The crowd with the pitchforks finally caught up to James Franklin.
The former head coach of the Penn State University football team, who struggled to win the big games, was fired from his position on Sunday, a post he had held since 2014.
Franklin, who compiled a 104-45 record at Penn State, tying him for second-winningest coach in school history, was 4-22 against Top 10 teams. A 30-24 overtime loss to then No. 6 Oregon turned up the heat on Franklin. And losses to then-winless UCLA and unranked Northwestern in Saturday’s Homecoming game apparently were the final straws.
Franklin, who recently spoke out about the current state of college football as it relates to NIL and its implications for college football programs, maintained Penn State’s winning ways – just not to the satisfaction of the team’s fan base. The Nittany Lions’ only losing season under Franklin was in 2020, a year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, when PSU went 4-5. They opted not to play in a bowl game that year.
Franklin-coached teams won 11 games or more games in a season five times, including a 13-3 record in 2024 (the most wins in program history). Penn State won the Big Ten championship in 2016 and played in the conference title game a season ago (losing to Oregon).
Who wins? Who loses?
What is more important? Winning football games? Or graduating players and seeing them accomplish things not related to football?
Franklin, who attended Neshaminy High School in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and was a quarterback at East Stroudsburg University, was booed mercilessly on his way through the tunnel after Saturday’s loss to Northwestern. He has been the subject of relentless criticism for losing big games. People have wanted Franklin out as head coach for years, not just weeks.
What, then, is the sum of the matter? Franklin has a family. His daughter, Addy, has faced health challenges, including a diagnosis of sickle cell anemia shortly after her birth. I wonder what she, her sister, Shola, and Franklin’s wife felt after witnessing Franklin being booed out of the stadium and then fired from his job, one of the most coveted ones in college football.
After all, Joe Paterno (who died in 2012) helped build Penn State into a national power. His resume included two national championships (in 1982 and 1986) and a NCAA record 409 career wins. All coaches since have been measured against Paterno. There have only been two since Paterno was fired in 2011 – Bill O’Brien and Franklin.
Some have even expressed hope that Penn State would try to bring O’Brien back.
Is Nittany Nation having trouble letting go of the past? Are they still in mourning about the loss of Paterno and his legacy? Do they want a return to greatness?
Maybe the fan base doesn’t realize that Franklin had 11 winning seasons, bowl appearances in all but one season (2020), and is tied as the second-winningest coach in school history.
Did Franklin know he was about to be fired six games into the 2025 season? Did he deserve it? What will the ramifications be going forward? Already, Penn State’s entire 2027 recruiting class has decommitted, and one commit from the 2026 season has decommitted.
On a larger scale, and one that relates to the frenzy caused by NIL (Name, Image and Likeness), the pressure has increased immensely on coaches. College football is no longer a sport offered by colleges and universities; it is big business. High-profile players are raking in big bucks in endorsements, just like their professional counterparts. Coaches who don’t play ball like other institutions will be left behind – or worse, get fired.
Colleges have entire staffs dedicated to NIL. While it has been a boon to the star players, who bring in millions to universities with their contributions on the field, it has caused a chasm between elite football programs and the rest of the NCAA Division I teams. There are a handful, maybe two handfuls, of programs that dominate every single season and have no problem restocking their rosters to compete for next year’s national championship.
For the rest of the 130-plus programs, they can only hope they can at least be competitive enough to win six games and become bowl eligible, so they can bring in a few more dollars to sustain themselves.
Somehow, Penn State remained a national power, though not an elite program like Ohio State and Alabama.
What happens now? Will Penn State fall off the college football map? Or will it recover quickly and build strong recruiting classes and continue winning 9, 10, or 11 games a season?
For the present time, the mood of Happy Valley is a mix of mourning and celebration. But why celebrate the downfall of someone who contributed to a football program, with all the pressure and expectations, like he was an unwelcome guest at a house party? The vitriol directed at Franklin for the past five or more seasons from grown adults arguably should be considered wrong and regrettable. Try being the head coach of a national program three years after the downfall of one of the greatest coaches in the history of college football.
But when your record against rival Ohio State is 1-10 and 4-22 against Top 10 teams, it’s only a matter of time for the folks with the pitchforks to hunt you down and persuade the PSU brass that it’s time for a change.
It all caught up with Franklin. But, above all, Penn State’s fan base and fellow coaches owe a debt of gratitude to Franklin. Somehow, it is doubtful that he will ever get the credit he deserves.
