It wasn’t supposed to end this way.

It was just over two weeks ago from the writing of this article that Penn State was the No. 3 team in the country, hosting College GameDay on Old Main Lawn, and held a seven-point lead in overtime against No. 6 Oregon in the White Out. The big win that would’ve catapulted Penn State past the realm of “very good” and into elite was right there…but it slipped away.

Not only did that game escape the Nittany Lions, but the season did as well. Ensuing losses to UCLA and Northwestern as three-plus touchdown favorites dropped the Nittany Lions to an unfathomable 3-3 record and saw James Franklin fired as head coach on Sunday afternoon.

In the blink of an eye, a team with a serious chance to win a national championship was now 0-3 in conference play, without their star quarterback for the rest of 2025, and saying goodbye to the man who has been the face of a historic football program since 2014, tied for the seventh-longest tenured active coach in college football at the time of his firing.

For as ugly as it ended, with boos and a miserable three-week stretch, Penn State owes a lot of gratitude to Franklin for his 11-plus years in charge, elevating a program that was just two years removed from narrowly escaping the death penalty into being nationally relevant for the first time since the late 1990s.

Franklin was announced as the program’s 16th head football coach on January 11, 2014, by then-athletic director Dave Joyner. Franklin had come to prominence as the offensive coordinator for Kansas State and Maryland and got his first head coaching gig at lowly Vanderbilt in 2011.

Until Franklin took the job, the Commodores had made just one bowl game since 1983 and just four in their entire history. They had not won eight games in a season since 1982, but things changed once Franklin came to town. Vanderbilt notched nine wins in back-to-back seasons, their first nine-win campaigns in nearly 100 years. They made bowl games in consecutive seasons for the first time, finished the season ranked for the first time since 1948, and finished above .500 in SEC play in 2012 for the first time since 1982.

The 42-year-old became a rising star in the industry, and administration saw him as the best choice to continue the work done by Bill O’Brien in his two years to rebuild Penn State back into a national power. O’Brien had done a great job in beginning the rebuild after the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal nearly saw the prestigious program receive the death penalty. Sanctions and the existing stigma handicapped O’Brien, but his commendable work saw him make the jump to the NFL, leaving Happy Valley for the Houston Texans.

Franklin’s tenure started off on the right foot. He got his first win in Dublin, Ireland, over UCF in the Croke Park Classic. In September 2014, the NCAA lifted what was left of Penn State’s sanctions, including ending the bowl ban and reinstating full scholarships starting in 2015. While the team only won two conference games and finished 6-6, positive signs were there.

In the 2014 White Out, Penn State entered the game as double-digit underdogs against the ranked Ohio State Buckeyes and fell behind 17-0 at halftime. While the team could’ve rolled over, Franklin’s troops rallied all the way back to force overtime. The Nittany Lions fell in double overtime in a thrilling back-and-forth affair that inspired hope, but Franklin said he would not claim any moral victories for an opportunity that slipped away.

“There are no moral victories at Penn State, and there never will be, but I’m proud of how the way they fought,” Franklin said after the game.

Penn State would finish the season in the Pinstripe Bowl, with Christian Hackenberg playing the best game of his collegiate career, throwing for 371 yards and four touchdowns, finding Kyle Carter in the end zone to win the game in overtime. It was the program’s first bowl victory since the 2009 Capital One Bowl and was a crucial step on the journey back to national relevance.

It wasn’t just what we saw on the football field in the first few years of the Franklin era, but the foundation that was being built. His first recruiting class was top 25 nationally and brought in names such as Chris Godwin, Mike Gesicki, Marcus Allen, Grant Haley, Jason Cabinda, Nick Scott, and a three-star quarterback from Briar Woods High School in Ashburn, VA, Trace McSorley.

Ahead of 2015, Franklin restored a key component of Penn State football’s identity under Joe Paterno. While names on the backs of the uniforms were a great gesture to commend those who stayed loyal to the university, it was even more powerful to restore the team’s identity and return to the 125-year-old tradition:

“Black shoes. Basic blues. No names. All game.”

Year two started as a disaster, as Penn State got embarrassed at Lincoln Financial Field in a road game against Temple. Hackenberg, playing his third and final year in the blue and white, was sacked ten times as the offensive line was still in ruins from the sanctions. The Nittany Lions sleepwalked past a bad Buffalo team, but rebounded to win five in a row before a predictable trouncing at the hands of J.T. Barrett and the Buckeyes in Columbus.

Ultimately, despite a 7-2 start, the season ended with a four-game losing streak and a loss in the TaxSlayer Bowl, but something was brewing. That 2015 recruiting class was Penn State’s second-best ranked since 2007 and yielded many future contributors, but none more impactful than a four-star running back from Whitehall, Saquon Barkley.

