James Franklin Brutally Trolls Penn State

Originally posted on Mike Farrell Sports
By Mark Pszonak | Last updated Dec 3, 2025 2:40 PM ET

Sometimes a top-level trolling job doesn’t need to be obvious or aggressive. Virginia Tech head coach James Franklin proved that this morning during the Hokies’ National Signing Day event in Blacksburg.

For those who need a Cliff Notes version of why this is an amazingly efficient trolling job, here it is.

When it became public that Penn State had targeted BYU head coach Kalani Sitake as their replacement for Franklin, there was concern amongst the Cougars’ fanbase. However, one specific fan decided to step in.

Jason McGowan is the CEO of Crumbl Cookies, which has a current valuation of about $2 billion. After McGown got involved, everything quickly began to favor the Cougars, with Sitake then announcing his return to BYU a day later.

Virginia Tech having Crumbl Cookies available so soon after all of this happened is far from a coincidence. Just last night I posted an article saying that Franklin deserved to have a celebratory drink due to everything that has happened at Virginia Tech and Penn State. Instead of having that drink, he instead decided to find out if there was a Crumbl Cookies in Blacksburg. I just did the same, and yes, there is one less than two miles away from the football offices.

This has already been a soap opera, so a bit of good old fashioned trolling just adds to the script.

This article first appeared on Mike Farrell Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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