Just days after the Penn State Nittany Lions fired James Franklin, the head coach made an appearance on ESPN's College GameDay.
In an interview that felt a little more like a PR campaign than an actual questioning session, Franklin was asked if he believed his firing was fair or not. He said that decision wasn't for him to make, but one former head coach made the decision for him.
Nick Saban, the G.O.A.T. of college football coaching, listed off Franklin's accolades at Penn State, including numerous bowl game victories and an appearance in the 2024 College Football Playoffs. Then he told the world exactly what he thought of Franklin getting fired by the Nittany Lions.
"It's unfair as hell," Saban said. "For [Penn State] not to show enough appreciation for that, and gratitude for all the hard work you did, I'm saying, it's unfair."
Why did James Franklin get fired by Penn State?
Despite the fact that Franklin has the second-most wins (104) by a head coach in Penn State history, only trailing Joe Paterno (409), the Nittany Lions decided he wasn't the man for the job.
Nick Saban, speaking to James Franklin on his firing: "It's unfair as hell."
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) October 18, 2025
The biggest problem that the program had with Franklin? He couldn't win the big-time games.
Against top-10 teams, Franklin led the Nittany Lions to a 4-21 record. Against teams in the top five, he went 1-15. Both were far from ideal, and it was enough for him to lose his job at Penn State.
Including the loss to then-No. 6 Oregon, the Nittany Lions just suffered a three-game losing streak, also falling to unranked UCLA and Northwestern. Simply put, the unranked losses were too much for Penn State to hold off on firing him for any longer.
Over his 12 years with the team, Franklin went 104-45 overall, including wins in the Pinstripe Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Rose Bowl, CFP First Round, and CFP quarterfinals (Fiesta Bowl).