Penn State has fired coach James Franklin six video games into his twelfth season with the Nittany Lions, the college introduced Sunday amid a disastrous three-game slide.
The No. 2 crew within the preseason AP Prime 25 simply two months in the past, the Nittany Lions slipped to 0-3 in Huge Ten play following a shocking 22-21 residence loss to Northwestern in Week 7 — a recreation during which they had been a three-touchdown favourite. The large upset was Penn State’s second in a row after falling at beforehand winless UCLA on Oct. 4, making it the primary FBS crew since 1978 to lose back-to-back video games as favorites of not less than 20 factors.
Affiliate head coach and cornerbacks coach Terry Smith will function interim for the rest of the 2025 season.
“Penn State owes an enormous amount of gratitude to Coach Franklin who rebuilt our football program into a national power,” Penn State athletic director Patrick Kraft mentioned in a press release. “He won a Big Ten Championship, led us to seven New Year’s Six bowl games and a College Football Playoff appearance last year. However, we hold our athletics programs to the highest of standards, and we believe this is the right moment for new leadership at the helm of our football program to advance us toward Big Ten and national championships.”
Penn State additionally dropped its Huge Ten opener in double-overtime towards Oregon, which marked Franklin’s fifteenth straight loss towards an AP top-six crew.
Coming off a School Soccer Playoff semifinal look towards Notre Dame final yr, the Nittany Lions had been anticipated to repeat as a playoff crew and push for a Huge Ten title. As an alternative, they be part of a rising checklist of packages trying to find a brand new coach. Penn State’s 3-3 report marks the worst six-game begin for a preseason AP top-two crew since Oklahoma in 1964.
Franklin departs Completely happy Valley with a 104-45 general report, together with a 64-36 mark in Huge Ten play. Penn State made its second Huge Ten Championship Sport look final season. The Nittany Lions received the Huge Ten simply as soon as (2016) throughout Franklin’s tenure. They did win not less than 10 video games in six of his 12 seasons, together with three straight double-digit win campaigns from 2022-24.
Previous to his hiring at Penn State in 2014, Franklin spent three seasons at Vanderbilt. He led the Commodores to back-to-back nine-win seasons and top-25 finishes from 2012-13.
Penn State teaching candidates: Matt Rhule, Curt Cignetti amongst choices on sizzling board to exchange James Franklin
Carter Bahns
James Franklin buyout, contract data
Franklin’s newest contract at Penn State paid him round $8 million yearly by 2031, together with a $500,000 retention bonus paid annually on Dec. 31. That very same contract stipulated that Franklin’s firing means he’s owed the entire remaining cash on the deal from the date he was fired, not together with that retention bonus.
Meaning Penn State will owe Franklin round $50 million. Franklin’s buyout is the second-largest in faculty soccer historical past, behind solely the $76 million that Texas A&M has to pay former coach Jimbo Fisher.
A timeline of the collapse
A hopeful 2025 marketing campaign began out promising sufficient. The Nittany Lions, loaded with veteran expertise like quarterback Drew Allar and the working again tandem of Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, stormed to a 3-0 report with wins towards overmatched nonconference opponents.
It was after that auspicious begin that issues started to unravel…
Sept. 27: Penn State storms again from a 17-3 fourth quarter deficit to pressure time beyond regulation towards No. 6 Oregon. The Geese rating a landing on every of their two possessions. Allar throws an interception on Penn State’s first offensive play of the second time beyond regulation interval, handing the Nittany Lions their first lack of the yr.
Oct. 4: Penn State hits the street to play an 0-4 UCLA crew led by an interim coach and a model new offensive coordinator. That new coordinator, Jerry Neuheisel, helps his crew bounce out to a shocking 30-7 lead. Penn State battles again however isn’t capable of recuperate. Penn State is the primary AP top-10 crew to lose to an 0-4 crew since 1985 BYU.
Oct. 11: Penn State returns residence to play a 3-2 Northwestern crew that misplaced 23-3 to Tulane in its season opener. Northwestern walks out with a 22-21 win, its first victory in Beaver Stadium since 2014 — Franklin’s first yr with the Nittany Lions. Penn State additionally misplaced Allar to a season-ending harm.
Penn State’s 3-3 begin is its worst of the Franklin period in a full 12-game season. The Nittany Lions did open their 2020 marketing campaign with an 0-5 report earlier than profitable 4 straight video games to shut the yr.
Huge-game struggles persist
Penn State’s precipitous fall by the primary half of the 2025 season definitely catalyzed the administration’s resolution to half with Franklin, however discontent has been brewing below the floor for some time now. It’s all on account of Franklin’s incapability to win any large video games, a constant battle that plagued his total tenure despite the sources out there to him at a storied program like Penn State.
Franklin’s .160 profitable share towards top-10 groups is tied for the third-worst mark by a coach (minimal of 25 video games) at a single college because the AP ballot period started. That report is considerably worse when distilled to top-6 groups: Franklin posted a 2-21 ledger in such contests, the second worst mark all-time (minimal of 20 video games) behind former Virginia Tech boss Frank Beamer.
Right here’s a deeper dive into the numbers behind Franklin’s big-game struggles:
1-15 towards top-5 groups
4-21 towards top-10 groups
15-31 towards top-25 groups
Past that, Franklin completed with a 4-17 displaying towards prime Huge Ten foes Michigan and Ohio State. That report drops to 1-13 towards the Buckeyes and the Wolverines if they’ve a rating beside their title. Because of this, the Nittany Lions made simply two appearances within the Huge Ten Championship Sport throughout Franklin’s tenure.
