Penn State Sports Magazine
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2 4 A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M W hen the NCAA relaxed its re- strictions around amateurism last year, allowing college ath- letes to profit off of their name, image and likeness, Penn State responded with an educational initiative called STATE- ment that was aimed at helping Nittany Lion players in all sports learn to become entrepreneurs. It's now been a year since the NCAA's changes were enacted, and the market has spoken. What the market has said, at least in James Franklin's interpreta- tion, is that Penn State must take a much bolder approach in order to compete with schools that have figured out how to use the new NIL rules to their advan- tage, both in recruiting and in the pur- suit of transfers. While helping student- athletes develop important life skills is certainly a worthy endeavor, the new NIL legislation has called for a go-big-or- go-home mentality, and Franklin is de- termined to see that Penn State goes big. PSU took a step in that direction in March when several well-heeled sup- porters of the university's athletics programs formed a collective to help student-athletes maximize their NIL opportunities. Collectives aren't offi- cially connected to the schools they sup- port, but they are able to facilitate the kind of deals that appear to be increas- ingly necessary to recruit effectively in the NIL era. The Success With Honor collective is one of several that are in- tended to help Penn State in its sporting endeavors, and they have counterparts all over the country. Franklin was thinking about the rami- fications of the new NIL rules even be- fore they became a reality, convinced that college sports were headed toward a more professional model and that schools would either have to adapt or suffer competitively. He recently took the time to talk with BWI about the changes that are shaking the foundations of college athletics. BWI: What does it take to win in col- lege football today? FRANKLIN: Totally different than five years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago. Obviously, the further you go back, the more dramatic the differences are. In the old days, it was very easy just to say it was all about coaching and recruit- ing. But it's so much more than that. It's about having alignment from the chair of the board of trustees to the president to the AD to the head football coach. There are going to be things that come up — I don't know if I'd say daily, but at least monthly, if not weekly. Some are signifi- cant things that we need to decide, and some are going to be small things. But all those little wins add up. You've just got to decide, because the more yeses you can get [when it comes to] finding solutions, the better. Some of those are going to be philosophical decisions that have to be made that are going to be challenging. Some of them are financial decisions that have to be made. You've got to be able to make them quickly, because that's the other thing I think that's so different. The sense of urgency in football is probably different than most other things on campus, in- cluding most other sports. So, it takes alignment. It takes the re- sources from a budget perspective to be able to compete with salaries. It takes facilities. The people that were able to knock out their facilities, or at least get most of them done up to more of a current model of what you see in college football, they have an advantage now. Now, they're pouring the majority of their resources into NIL and not hav- ing to have strange conversations with donors about, "Where should I put my money right now?" Facilities are a factor. NIL now is a fac- tor. I saw a quote from another coach out there the other day who said that with every single kid they're recruiting, that's the biggest factor in what's going on. BWI: Are you trying to adapt the pro- gram to fit the current landscape, or are I N T E R V I E W J A M E S F R A N K L I N A WHOLE NEW BALLGAME Amid a wave of upheaval that has rocked college football, James Franklin warns that Penn State must continue to adapt N A T E B A U E R | NATE.BAUER@ON3.COM Franklin said it's necessary for the football program, athletics administration and university leadership to be in sync in order to respond to a rapidly changing environ- ment. "The programs that are most nimble … are going to be the ones that are most successful," he said. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL "Anybody that works specifically in football knew what was coming. And for two years, we took an approach — I'm not saying it was wrong — that was very different than the model that people are working with now and what we're competing against. Now we're spending all our time trying to catch up, because we took a different approach from a model perspective." F R A N K L I N