For Penn State and James Franklin, the Risk Was Becoming Desensitized

The next day, Penn State Athletic Director Pat Kraft announced a "leadership change," ending Franklin's head coaching run midway through his 12th season. The end caused whiplash.

On Sept. 27, Penn State led Oregon in overtime in front of more than 111,000 fans at Beaver Stadium that Franklin had promised on ESPN College GameDay would create "the best atmosphere in the history of college football." Fifteen days later, Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi issued a statement thanking Franklin for his "dedication."

Franklin spent more than 11 years at Penn State sensitive to everyone and everything around him. He heard people, absorbed what they said, responded to it, even made a brand out of it. The 2024 playoff run catalyzed with #LFTI, a hashtag sprung from Franklin's always-tuned antenna.

Inside the program, Franklin was dedicated, as Bendapudi said, demanding and difficult but never desensitized. This summer, Penn State defensive line coach Deion Barnes said that Franklin changed his life by offering him a full-time job in 2023. And Barnes grew to know another side of the head coach for whom he also played.

"As players, you're sensitive to a lot of stuff, but once you actually look at the message and the things he did, you understand," Barnes said. "He's done a lot of solid things for a lot of people. Before I left here, I didn't realize how much he was doing as far as looking out for people. Then I came back as a coach, and I've really seen it. He's just trying to make sure you're getting better in your life."

A scroll through social media will frame what most of Franklin's players, current and former, think of him. Trace McSorley, who Franklin hired to his staff just this year, is but one of many.

But major college football isn't, and really never was, just an entertaining way to teach life lessons. It's an economic concern with employees and shareholders and ROI. And Franklin worked that side of the system with equal vigor.

He spent nearly 12 years pressing Penn State for resources to hire staff, build new facilities, renovate existing one, pay players, even extend the local airport runway. He signed four contracts, the last in 2021 worth a guaranteed $80 million, and likely was trying to negotiate a fifth before this season.

Franklin relentlessly pursued more for the program, to the point that he probably turned people off. He also vented publicly. Recently, Franklin had begun thanking Penn State for marshalling the "alignment" forces behind him. But he still harbored discontent at the athletic department's passive response to winning the 2016 Big Ten title.

Asked this summer what still drives him crazy about coaching at Penn State, Franklin said this.

"For me, it's recognizing what we have been able to do here and what we've accomplished and finally being at a point that there's multiple people that are in the foxhole with us fighting the fight at the same level," Franklin said in an interview. "And in my 11 years, I've never had that before. Looking back at years where we didn't have that, I think a lot of coaches, to be just frank and honest, would have left to find a place that they were going to get the level of support that we have now.

"And I had people, Penn State people, telling me to be patient, it was going to happen, it was coming. Because there have been people hired in leadership positions for very, very different reasons at different points in our history based on challenges that we were trying to overcome at the time. That recognition, when you look at what we've accomplished here, I don't know if that's always necessarily factored into the discussion. I think when we first got here [in 2014], that's all anybody wanted to talk about. But I think now, it's just kind of brushed off, like no big deal. And it was a very big deal."

This year, Franklin had just about everything he wanted — the roster, the coaching staff, the strategic alignment of board and adminstration — to compete for a national championship. And his team lost three games by a combined total of 12 points. Then it ended.

In some ways, the 2025 Penn State season resembles that of 2020. The Nittany Lions lost a game in overtime that they couldn't get past. They had erratic quarterback and offensive line play and a defense that gave up surprising plays at crucial situations. The teams also share a story of constrictions.

That year, it was the gaiter Franklin was forced to wear, coaching through a COVID-impacted season. This year, it was the level of expectations that Franklin himself established. Even players from other teams saw it.

"I think they’re probably 'natty or bust' this year," Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles said at Big Ten Media Days. "That’s how they’re feeling."

So when it went bust, Franklin lost his spark, became desensitized, and Penn State made the change. Now, Penn State faces the terrifying prospect of desensitizing a fan base to which it's trying to sell premium space in a Beaver Stadium that will cost $700 million to renovate.

That's the business end, which Franklin understands. It's complicated by cash, credit, debt and doubt. Penn State Athletics is a $200 million operation that desperately wants to win a national championship in football. Which wasn't going to happen this year, so Penn State moved on.

But Penn State also can't get desensitized to everything Franklin did, and hopefully Franklin won't become desensitized to Penn State. Next year will mark the 10th anniversary of Penn State's 2016 Big Ten championship team. A good time for a reunion. Hopefully, Franklin makes it.