Penn State football fired James Franklin from his head coaching duties on Sunday following Saturday's loss to Northwestern. It was the third, consecutive loss for the Nittany Lions (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten) and the boiling point for athletic director Pat Kraft.
Kraft made a statement regarding the decision to fire Franklin, reading:
"Penn State owes an enormous amount of gratitude to Coach Franklin who rebuilt our football program into a national power. 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.
"Penn State Football is an integral part of our University and is an important part of the lives of our millions of fans, community members and alumni around the world. We have the best college football fans in America, a rich tradition of excellence, significant investments in our program, compete in the best conference in college sports and have a state-of-the-art renovated stadium on the horizon. I am confident in our future and in our ability to attract elite candidates to lead our program."
Penn State president Neeli Bendapudi also added his statement regarding the decision:
"I am grateful for all that Coach Franklin has done for Penn State football and the University over the past 11-plus years. We thank him for his dedication, and we extend our best wishes to him and his family as they move forward into their next chapter. Our commitment to excellence extends across every facet of our institution, including athletics, and I am looking forward with great anticipation to this exciting new chapter for the Nittany Lions as we continue to build on that standard."
Franklin led the Nittany Lions to their first CFP appearance in 2024 with expectations to take his team all the way to the national championship game in 2025. However, everything that could go wrong did for Penn State. Its performances against Nevada, Florida International, and Villanova were below average in comparison to the star power personnel it claimed it had. Losing to Oregon bruised confidence, but following up with losses to two, unranked teams (UCLA and Northwestern) was the final straw. On top of Franklin's poor leadership in 2025 and now firing, quarterback Drew Allar's collegiate career also ended on Saturday due to a left ankle injury.
Penn State announced that Terry Smith will step in as interim head coach for the remainder of 2025.