Penn State coach James Franklin spoke to the media on Monday afternoon as part of his weekly press conference, offering up answers to multiple questions about the weekend firing of offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich following the Nittany Lions’ loss to Michigan. These are some of his most informative answers to the day’s questions about the change. No timeline has been announced for hiring Yurcich’s replacement but Franklin noted that sooner is obviously better than later.
On whether or not this was his decision or made by athletic director Pat Kraft.
JAMES FRANKLIN: Yeah, this was my decision, but obviously I don’t do anything solo. I run things up the ladder and have conversations. But, yeah, this was my decision.
Coaching the quarterbacks moving forward this season.
Danny [O’Brien] is involved with the quarterbacks. I’m going to make sure that I’m in every single one the quarterback meetings with Danny. It allows us to get somebody else on the headsets as well in terms of bumping somebody up into that full-time role or headset role or whatever it may be, another voice. So still working through that. Probably make that decision today. In terms of the quarterbacks, Danny O’Brien and myself.
On the role the quarterbacks will have in the hiring process and the relationship Drew Allar had with Mike Yurcich.
I guess the first thing is these are tough decisions, right? What makes it even tougher is it’s hard to keep things quiet. I think we did a pretty good job of it, but it’s hard to keep things quiet. Not because we’re trying to hide information from you guys, but I’m trying to be respectful of the process, of Mike and his family. Trying to be respectful of our quarterbacks. Trying to be respectful of the team. We want to call all the quarterback’s families so they’re hearing it from me and explain kind of how we got here. Same thing in recruiting.
So just a lot of moving parts you’re trying to keep quiet as you possibly can so people are hearing it from you and not reading it on social media. But with Drew, I met with all the quarterbacks first. They were the first to know. Met with him before the team meeting and then addressed it with the team. Then the plan was for them to call their parents after practice and let them know, and then after practice I was going to call them and talk through any questions or concerns they had.
That went to plan except for while we were at practice it leaked out and the parents found out before I was able to get to them. Besides that, the quarterbacks heard from me, the players heard from me. It’s something that we don’t take lightly. These are tough decisions that have to be made. They affect a lot of people. I want to be super respectful of that. I also have a responsibility to everybody in that locker room and everybody in the Lasch Building and fans and everybody else. Graduates, alumni, lettermen.
So the quarterbacks I think the discussion was good. Met with them before practice and met with them right after practice to see if they had any more questions or concerns. And, again, tough conversations. Tough decisions. But I think handled as well as you can under tough circumstances. In terms of being involved in the hiring process, no, but in terms of are they a part of that decision, yes. In terms of who I’m bringing in, why I’m bringing them in, do they fit the person that I’m bringing in, the person that I’m bringing in, do they fit with them, does everybody understand what they’re signing up for, all these things, yes.
Just like this decision, I also like them to be the first to know. So as hard as you guys will be trying to get the information I’ll be trying to keep the information quiet. Again, not because I don’t want you guys to have the information, but I would like for my quarterbacks and team to hear it first rather than being on social media. Just trying to be as respectful the process as possible.
On top of that, and I’ve been through this myself, sometime the names getting out there hurts your chances of actually hiring them. You know, even with head coach positions. A lot of times if it’s out there and public, and those guys that end up turning the jobs down because they can’t afford for the process to play out. It’s going to cause too many problems where they are, cause issues. So that’s the other reason you try to keep it quiet as much as you possibly can, so as many of those possibilities stay on the table as long as possible.
Why the change happened and what he’s looking for.
Yeah, so at the end of the day, you know, we need to play well and we need to play well against our toughest opponents. That’s the reality of it. We embrace that. That’s why you come to a place like Penn State as a coach, as a player, and we understand what comes with that, you know, the positives and the challenges. You embrace it or you don’t come to a place like Penn State. In terms of what I’m looking for on offense, is, again, back to that point: Somebody that’s going to put us in the best position to play our best football when it’s needed most and against the best competition.
