Penn State Football: 5 Changes James Franklin must make to turn program around

The Penn State Football program has lost all momentum. It’s time for James Franklin to make changes and turn this program around.

James Franklin’s Penn State Football program has seen a little bit of everything in the last two seasons.

The program has seen its first five-game losing streak since James Franklin took over in 2014. It has also gone on a nine-game winning streak and been ranked as high as fourth in the country.

The only constant over the last two seasons is that the Nittany Lions ended with a disappointing record.

The Penn State Football program had an overall record of 11-11 the past two seasons. That within itself is disappointing. But, this stretch of mediocrity is following one of the greatest four-year runs the program has ever seen.

The four years prior, the Penn State Football program won 42 games. These four years included a Big Ten Championship and three New York Six bowl appearances. All of that momentum is now gone.

James Franklin has proven that he can win at Penn State. He is the right choice for the program, hence the ten-year extension. The college game is constantly evolving. With that, Franklin will have to make changes to propel the program forward.

Here are the changes James Franklin must make to turn Penn State Football around:

Culture Reset

Franklin has always been a players coach.

That’s not going to change, nor should it.

Players choose to attend Penn State because they believe in the family atmosphere that Franklin has built. That is what is at the core of this program, Family.

The culture of the Penn State Football team needs to get back to the four core values that Franklin preached during the successful seasons. Franklin has stopped projecting these values every week and switched to a “control what you can control” mantra.

There’s a reason why those teams were successful and the core values seem to keep the program focused. The core values were Positive Attitude, Work Ethic, Compete, and Sacrifice.

It was a multifaceted approach that brought the program together. The core values were the direction of the program.

The “Control what you can control” motto allows for too much complacency and a lack of accountability. It doesn’t instill a sense of teamwork or a winning mentality.

We hear all the time after a disappointing stretch that it’s time to get back to the basics. The same could be said for the culture of this Penn State Football program. Get back to the values and culture that made this program successful.