Where will Penn State’s James Franklin coach next year?
By Evan Smith
Matt Lombardo — Senior editor
If this question of James Franklin’s future was posed to me following his midweek press conference on Tuesday, this section would read very different.
During that availability with reporters, Franklin insisted to the assembled media his focus was on “Illinois,” and the challenge of playing at “The Big House,” when in fact, the Nittany Lions’ opponent this week is Ohio State … in the Horseshoe.
Franklin’s comments were seemingly a window into the mindset of a head coach whose commitment to his current program might be wavering following his worst loss in Happy Valley, with greener pastures in Southern California or Baton Rouge on his mind.
However, everything Franklin has said since leads me to believe that far more is happening behind the scenes in terms of the Penn State administration’s commitment to the football program — and to Franklin than we realize.
As others have alluded to, major college football is an arms race.
Make no mistake, Franklin would have a far better chance of becoming the first African American head coach to win a National Championship at USC or LSU than he currently does at Penn State, trying to drag the program and administration from funding a “great” program to an “elite” one.
However, the Lasch Football complex is currently undergoing major renovations. Franklin was able to convince the university to open the chauffeurs for renovations to Beaver Stadium and to pay for elite coordinators during his last round of contract negotiations in 2019.
Franklin wouldn’t need to worry about such commitments at LSU or USC, where those administrations are intent on spending whatever it takes to compete for national championships. A Prize Penn State hasn’t won since 1986 and hasn’t realistically played for since 1994.
If the spending and commitment from the administration were equal at Penn State to those other powerhouses, my sense is Franklin would prefer to stay.
I could very well be wrong, but my reading of the situation is that talks behind the scenes between Franklin and Penn State have intensified since the summer when he changed agents and hired CAA’s Jimmy Sexton, and that commitment from the school might finally be in the process of being made.
If Penn State commits to doing what needs to be done to take the football program to the next level, Franklin will be on the sidelines in 2022. And Penn State’s fanbase should appreciate his efforts, leading that renaissance.