Henry Kissinger was a master of the press conference. Penn State head coach James Franklin — who has been through a number of wars himself, the latest being his toughest — is not far behind.
Kissinger, the former American diplomat and U.S. Secretary of State, once opened a press conference with, “Does anyone have any questions for my answers?”
Early Saturday evening, after a crappy 22-21 loss by his Penn State football team to three-touchdown underdog Northwestern, in the Penn State media room in the bowels of Beaver Stadium, Franklin was asked about his future at Penn State.
He answered about his loyalty to his players. He was ready. He had his own answer. He never answered the question. Which, by not doing so, he actually did.
When asked if he was committed to Penn State and his future at the university where he has worked the past 4,292 days and has earned close to $80 million, he answered his own question. About his commitment — to his players.
He did not go all Leonardo DiCaprio from “The Wolf of Wall Street.” He did not say, “I’m not leaving. I’m not leaving. I’m not f****** leaving.”
He did not pledge allegiance to The Alignment. He did not reply with his SOP go-to line of “I get it.” He did not offer a single “obviously.” Why? Because it was not obvious. At all.
HE’S BEING FRANKLIN WITH YOU
On Saturday night, under the harshest glare of back-to-back-to-back embarrassing losses, the guy who made LTFI at Penn State popular did not commit to staying through Dec. 31, 2031, which is the end of his 10-year, $85 million contract. It was a very coach-friendly contract that Franklin signed on Nov. 23, 2021 — at the tail end of a dismal and disheartening COVID-impacted 11-11 stretch. It was a massive vote of confidence from since-departed AD Sandy Barbour and the BOT that Franklin always counted on.
On Saturday, Franklin instead doubled down on committing to his players. Not his employer, not his contract, not his university, not his president, not his athletic director and not his Board of Trustees. And not the tens of thousands of fans who have now turned on him.
Give Allie Berube of WHTM abc27 in Harrisburg, a Syracuse grad, heaps of credit for holding Franklin’s feet to the future after the Nittany Lions fell (again) on Saturday. It was their third consecutive defeat, and dropped their record to a massively disappointing 3-3 and 0-3 in the Big Ten Conference. It was the first time a team lost consecutive games — UCLA and Northwestern — in which it was a 20-point favorite in both. This, after Franklin doubled down in the preseason by calling the 2025 Penn State program the best collection of coaches, players and staff in his dozen years at Penn State.
Berube’s question: “We’ve heard the emotion from the fan base, and we saw yours post-game. Do you still want to be a head coach here at Penn State, and do you have confidence that this is a group of people that can turn this around this season?”
Franklin’s answer: “Yeah, for me, it’s always been about our players, and those guys are hurting right now. And the fans are frustrated, and I totally get it. We have great fans here. We get unbelievable support. I understand their frustration. Trust me. We’re as frustrated as anybody, the guys in the locker room.
“But to me, ultimately, it’s about the guys. It’s about the guys in the locker room, and they’re hurting in there, and I’d do anything I could to take that hurt away from them. But like I told them, we got to stick together. We got to tune out all the noise, and we got to get to work. That’s the only answer… to get to work.
“We’ve had some adversity in the past, not like this, and we’re going to get to work. I love those kids. I am committed to those players in that locker room, and I’ve been that way for 12 years. I’ve been that way for 15 years of my head coaching career, and I’ve been that way for 30 years. That won’t change. It’s always been about the players for me; that won’t ever change. That’s what it’s all about for me. So, my commitment is to the guys in that locker room and all the guys that have been in that locker room in the past. So that’s where my commitment is.”
And, there’s your answer…after all.
