Penn State fires head coach James Franklin, leaving behind a complicated legacy

Fittingly, the team to which James Franklin suffered his first loss with Penn State was also his last.

The program announced it has parted ways with Franklin after 11½ seasons, following a 22-21 loss to Northwestern at Beaver Stadium on Saturday. He is owed more than $48 million in his contract buyout, which will be spread across multiple payments, per On3.

Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft, who is scheduled to speak on Monday, will lead the search for the program’s next head coach. In the aftermath of the Franklin news, the Nittany Lions have already seen decommitments from several recruits, including five-star 2027 offensive lineman Layton Von Brandt and four-star 2027 linebacker Gabriel Jenkins.

Franklin leaves State College with a 104-45 record, a 2016 Big Ten title, and a College Football Playoff appearance. His 104 wins were tied for second-most in school history, trailing only Joe Paterno’s 409.

Associate head coach and cornerbacks coach Terry Smith will assume interim coaching duties. Smithplayed at Penn State from 1988-91 and has been with the program for 12 seasons.

» READ MORE: Drew Allar’s Penn State career comes to a close following season ending injury

“Penn State owes an enormous amount of gratitude to Coach Franklin, who rebuilt our football program into a national power,” said athletic director Pat Kraft in a 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.”

Franklin brought Penn State out of a dark time in program history when he took the job in 2014. Amid scholarship reductions and a postseason ban stemming from the Jerry Sandusky abuse scandal, Franklin led Penn State to bowl games in the first two seasons before making a massive leap forward in 2016.

The Nittany Lions took down Ohio State that year, Franklin’s only win against the Buckeyes with Penn State, and beat Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game before falling short of the CFP and losing in the Rose Bowl to Southern California. But it set a standard for Penn State, one he mostly upheld, except during down years in 2020 and 2021.

But ultimately, Franklin’s tenure began to unwind over the last couple of weeks, punctuated by consecutive losses to Oregon, UCLA, and Northwestern. The latter two were games Penn State has typically won throughout Franklin’s time in Happy Valley, but the team has looked uninspired in the last two weeks.

Franklin became the first head coach in the last 30 years to lose consecutive games as at least a 20-point favorite, according to ESPN.

Add in Drew Allar’s season-ending injury in the final minutes of Saturday’s loss, and the writing seemed to be on the wall for the Langhorne, Pa., native.

» READ MORE: Drew Allar injury adds insult to Penn State’s third straight loss, this time to Northwestern

More than anything, though, he will be remembered for his disappointing 4-21 record against Associated Press Top 10 ranked teams. Overall, he was 1-14 against Michigan and Ohio State when they were ranked inside the top 10. Franklin had Penn State in the big game often, including last season’s CFP semifinal against Notre Dame, but could never get over the hump.

And now, his time in Happy Valley is over and a national search for Penn State’s next coach will begin.

Penn State has six games remaining, starting with a primetime matchup against Iowa on Saturday (7 p.m., Peacock). It doesn’t get easier, as after a bye week, the Nittany Lions will face No. 1 Ohio State (Nov. 1) and No. 7 Indiana (Nov. 8).

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