James Franklin said he was “in shock” when Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft told him that they were going to make a head-coaching change.
Franklin explained on ESPN’s “College GameDay” set in Athens, Georgia, Saturday that he received the news from Kraft this past Sunday at about 1:30 p.m., 15 minutes before his regularly-scheduled team meeting.
“I was in shock, obviously,” Franklin said on “GameDay.” “Really took the next 15 minutes to let my kids know so they wouldn’t find out on the internet. And then walked down and had a super emotional meeting with the team to tell ’em I was leaving. Really, that was it. It was that quick.”
Franklin reiterated: “Obviously, pretty much in shock as that was going on.”
Undeterred by an intimidating buyout, Penn State moved on from Franklin after its third straight loss, although Kraft told reporters Monday that Franklin’s firing was the result of more than just this season’s unexpected three-game losing streak.
Regardless, a 22-21 home defeat to Northwestern was the final straw in Happy Valley. It was the Nittany Lions’ second consecutive loss as a 20-point favorite. The previous week, they fell to a winless UCLA team that fired its head coach in mid-September. Penn State’s downward spiral began in double overtime in a top-five matchup versus Oregon. The Ducks immediately scored a go-ahead touchdown and then spoiled Penn State’s “White Out” by intercepting senior quarterback Drew Allar.
Allar came into the season as a first-round NFL Draft hopeful. He suffered a season-ending ankle injury late in the loss to Northwestern, but he struggled in the games leading up to that upset.
A three-year starter, Allar was one of several Penn State players to hit pause on the NFL and return to State College for one more crack at a national championship after the Nittany Lions reached the semifinals of the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff during the 2024 season. They also brought aboard Jim Knowles, the defensive coordinator who just helped Ohio State win it all.
Penn State came into the 2025 season as a popular pick to take home the national title. The Nittany Lions were ranked No. 3 in the country three weeks ago. Now they’re 3-3 without their starting quarterback or their head coach of the past 12 seasons.
“To be honest with you, I’m still working through it myself,” Franklin said, when asked how things unraveled so quickly at Penn State.
“It feels surreal. I just got a message from Drew Allar’s dad that he’s sitting home as well. We both should be in Iowa. It’s what we’re used to doing and how we operate. And I’ve been doing this for 30 years and 15 years as a head coach. To think essentially six games ago, we were fighting for a chance to be in the national championship, a two-minute drive away.”
Franklin went 104-45 during his tenure at Penn State. He picked up where Bill O’Brien left off in rebuilding a program set back by the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Franklin coached the Nittany Lions to six double-digit-win seasons, notably five seasons with 11 or more victories, as well as a Big Ten championship in 2016.
But his stay was marred by his record against AP top-10 opponents. Franklin was just 4-21 in those games, including 1-18 versus top-10 Big Ten teams.
That stat has been highlighted more than Franklin’s five AP top-10 finishes. He was asked Saturday how fairly he feels he was treated by Penn State in its decision to fire him.
Franklin talked about how his two daughters grew up in State College. One of them is a senior in high school and thought she was going to go to Penn State, but, “obviously, the plans have changed there,” Franklin said.
Franklin referenced a moment when he was previously the head coach of Vanderbilt. He said he remembers standing up at an Easter party and addressing all the coaches and their wives and kids. It was then, he said, that he realized he was responsible for all of those people.
So that’s where Franklin said he’s put his energy this week, attending to the people who have coached and played for him, as well as to their families.
Franklin emphasized that he got into the business to help people. He said he plans on continuing to do that, noting that coaching is a big part of his identity and a big part of his family.
“Twelve years, a ton of good moments, a bunch of big wins, but decisions were made, and I’m not involved in those decisions,” Franklin said of Penn State Saturday.
“I’m very, very grateful for the time I had and most importantly for the relationships I was able to build. I thought we were going to win a national championship there. We were close. That goal hasn’t changed. We’re just going to go win a national championship somewhere else now.”
Thank you for covering this so thoroughly. It helped me a lot.