Penn State Fires Longtime HC James Franklin After Disastrous 3-3 Start

Fox Sports ^ | 10-12-25 | n/a

[FLNittany]

The school fired the longtime head coach on Sunday, less than 24 hours after a 22-21 home loss to Northwestern all but ended whatever remote chance the preseason No. 2 team had of reaching the College Football Playoff.

Terry Smith will serve as the interim head coach for the rest of the season for the Nittany Lions (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten), who began the year with hopes of winning the national title only to have those hopes evaporate by early October amid a string of losses, each one more stinging than the last.

[DeplorableTrumpSupporter]

Long Time Coach? Really? Long Time Coach is JoePa or Bear Bryant or Woody Hayes...James Franklin was there for 1/10 of the time JoePa was there.

[DeplorableTrumpSupporter]

No Penn State, you can't hire Jim Mora...he's doing a great job at UConn...It isn't just a basketball school anymore.

UConn Football is better than PSU this year... 😀

[FLNittany]

Joe was an assistant for 16 years under Rip Engle, then the head coach for 45 more seasons. James Franklin was in his 12th season as head coach.

Ironically, Rip Engle and James Franklin are now forever tied for 2nd most wins at PSU with 104 each.

[DeplorableTrumpSupporter]

James been at PSU for 12 years? Didn’t think he was...

[Trump_Triumphant]

Unfortunately Joe knew and didn’t say anything. It’s a fact of history but a lot of illumini from Penn State won’t accept it.