Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1138762
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 to continue to grow and continue to evolve' ' Five years into his tenure as Penn State's head football coach, James Franklin has five bowl appearances, a pair of New Year's Six bowls, and a Big Ten championship to show for the pro- gram's efforts. During the past three years, the Nittany Lions have compiled one of the country's better records, going 31-9 for a winning percentage of 77.5. Among Power Five programs, only Clem- son, Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Washington and Wis- consin have fared better over that same span. As the Nittany Lions prepare to embark on a new chapter without the steady presence of mainstays like Trace McSorley, Connor McGovern, Shareef Miller and Nick Scott, among others, Franklin is determined to keep push- ing the program forward, both on and off the field. He recently sat down for an exclusive one-on- one interview with Blue White Illustrated web- site editor Nate Bauer to discuss the Nittany Lions' future. BWI When you first took the job, you said – I'm paraphrasing – that you felt like you needed three years to get a grip on Penn State. Where do you feel like you are in that process now? FRANKLIN In a lot of ways, I think most coaches need three years. You see some of these coaches get three years total, it's ridiculous. And looking back at it, I would say probably five. That's because of the circumstances we walked into. I tell people all the time, if I were going to do it all over again or if I were talking to a coach taking over a sanc- tioned program, they need to get a guaranteed seven-year con- tract. If you look at all of the programs and the coaches who took over those programs during sanctions, it hasn't worked pretty much anywhere – even at great programs and historic programs like USC. You look at USC under the sanctions that they were working through, similar to us, with previous coaches and things like that. Where has it worked where a school was under significant sanctions and was able to get it done? I think in a lot of ways, we've probably handled it as well as anyone. A lot of times, people underesti- mate and kind of move on. And that's my argument to other coaches who call me and say, "Hey, what do you think?" My thing is, make sure that you're going to have enough time. Because the reality is, everybody talks about the sanctions, but as soon as the games start, no one cares. No one cares. It's, "We have this standard and we expect the standard." So I think for me, the thing that probably has been dif- ferent is, like any job, you can do all the homework you want and think you understand, but N E WS & NO T E S FOR THE WIN Penn State has gone 31-9 during its past three seasons under Franklin. The Lions have compiled the seventh-best winning percentage in the Power Five during that span. Photo by Steve Manuel