Sixteen years, and this has never happened to him
James Franklin has been a head coach since 2011. In all that time he has never once coached against a man who worked for him. That ends on Saturday afternoon in Blacksburg, where his Virginia Tech side host Ricky Rahne’s Old Dominion.
Rahne spent nine seasons on Franklin’s staffs, first at Vanderbilt and then at Penn State from 2011 to 2019, running the Nittany Lions offence for the last two of them before Old Dominion hired him. The reunion arrives with both teams at 1-0.
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The record says Rahne is comfortable here
The Monarchs have played Virginia Tech four times under Rahne and won two of them, including 45-26 in Blacksburg last season. That result sits inside a wider run of form: Old Dominion went 10-3 in 2025, matching their best season since moving up to the FBS in 2014, and their 31-10 win over Norfolk State in Week 1 was a seventh straight victory dating back to last year, a school record.
Quinn Henicle had a hand in all four Old Dominion touchdowns in that opener, throwing two and running for two, and he also led the team in rushing with 68 yards. Rahne watched the tape and was unimpressed anyway. “I thought we played with great effort, I thought we played with violent intent, and we lacked some of the violent execution because our technique wasn’t where it needed to be,” he said.
Franklin is talking around the subplot
Virginia Tech opened Franklin’s tenure by beating VMI 73-3 and blocking two punts, a detail that had Blacksburg reaching for comparisons to the Beamer Ball years. The Hokies also ran for 268 yards, which is the number Rahne kept returning to when asked about Saturday. “We’re going to have to defeat blocks, and that’s going to be a challenge,” he said.
Franklin, for his part, has been steering the week away from the story. He expects Rahne to “bring a team in here that’s going to be confident” after last season, and left it there.
“In my mind, we’re playing Old Dominion and that’s kind of our focus, not necessarily the people or the history,” he said. “I’ve got a job to do for Virginia Tech and (Rahne’s) got a job to do for Old Dominion.”
A 73-3 opener against an FCS opponent settles nothing. Old Dominion arrive having already proved they can win this fixture.
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