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just over $6 million. In data compiled by USA Today, Franklin was the 11th- highest-paid coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2016. Barbour declined to elaborate on the reasons for the pace of the negotiations, but it's possible that the holdup has less to do with the coach's salary than with ancillary issues that affect his ability to field a championship-caliber team. He has already seen one of his coordinators make a lateral move to another school with the departure of Bob Shoop prior to the 2016 season and might be looking to sweeten his assistants' deals in the hope of holding his current staff together as long as possible. He has also cam- paigned frequently for facilities up- grades, and while some parts of the Lasch Building are undergoing renova- tions, there remains much work to be done. Even without those upgrades com- pleted, and with a roster that began coming together while the team was still under NCAA sanctions, Franklin engineered a breakthrough season in his third year at Penn State, leading the Nittany Lions to an 11-3 finish and the No. 7 spot in the final Associated Press rankings. Barbour said the team's re- cent performance "brings a big smile to all of our faces." "We're just so proud of James and the program and what those young men did last year, it was absolutely spectacular," she said. "I'm so happy for James. Obvi- ously, I was a defender, if you will, early last fall… and when I said what I said in September, I didn't necessarily at that point envision that we were going to go on a nine-game winning streak and win the Big Ten championship and go to the Rose Bowl. I felt that was in our future; I just didn't think it was necessarily in our immediate future. "But I'm really happy for James be- cause this is what he's made of, and I think he's a perfect fit for Penn State and our values around academics, around community, around student develop- ment and lastly but certainly not least, around winning and excellence from a football perspective." ■ F O O T B A L L Season tickets sell out for first time since '08 The Nittany Lions are less than two weeks from the start of their 2017 sea- son, and when they enter Beaver Stadium for their opener against Akron on Sept. 2, they might notice more fans in the seats. Athletic director Sandy Barbour said at Big Ten media days in late July that Penn State had boosted its season ticket sales substantially during the o8-sea- son. At the time, the sales of new season tickets were up by more than 8,000 over last year. On Aug. 2, the athletic department announced that the total had increased to more than 9,000. The Lions had sold out their allotment of season tickets, recent graduate season tickets and single-game tickets for the Pitt and Michigan games. The only tickets remaining as of this writing were for home games against Akron, Georgia State (Sept. 16), Indiana (Sept. 30), Rutgers (Nov. 11) and Nebraska (Nov. 18). The season ticket renewal rate topped 95 per- cent, helping the Nittany Lions exhaust their season ticket allotment for the 6rst time since 2008. Barbour said athletic o9cials expected demand to grow following last year's Big Ten champi- onship season. "Given our success, given the way this com- munity has embraced this program, it's not unexpected," she said. Barbour's excitement over the growth in season ticket sales is understand- able given the school's desire to sell out 106,572-seat Beaver Stadium on a week-in, week-out basis. Meeting with reporters this past spring during a Coaches Caravan stop in Pittsburgh, she explained why those sales 6gures are such a big point of emphasis. "If you look at our revenue model, season ticket sales guarantee us there's no ebb and 7ow from game to game. That money comes in, those resources come in at the beginning of the season," she said. "That provides some con- sistency and stability to our 6nancial model and how we are able to a8ord to create those conditions for success for our student-athletes. Other than, say, Big Ten revenue, it's our single largest source of revenue." –NATE BAUER STRENGTH IN NUMBERS Penn State boosted its sales of new season tickets by more than 9,000 during the off- season. Photo by Patrick Mansell

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