PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Three straight losses in a season where they started being ranked second in the country, Penn State has reportedly fired head coach James Franklin, first by ESPN. The last being a 22-21 loss at home to Northwestern Saturday.
Former Gateway High School head coach Terry Smith will serve as the interim head coach for the rest of this season.
The Nittany Lions were ranked third in the nation when it lost to sixth-ranked Oregon on September 27 in double overtime. It then had the biggest upset of the college football season falling 42-37 at UCLA before Saturday’s second home loss of the year.
“Penn State owes an enormous amount of gratitude to Coach Franklin who rebuilt our football program into a national power,” said Penn State Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Patrick Kraft. “He won a Big Ten Championship, led us to seven New Year’s Six bowl games and a College Football Playoff appearance last year. However, we hold our athletics programs to the highest of standards, and we believe this is the right moment for new leadership at the helm of our football program to advance us toward Big Ten and national championships.”Franklin has coached 18 All-American selections, 32 national major award winners or finalists and 59 NFL Draft picks at Penn State. In his first 14 years as a head coach at Penn State and Vanderbilt, Franklin mentored 116 players reaching the NFL ranks, including eight Penn State first-round draft picks.
According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Penn State will owe Franklin over $49 million dollars as part of his buyout.
In 12 years at Penn State Franklin was 104-45 and was the 2016 Big Ten Coach of the Year. He was top 30 all-time in coaching bowl wins with eight.
“I am grateful for all that Coach Franklin has done for Penn State football and the University over the past 11-plus years. We thank him for his dedication, and we extend our best wishes to him and his family as they move forward into their next chapter,” said Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi. “Our commitment to excellence extends across every facet of our institution, including athletics, and I am looking forward with great anticipation to this exciting new chapter for the Nittany Lions as we continue to build on that standard."
“Penn State Football is an integral part of our University and is an important part of the lives of our millions of fans, community members and alumni around the world,” said Kraft. “We have the best college football fans in America, a rich tradition of excellence, significant investments in our program, compete in the best conference in college sports and have a state-of-the-art renovated stadium on the horizon. I am confident in our future and in our ability to attract elite candidates to lead our program.”