James Franklin spoke publicly for the first time Saturday since he was fired by Penn State on Oct. 12.
Franklin joined the ESPN ‘College GameDay’ set only three weeks after he appeared on the show ahead of the Nittany Lions’ Sept. 27 game against Oregon, back when Penn State was 3-0, ranked No. 2 in the US LBM Coaches Poll and was one of the favorites to win the national championship.
What followed was nothing short of stunning, with an overtime loss to Oregon being followed by upset losses to UCLA and Northwestern in back-to-back weeks. Fifteen days after the Nittany Lions were a fourth-down conversion in overtime away from beating Oregon, Franklin was out of a job.
As shocking as that series of events was to the average fan, it was even more so to Franklin. In his interview with ‘GameDay,’ Franklin said he was fired by Penn State athletic director Patrick Kraft 15 minutes before the Nittany Lions had a scheduled team meeting.
‘The AD walked in and said, ‘We’re going to make a change, I’m sorry,” Franklin said. ‘I was in shock, obviously. 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 them I was leaving. It really, that was it, it was that quick.’
When asked by Kirk Herbstreit if he believed his firing was fair, Franklin sidestepped the question and focused on his fonder memories from his time in State College.
‘Fair is not for me to decide, right?’ he said. ‘That’s for other people to decide. The decision that was made, that was hard for me to comprehend at the time, but what I want to do, I want to focus on all the unbelievable moments. I had a great run there, 12 years. Penn State was good to me and my family. Most importantly, it’s about the players. I’m a players’ coach. I always have been. So that’s the hardest part, walking away from all those young men in that locker room, the commits that were recruited to us. Lot of tough conversations. So that’s the challenge, it’s the people at the end of the day: the coaches, the staff, the families, the kids. What I don’t think people realize is how many people this affects. A ton of people. That’s where my heart breaks.”
Franklin was dismissed after the Nittany Lions suffered a third straight loss and second to an unranked opponent this season, a 22-21 loss to Northwestern on Oct. 11. He posted a 104-45 overall record in 12 seasons at Penn State, though what likely contributed to his firing was his 4-21 record against top-10 ranked teams in that span, including a 1-10 record against Big Ten foe Ohio State.
The Nittany Lions made their first College Football Playoff appearance last season under Franklin, and advanced to the semifinals. His buyout from Penn State is the second-most expensive contract buyout for a coach in college football history at just under $50 million, according to a financial term sheet he signed in 2022 that was obtained by the USA TODAY Sports.
The rapid disintegration of Penn State’s once-promising 2025 season and Franklin’s largely successful tenure is still something the coach is processing.
‘To be honest with you, I’m still working through it myself,’ Franklin said. ‘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 2-minute drive away.’