Penn State coach James Franklin says a lot of things are to blame for the Nittany Lions’ 0-3 start this season but his own distractions haven’t helped the cause any.
‘I don’t want it to be misinterpreted, what I’m saying, but there’s been a lot of factors in 2020, a lot of factors,” Franklin said. “If you’re not careful, then a lot of those factors can become distractions, and I think we have done a really good job of handling a lot of the things away from football, but there was a lot of time and energy spent on those things.”
“I’ll be honest with you, one of the things that I have not done a great job of handling, personally, that I have to be honest with myself, and honest with the team, and honest with you guys, is that I have not done a great job of managing my family being gone,” Franklin added. ‘I have not. They’re my fuel. I go home, they’re able to pour into me, and I’ve not done a great job of that. At the end of the day, I have to. I have to manage those things. I have to come to work. I have to do a great job.”
The situation at hand, Franklin’s two daughters and wife relocated earlier during the summer to Florida in order to ride out the pandemic in warmer weather and have yet to return to State College. Back in 2014, Franklin revealed that his daughter Addison had Sickle Cell, a diagnoses that would later make her more susceptible to contracting COVID-19.
Originally the Franklin family had moved to a second home in Destin, Florida although it’s unclear at this time that they are still located there. Franklin mentioned on Tuesday that they were ‘down south’ but did not detail exactly where.
In either case, a once family-friendly Lasch Football Building has gone from the hustle and bustle of children roaming the halls to the quiet solitude of a pandemic coupled with the anxiety of starting the season 0-3.
For years during his weekly Tuesday press conference, Franklin has asked reporters how they’re doing prior to answering their question. It has gotten to the point where reporters will often ask Franklin first, to begin the call and response between the two parties before getting down to business.
And without fail, Franklin has responded with ‘good’ or a variation thereof. Franklin has never been bad, he has unwaveringly had the same positive response for years. James Franklin is always ‘good.’
Except today, when he once again responded with ‘good’ only to pause and retrace his steps.
‘I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m good,’ Franklin said contemplatively. ‘All things considered, again blessed and good but [good is] probably not an honest answer.’
As Franklin was quick to point out, Penn State’s issues go beyond his general unhappiness and discontent with the current state of affairs back home. The Nittany Lions will have to get better at everything, something Franklin addressed at length during his press conference, citing play at linebacker, quarterback, punter, receiver and offensive line along the way.
And of course, better at coaching. Something Franklin is hoping a conversation with his wife Fumi will help get him back on track towards.
“Me and my wife had a really good talk the other night, which was great for me, because I’ve been trying to kind of insulate her from it, and [was] feeling like, if I kind of went to her with it, that I would be putting that on her plate, and my family’s plate,’ Franklin said. ‘But I’m not the best actor, so it really wasn’t working anyway. We had a really good conversation that helped me come in and address it with the staff and I’ve addressed it with the team.’
When Franklin will be reunited with his family is unclear, under his own self-described guidelines it wouldn’t be tenable for a visit until a vaccine was made available or Franklin were to work in a situation where he would come in contact with far fewer people. Although given the Big Ten’s required daily testing, it’s not impossible to imagine Franklin finding a way to make a quick visit prior to a vaccine. Whatever the case might be, it certainly doesn’t appear to be a problem near being solved in the coming weeks.
As far as the Nittany Lions, those answers will have to come far sooner, something Franklin is all too aware of.
‘I think there are some things that we’ve done a really good job of, but at the end of the day, this press conference, and this meeting, and these questions are about football,” Franklin said, “and right now, we have not played winning football.”
