Penn State football head coach James Franklin was named to the 2025 preseason watch list for The Dodd Trophy. The Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year foundation and Peach Bowl, Inc. released the list On July 7, which included coaches from all Power Four conferences. From the Big Ten, including Franklin, five head coaches appeared on the list.
"As we enter our 50th anniversary season, we’re looking for exceptional candidates to join the storied fraternity of coaching greats who have previously won The Dodd Trophy," foundation chairman Jim Terry said in a statement. "Over the last half century, this award has always stood for more than just wins on the field, but also focuses on how coaches should embody leadership with their student-athletes in the classroom and throughout their communities.
"Keeping this in mind, we only consider coaches whose programs have earned the highest APRs and require coaches to have at least two years of experience leading their current programs, so that they have had time to establish a precedent at their universities, both on and off the field."
Penn State's James Franklin honored to The Dodd Trophy 2025 Preseason Watch List among other elite coaches
Franklin is one of 26 coaches named to the award's watch list. Illinois's Bret Bielema, Indiana's Curt Cignetti, Ohio State's Ryan Day, and Oregon's Dan Lanning are the other four coaches from the conference to join the Nittany Lion head coach.
In the fall, a midseason list will be released, narrowing down this original watch list. This season, Franklin should be a reasonable contender as he embarks on his 12th season at Penn State.
Preseason Dodd Trophy Watch List ☑️#WeAre x @CoachJFranklin pic.twitter.com/fGrlLAfuri
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) July 7, 2025
Under Franklin's watch, the Nittany Lions won 13 games, the most in program history, and made their first College Football Playoffs appearance in 2024-25. Franklin led his team to the championship game of the Big Ten playoffs and to the CFP semifinals. Now heading into 2025-26, he had one of the best offseason retentions as many draft-likely players opted to return to Happy Valley. On top of that, Penn State gained a new wide receiver corps to improve numbers on the passing side of the stat sheet. Franklin also welcomed former Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles to his staff.
There's a lot going right for the Nittany Lions looking ahead into the coming season, and the expectations are piling high on Franklin. He plans to take it one game at a time and slowly build a season back up to a deep playoff run, hopefully all the way to a title. By midseason, it will be known whether his efforts and success made it far enough for the next cut of The Dodd Trophy list of contenders.