It’s weird to think that just over two weeks ago, James Franklin and the Penn State Nittany Lions football team were front-page news for all the right reasons. Ranked in the top three of the AP Poll, hosting another top program and national powerhouse in Oregon, ESPN’s College Gameday had to get in on the action, visiting Happy Valley for a chance to absorb the rays of sunshine beaming down on State College in Pennsylvania.
Beaver Stadium was stuffed to capacity, flooded in a vast ocean of white in one of the greatest traditions in all of college football: the Penn State whiteout game. The environment was suffocating, and positive feelings surrounding Franklin’s football team may have been at an all time high.
What a difference a few weeks can make.
Now just over two weeks removed from that event the previously 3-0 Nittany Lions have dropped three straight contests. First to the previously mentioned Oregon Ducks, then a road contest to a previously winless UCLA team, and finally an oxygen-stealing home defeat at the hands of Northwestern. From 3-0 to 3-3, Penn State’s athletic department had seen enough and pulled the plug on the James Franklin experience entirely. Just like that, it was over.
At this point, Franklin’s firing at Penn State, and the $49 million fee to buyout his contract, is old news
From his show on Sunday night, host Josh Pate slammed the program for what he believed was a poorly calculated decision.
“I think firing him is insane. I think Penn State firing him right now, off of 34-8 the past three years, one play away from a national championship appearance last year, is insane. And thinking you can do better, to the tune of paying $50 million in buyout money to prove it, is insane.”
Firing a football coach sends a clear message: it means you believe that you can do better without them than you could with them. Whether that’s true or not, it’s hard to hold Franklin accountable for the Nittany Lions shortcomings when the good has far outweighed the bad during his tenure.
A decision seemingly made in haste, the program abandoned a coach that elevated their football team to heights unreached in decades. Just last season, Penn State was a game away from playing in the national championship game. All that built-up goodwill was not mutual between Franklin and the school that employed him, it seems, as the school is now left with an immensely challenging and entirely self-inflicted chore: find a replacement for one of the best and most proven head coaches in all of college football. Good luck with that.
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