Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1540433
N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 5 2 7 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M State, but he's still in State College be- cause of Franklin. Smith didn't ignore the past in addressing the future. "Every person that's in the Lasch Foot- ball Building, James Franklin brought them there," he said. "From the coaches to the staff to all the personnel in the build- ing, he brought every one of us there. So, there is an attachment to him. There is a sense of loyalty to him. "Now it's my job to press us forward. It's my job for us to be where our feet are, be grounded right here, and be able to represent Penn State in a proud fashion. We have got to get our grittiness back, our toughness, our swag, and most im- portantly, we've got to go have fun, enjoy playing the game of football." That last long sentence is notable. Penn State has looked joyless and with- out swagger in recent weeks. Losing at home in double overtime against Oregon was a dagger, no doubt, and the product on the field reflected a sort of aimlessness that wasn't typical during the Franklin years. Now it's Smith's job to recapture that feeling. 2. Smith's approach could knock the Lions out of their fog Penn State saw firsthand at UCLA that a team can get a jolt of energy from an interim head coach. It's safe to say the Bruins are a different group under interim head coach Tim Skipper, who guided his team to a 38-13 dismantling of Michigan State in East Lansing after its 45-37 upset of PSU. "Success is the team pulling a rope in the same direction," Smith said. "When you watch us play, you guys will come in here and your questions won't be [about] effort. Your questions won't be, 'They look lethargic.' If we lose, it's going to be because that team beat us and they were just better." The message hidden in there was that the Nittany Lions need to create some of their own luck moving forward. "This year, the ball is not bouncing our way, so we have to persevere and press forward and keep grinding to be better," Smith said. 3. "We're in a new era of football." Smith's approach — old school with an understanding and an acceptance that things are different now and not turn- ing back any time soon — will be about adapting to all aspects of the new reality over the next few months. He aired a bit of grievance on Monday with how the entire program fell flat in living up to expecta- tions in the first half of the 2025 season. Issues in modern-day college football go well beyond playing time. "We're in a new era of football," Smith said. "Like Pat said, you have to navigate everything about it — NIL, there's money, the locker room and bringing 125 guys to- gether as a team, bringing individuals and making them collective. That's my job now. "And I've got to bring everyone to- gether to see the benefits of how we can all succeed as one. It's not going to be easy, because these guys love Coach Franklin. Some of them were torn up. We've got to rally the troops and become one." Given the timing of the decision to move on from Franklin and the reality of eligibility in the transfer portal era, wrangling the herd is not going to be easy. Smith was informed that the Nittany Li- ons have 31 players who could theoreti- cally pack it in and still preserve a redshirt year. His response seemed to indicate that he's already pushed back on that notion in the Lasch Building. "My message to all of them is that you signed up to play football. We love the game of football. And let's keep the main thing the main thing. You only earn op- portunity through production on the field," Smith said. "If you're not produc- tive on the field, it doesn't matter where you go. You want to sit out, who wants you next? You're not going to make the money you think you're supposed to. You're not going to be drafted where you think you're supposed to be drafted. "My message is that we have an oppor- tunity to come together, win the season, shock the world, and we all can have suc- cess together." ■ "This year for Franklin was going to prove whether he had the chops to take Penn State to the next level. … Coming into the season, the worst-case scenario felt like Penn State losing to Ohio State and Oregon again, but still winning 10 games. No, it got unimaginably worse. That's inexcus- able, especially after Franklin said in the offseason this was the best combination of talent and staff he had at Penn State. That was enough to make it clear to the Penn State brass that Franklin wasn't the right man for the job, so they swiftly fired him. What has to be done eventually should be done now, right?" — Ari Wasserman, On3 "Beginning in Dublin and ending in Homecoming hell, Franklin coached 149 games at Penn State. He was 104-45 and departs tied with Rip Engle for the second-most wins by a head coach at Penn State, three times denied sole possession of that mark. CJF rebuilt and built and built Nittany Lions football back into a good, then great, but never truly elite football team." — Mike Poorman, StateCollege.com "[Franklin's] incredible run of steady success, with two nine-win seasons at Vanderbilt (the school's only two in the past century) and five top-10 finishes in the last nine full years at Penn State, will almost certainly earn him another power-conference job pretty quickly. But his nearly decade-long inability to get PSU over that final hurdle meant this season had now-or-never vibes from the beginning. As soon as the school realized that 'never' was the verdict, it made a move, $49 million buyout be damned." — Bill Connelly, ESPN.com "I think this is going to be the best job that comes open in this cycle, and I understand that there will be more. … The reason is that the support is there. The athletic director is fantastic. They're putting nine figures into that stadium, which is already one of the best environments in college football. You have a history of success. You have a legacy. You have a tradition. You have all these things at your disposal. … Everything is there to win a championship, so this is, right now, the best job available. And it probably will be regardless of what happens at those other locations." — Joel Klatt, FOX Sports WHAT THEY'RE SAYING