Penn State fires coach James
Franklin amid midseason free fall in a lost season
[October 13, 2025]
By TRAVIS JOHNSON
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — From the day he was hired more than a
decade ago, James Franklin stressed the importance of creating a
family atmosphere at Penn State.
Over the course of 11-plus seasons in Happy Valley, that approach
helped the Nittany Lions churn out pros and double-digit victory
seasons with regularity.
Yet it also never translated into Penn State beating the programs it
considers its peers with regularity, either. And while the stakes
kept getting higher, the results took on a certain sameness.
Until the last three weeks, anyway, when one tough loss turned into
another improbable loss turned into one unforgivable loss that ended
up costing Franklin his job.
Penn State fired Franklin on Sunday, less than 24 hours after a
22-21 home upset at the hands of Northwestern all but ended whatever
remote chance the preseason No. 2 team had of reaching the College
Football Playoff.
Terry Smith will serve as the interim head coach for the rest of the
season for the Nittany Lions (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten), who began the year
with hopes of winning the national title only to have those hopes
evaporate by early October with three consecutive losses, each one
more stinging than the last.
Penn State, which reached the CFP semifinals 10 months ago, fell at
home to Oregon in overtime in late September. A road setback at
previously winless UCLA followed. The final straw came Saturday at
Beaver Stadium, where the Nittany Lions let Northwestern escape with
a victory and lost quarterback Drew Allar to injury for the rest of
the season.
Franklin deflected questions about his job security afterward, as
always turning his attention toward the players. It didn't stop the
administration from making the very expensive decision that it
couldn't wait any longer to act. Penn State swallowed a nearly $50
million buyout to part ways with the coach who put the program back
on the national map.
Franklin went 104-45 during his 11-plus seasons at Penn State. Yet
the Nittany Lions often stumbled against top-tier opponents, going
4-21 against teams ranked in the top 10 during his tenure.
Hired in 2014 in the wake of Bill O’Brien’s departure for the NFL,
Franklin inherited a team still feeling the effects of unprecedented
NCAA sanctions in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
Armed with relentless optimism and an ability to recruit, Franklin's
program regularly churned out NFL-level talent, from Philadelphia
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley to Green Bay Packers edge rusher
Micah Parsons. Franklin guided the Nittany Lions to the 2016 Big Ten
title and a seemingly permanent spot in the rankings.
There was hope this fall might be the one when Penn State would
finally break through and win its third national championship and
first since 1986. Yet after three easy wins during a light
nonconference schedule, the Nittany Lions crumbled.
Athletic director Pat Kraft said the school owes Franklin an
“enormous amount of gratitude" for leading the Nittany Lions back to
relevance. Yet Franklin's inability to finish the job led to his
ouster.
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Penn State's head coach James Franklin reacts following an NCAA
college football game against Northwestern, Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025,
in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Sam Balkansky)
“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,” Kraft said.
Smith now will be tasked with trying to stop the bleeding on what
has become a disastrous season. He will have his work cut out for
him: Penn State's next three games are at Iowa on Saturday, at No. 1
Ohio State on Nov. 1 and home against No. 3 Indiana on Nov. 8.
The matchups with the Buckeyes and Hoosiers were expected to be a
chance for the Nittany Lions to bolster their CFP credentials. In
the span of a handful of weeks, Penn State will instead find itself
in the role of spoiler.
The move will cost Penn State at a time the athletic department has
committed to a $700 million renovation to Beaver Stadium. The
project is expected to be completed by 2027.
Former athletic director Sandy Barbour signed Franklin to a 10-year
contract extension worth up to $85 million in 2021. According to
terms of the deal, Penn State will have to pay Franklin’s base
salary of $500,000, supplemental pay of $6.5 million and insurance
loan of $1 million until 2031.
It's a steep price, but one the university appears willing to pay to
find a coach who can complete the climb to a national title.
“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,” Kraft said. “I am confident in
our future and in our ability to attract elite candidates to lead
our program.”
There will be no shortage of interested coaches. Kraft has ties to
at least one. He was the athletic director at Temple when he hired
current Nebraska coach Matt Rhule back in 2013.
Rhule and the Cornhuskers will visit Beaver Stadium in Penn State's
home finale on Nov. 22. What back in August looked like one of the
final hurdles for the Nittany Lions to clear on their way to a CFP
berth might instead be both an audition for Rhule and a chance for
the Nittany Lions to potentially salvage a shot at a bowl game of
any variety, let alone a premier one.
___
AP National Writer Will Graves in Pittsburgh contributed to this
report.
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