Penn State’s move to fire James Franklin on Oct. 12 sent shockwaves through the college football world and almost instantly drew criticism from pundits and fans nationwide for being shortsighted.
In the days since, the Nittany Lions have lost staffers and recruits by the day, while leading candidates turned down the opening, per reports. As coaches continue to remove themselves from the running — and athletic director Pat Kraft struggles to find anyone willing to take millions of dollars from the university to become a head coach at one of the nation’s premier programs — panic has set in among some fans.
But even with the benefit of hindsight, despite what revisionist historians on social media will say, firing Franklin was the right move.
Let’s not forget why the decision was reached in the first place.
Entering the season, James Franklin had:
- A hand-picked staff of coordinators and assistants
- What was once viewed as the best offensive and defensive coordinator duo in the country
- The highest paid coordinator in the history of college football, poached from a conference rival where he led the No. 1 defense to a national championship just one season ago
- A top-10 roster in talent, based on the 247Sports team talent composite
- A senior, five-star quarterback
- One of the top running back rooms, offensive lines and secondaries in the country
- Three proven transfer wide receivers who totaled 2,446 yards last season
- Self-proclaimed “alignment” with university president Neeli Bendapudi and Kraft
- Top-tier facilities
- Top-tier NIL
- A Charmin-soft nonconference slate
- A manageable Big Ten slate
- A top-10 matchup at night, in a White Out in Beaver Stadium, off a bye week, against a team traveling across the country that stayed in Altoona the night before
- A No. 2 ranking entering the season
- A committed fanbase that sold out every home game and traveled well to road games
And he started by going 0-6 against the spread and 0-3 in conference play, dropping to 4-21 against top-10 opponents and losing twice as a 20-plus point favorite.
Since Terry Smith took over as interim head coach, with the same support staff (minus some who followed Franklin) and the same roster (minus starting quarterback Drew Allar), he’s gone 4-2 against the spread and 3-3 in conference play, with excusable losses to the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country.
Does that make Smith a better coach than Franklin? Debatable. But it was becoming increasingly clear Franklin was never going to achieve his ultimate goal of winning it all at Penn State. He had everything he could possibly ask for heading into this season and completely flopped. Then flopped again the next week. Then again. And so, with fans adamantly calling for his dismissal, Kraft pulled the trigger.
Whether it was a lack of preparedness, consistent bad bounces or mental breakdowns, Penn State was never going to win big games under Franklin, at least not enough to win a national championship, which would require three or four consecutively in the 12-team bracket. That became increasingly evident with each passing failure as he mounted a historically bad record against good teams.
It’s hard to find many head coaches who would’ve done so poorly this season given the same staff, roster and resources he had, and to do so in year 12 on the job was a clear sign that he would never get over the hump.
And it showed in the way he carried himself. Franklin appeared to lose some of the passion he had during his earlier years on the job. He became chippy and bitter in the way he interacted with fans and media. He would snap on reporters regularly for questions he didn’t like. He gave a non-answer when asked if wanted to continue as Penn State’s head coach. He stood motionless on the field after each loss. Leading up to the Northwestern game, he forgot to read off his scouting report of the Wildcats, which is how he traditionally started each Monday presser. His most passionate moments in recent seasons came when he was arguing with his own fans, including after a meaningless Blue-White Game scrimmage in the spring.
Franklin did a lot of things well, and for a long time, it was enough for the fans to abide. He elevated the program in many ways into what it is now, post-scandal. But the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. And he drove the fans insane.
Kraft could completely botch this head coaching search. The team could bottom out for the next couple years and pay another lofty buyout. That doesn’t make this a mistake. Because then Kraft — or another AD — will get another coach. And if that hire doesn’t work out, another. And another. As long as it takes to find one who can succeed at the highest levels. Because Franklin wouldn’t have won it all given another hundred seasons. But maybe someone else can.
And that chance, however small, is better than no chance, which is where Penn State was with Franklin. Maybe he’ll lead the Hokies to a national championship. Maybe all he needed was a fresh start. But it wasn’t going to happen in Happy Valley, and it was time for both sides to go their separate ways, for better or worse.