On the timing of announcing the decision.
In terms of the timing, I just think for most people and most situations, if you’ve gotten to the point where you feel like that’s what you’re going to do, I’m not great at like faking it, you know. I want to be as transparent and up front as I possibly can be. So when you get to the point you feel like that’s the right decision, then I think you make it. Part of this also is the belief of the rest of the staff and the guys in the Lasch Building and the locker room. But to me, when you feel like that’s the decision, in my opinion you don’t delay that decision as long as you feel like you have some internal options that can do it.
This will be Penn State’s sixth offensive coordinator hired here. Obviously two guys left for head coaching jobs, others did not. Why do you feel like you guys have been continuously searching for answers there?
Again, I wouldn’t necessarily describe it the way you did. Again, I think if you look at the nature of college football, there is a ton of turnover. Why? Some for positive reasons you mentioned. Two for head coaching opportunities, which is awesome, which is what you want.
In terms of the other end of the spectrum, you know, this is a place that’s got very, very high expectations and standards. We have to make sure that each area, whether it’s strength and conditioning, whether it’s academics, offense, defense, special teams, for us to go where we want to go and play at the very, very highest level, we need each one of those units producing on a very, very high level consistently for us to go where we want to go. And if they are, guys get opportunities to move elsewhere for head coaching opportunities. If they aren’t, then decisions need to be made. So for one reason or another, you’re going to have turnover in college football.
Timeline for a new hire.
Sooner rather than later, right? It’s hard. Hiring someone is like a full-time job. Can’t really have two full-time jobs right now. Most important thing is for us to play well this week and finish the season the right way, and then during that process, be working through, narrowing down a list.
I already have a list. It’s narrowing it down, running all the numbers, seeing if people are interested, and then trying to find a way to get that turned over as soon as we possibly can through maybe some Zoom calls, in-person interviews. And then in a perfect world, I think you would like if you could to have a situation like we did with Manny where we hired him, had him here for the bowl game. I think we have done that at other times as well.
Now they’re here, around the guys, see how we operate, meet, get a feel for the culture, be able to watch and evaluate the players and say, okay, here are areas we’re strong, here are areas we need to maybe find some solutions. I think there is value in doing that if possible, but that’s not always the case. With Manny it just worked out where he was available and could be hired and was willing to come. Some people are still in positions they need to finish out their seasons. We’ll see. It depends on which direction we go, who we hire, and kind of where they are in their careers. Is it an NFL guy, college guy? Is it a guy who’s currently going to be in a bowl game, or is it a guy who’s out?
Drew Allar’s future, talking to quarterbacks and families.
Yeah, again, I had really good conversations with them. Had really good conversations with their families. I feel good about that. I mean, obviously we would love to finish on a really, really high note this year as a team, and then specifically as an offense and then at the quarterback position. No doubt about it.
I feel good about that moving forward in terms of the relationships in the building. Again, that doesn’t say anything about those other relationships; those were important as well. I feel good about the relationships we have in our building and playing well to end the season, and then obviously making sure that the hire complements what we have in the building, what we have in the locker room.
What’s the takeaway lesson for you in all of this?
I think the biggest thing is understanding kind of what we just talked about, right? That for us to win the way we want to win at the very highest level, every single unit needs to be producing and working at the highest level year-round, 365 days a year. There has been a lot of hurdles and battles to overcome to get there since we arrived on campus, to be honest with you, and the reality is we can’t afford not to be thriving in every single one of those areas to be able to beat the people we need to beat on a consistent basis.
So for us, the most important thing we can do outside of all the things we have already talked about is get the right people had into the building. That’s staff and that is players, and then be able to give them all the support they need to be successful on a consistent basis. The most important thing you do is we’re in a people business. Got to get the right people at Penn State that believe in Penn State and what we can do and where we can go, and then give them all the support and resources they need to produce at the very, very highest level.
