Blue White Illustrated

I N T E R V I E W J A M E S F R A N K L I N We've got momentum right now, and we've got to take advantage' ' Penn State has arrived, but is it really back? As in back among the nation's perennial championship contenders, a status it enjoyed from the late 1960s through the late 1990s? That's the question that consumes James Franklin as he prepares for his fifth season in University Park. Franklin has gone 36-17 since suc- ceeding Bill O'Brien in 2014, but more important, he's 22-5 in the past two seasons. Penn State's success in 2016 and '17, and the recruiting wins that have flowed from the team's on-field performance, have combined to create an onward-and-upward narrative that has gotten fans excited but has raised some concerns in the Lasch Building. While the Nittany Lions' older players may understand the hardships that had to be overcome to get to this point, Franklin worries that the younger play- ers may simply assume that the suc- cesses are self-perpetuating. Complacency is an implacable enemy, and it's all the more concerning when you start to think about how little sepa- ration there is between great teams and good teams. "The difference between winning a conference championship, making the playoff, winning 10 or more games, and winning seven and eight games – it's a fine line," Franklin said. "I don't know if everybody really understands that." There are off-the-field concerns, too. While many of its rivals have been sparing no expense to upgrade their facilities and hold their coaching staffs together, Penn State is trying to raise funds for the kind of improvements that will allow it to keep pace. A internal study showed that PSU ranked 13th in the Big Ten in spending on facilities during the previ- ous eight years. Franklin recently sat down with Blue White Illustrated website editor Nate Bauer to discuss those issues and more. Here's what he had to say: BWI You've used the word "hungry" to describe this team this spring. Did you know that would be the personality of this team, and what makes it that way? FRANKLIN It's probably too early to say this is the char- N E WS & NO T E S THINGS ARE LOOKING UP Franklin has gone 22-5 in his past two seasons with the Nittany Lions. Photo by Steve Manuel

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