of Player Relations

Chris Mahon, Recruiting Coordinator for Personnel

Rashad Elby, Assistant Recruiting Coordinator for Personnel

Aeneas Hawkins, Assistant Director of Player Advancement & Revenue Sharing Strategy

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Florida State football historically has been a program of stability and continuity. In the last 59 years of FSU football, there’s been only one coach (Willie Taggart) who was fired less than five years tenured with the program.

Including Bobby Bowden, who took over the program in 1976, there have only been four individuals hired as the head ball coach at Florida State. That’s a staggering number in comparison to the rival Florida Gators, who’ve had 10, and the Miami Hurricanes, who’ve had 12.

READ MORE: Three honest thoughts after FSU football’s win over Virginia Tech

Although it seems like Tallahassee has been the epicenter of the coaching carousel since the start of Mike Norvell’s run with the Seminoles (for reasons good and bad), FSU and its fanbase historically are not used to their coach’s name being on the chopping block.

So what does Virginia Tech’s hiring of James Franklin mean for Florida State?

With VT officially hiring Franklin, FSU will miss out on potentially the best fit for the program should they move in another direction after this season.

James Franklin is a great recruiter, known for taking programs that are either in the dumps or wading in mediocrity to consistent winners. His biggest flaw, of course, was not being able to win the big games.

However, would he face that problem at a school like Florida State, which currently resides in the ACC? Would the “big game” curse follow him to Tallahassee? One thing that is certain is that we’ll never know, at least for the near future.

BLACKBURG, Va. (WDBJ) – The James Franklin era at Virginia Tech has begun, and expectations couldn’t be higher.

“VT football is saved. I’m excited,“ a Virginia Tech fan said.

“I mean, I think he’s gonna bring a lot to the future,” said another.

“We are so back! I was afraid it’s gonna be a long four years here. Not anymore. It’s gonna be great.”

At Penn State, Franklin led the Nittany Lions to 104 wins, a 2016 Big Ten Championship, and a 2024 College Football Playoff semi-finals appearance.

All of those accomplishments are injecting hope into Virginia Tech fans who have only seen one 10 win season since legendary coach Frank Beamer retired after the 2015 season.

“I’m hoping that he just brings everything that he had once before brings us a winning program gets us what we want maybe a natty,” Freshman Colin Hebeo said.

Franklin replaces Brent Pry who was his defensive coordinator at Penn State from 2016 until he left to become the Hokies head coach in 2022.

After starting the season 0-3, Pry was relieved of his duties, now that Franklin is taking over, fans expect him to turn back the clock to when Virginia Tech was a national powerhouse.

“I want him to bring back what the old Virginia Tech football is like, That’s just straight hype and then like everybody is always got the energy going and we’re winning games make crazy plays, I just want to see that happen again,” Freshman JD Kwitkwoksi said.

Franklin is the most high profile coach the Hokies have had since Frank Beamer, and fans are hoping the big name will bring respect to a team who used to dominate the college world.

“I like it cause it’ll at least make us like not a laughingstock Like we’re not gonna we’re not just gonna go into every game thing. We’re gonna lose like we actually have a chance now,” Freshman Jake Woodworth said.

Franklin will have the backing of the university as the board of visitors approved $229.2 million to the university’s athletic funding over the next four years.

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