ATHENS, Ga. — James Franklin said Saturday he was shocked when Penn State fired him hours after a loss in which the team also lost quarterback Drew Allar to a season-ending injury, but the former Nittany Lions coach also said he cannot wait to get back to work elsewhere.
Franklin said during an appearance on ESPN’s “College GameDay” program ahead of the Ole Miss-Georgia game at Sanford Stadium that Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft visited him ahead of a meeting and practice last Sunday and told him the university was making a change.
Franklin said he had an emotional team meeting to tell people he was leaving after a 3-3 start to his 12th season in Happy Valley.
“To think essentially six games ago we were fighting for a chance to be in the national championship, a two-minute drive away,” Franklin said. “So that’s the thing. … Twelve years, a ton of good moments, a bunch of big wins. But decisions were made. And I’m not involved in those decisions.”
Franklin was fired after a 22-21 home upset at the hands of Northwestern all but ended whatever remote chance the preseason No. 2 team had of reaching the College Football Playoff with a third loss in six games.
Penn State reached the CFP semifinals 10 months ago, when it fell 27-24 to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.
The Nittany Lions lost at home to reigning Big Ten champion Oregon in overtime in late September — a rematch of last year’s league championship game — and a road setback at previously winless UCLA followed. The final straw came last weekend at Beaver Stadium, where the Nittany Lions let Northwestern escape with a victory.
Franklin is 128-60 as a head coach, including 104-45 (.698) at Penn State.
He said Penn State’s decision was hard for him to comprehend when it happened, so he focused on the good times. Franklin said he had a great run there and thanked Penn State for being good to him and his family.
Franklin signed a 10-year contract extension worth up to $85 million in 2021. According to terms of the deal, Penn State has to pay Franklin’s base salary of $500,000, supplemental pay of $6.5 million and an insurance loan of $1 million until 2031.
Franklin said he’s a coach first and foremost, though, and that’s all he knows as someone with no hobbies.
“We’re just going to go win a national championship somewhere else now,” Franklin said.