2016 began with a new guard taking over with McSorley and Barkley, but it remained the same to start. Penn State started 2-2 with a close win over Temple and an underwhelming win over Kent State, overshadowed by a close loss on the road against Pittsburgh and a humiliating beatdown in The Big House against Michigan. Even after squeaking out an overtime win against Minnesota the next week, nobody really believed this year would be different.

Then came the 2016 White Out against Barrett and No. 2 Ohio State. As 19.5-point underdogs, Penn State did the same thing they did in 2014, gritting back from a 21-7 deficit to make it a game late. Nobody expected anything from this, so this was certainly in “moral victory” territory, despite what Franklin said two years earlier.

With just over 4:30 to go, Ohio State kicker Tyler Durbin lined up to kick from 45 yards to make it a 7-point game. Notably, it was just a bit outside his comfortable range, where ESPN’s Chris Fowler noted that he is “super reliable inside of 40.” What happened next? I’ll let him take it away:

Allen and Haley, both members of Franklin’s inaugural recruiting class, combined for the “Block Six” that sent Beaver Stadium into a frenzy and sent shockwaves through the college football world. Suddenly, with a lead, the ferocious Penn State defense never let Barrett have a chance, sacking him multiple times on the final drive to cement the defining moment of the Franklin era as thousands of fans stormed the field.

That one play, that one game, was exactly what this sleeping giant needed to awake from a prolonged slumber. It was the defining moment in my time as a young Penn State fan. No feeling has ever matched the exhilaration of that night. The Nittany Lions eviscerated Purdue a week later and found their way into the top ten for the first time since 2009. An eight-game winning streak, which saw five wins of 20+ points, propelled the Nittany Lions to their first-ever Big Ten Championship Game against Wisconsin.

In that game, they fell behind 28-7 as the Badgers’ offense overwhelmed the Nittany Lions with future NFL running backs Corey Clement and Dare Ogunbowale. Right before half, McSorley found Saeed Blacknall in the end zone to cut the deficit to 14, and that proved to be the play that started the comeback. McSorley threw for 384 yards and four touchdowns, and Barkley ran for 83 yards and a touchdown, as Penn State won its first Big Ten title since 2008, and its first without a “co-champion” label since 1994.

Sadly, the early-season losses wound up costing Penn State its first College Football Playoff berth, being snubbed for the Ohio State team they beat (who Clemson trounced anyway). Still, they got to the ‘Grandaddy of Them All,’ losing a thriller to Sam Darnold and USC in Pasadena to end a season that put Penn State back on the map.

Recruiting had stabilized, as Franklin was consistently turning in top 25 classes. 2017 was a year that many expected could’ve seen the Nittany Lions take the next step. The team started 7-0, which included six blowouts and an electric last-second comeback at Kinnick Stadium to stun Iowa.

It culminated in another clash with Ohio State, where Penn State led from the jump on a Barkley kick return touchdown and eventually went up 28-10 and 38-27. A gigantic road victory that would’ve essentially clinched a spot in the CFP was in their grasp, but the defense faltered as Barrett delivered two sensational drives to win the game for Ohio State.

A week later, an infamous rain delay tanked the Nittany Lions’ season, as Michigan State pulled off a stunning upset at Spartan Stadium and doomed Penn State to the Fiesta Bowl, where they beat Washington to finish 11-2. Another strong season, but one that left a foul taste in everyone’s mouths, as Barkley went on to be picked No. 2 in the 2018 NFL Draft and handed the reins to Miles Sanders in the backfield.

2018 was another step back. Penn State narrowly survived an upset from Appalachian State to start the year, but was 4-0 entering another White Out against Ohio State. KJ Hamler’s coming-out party and another double-digit lead were all for naught, as a baffling decision to run a draw with Miles Sanders on 4th-and-5 saw the Buckeyes escape Happy Valley with a one-point win. After the game, Franklin delivered his infamous “good to great to elite” press conference:

For the last seven years, that’s been the mission statement. To get to the elite. Franklin had built a “great” team, but never one that was objectively elite. Another brutal loss to Michigan State at home derailed the season, and Penn State would be crushed on the road against Michigan a few weeks later, dooming them to a non-New Year’s Six bowl for the first time since 2015. I went to that Citrus Bowl, which saw McSorley exit with a “broken foot”, only to re-enter and nearly lead a thrilling comeback against Benny Snell and Kentucky in his final collegiate game.

The Sean Clifford era began in 2019 with muted expectations, and the team once again trounced their non-conference opponents. A road victory over a ranked Iowa team and a memorable home victory over a ranked Michigan in the White Out had Penn State ranked No. 4 in the first CFP poll of 2019, heading into a road game against the surprisingly undefeated Minnesota Golden Gophers.

In a shocking display, the Penn State defense was torn to shreds by Tanner Morgan and quickly put the team in a double-digit hole at halftime. Clifford had a miserable game, throwing three interceptions and going just 18-for-42 as Penn State lost 31-26. A rebound win over ranked Indiana did little to create momentum, as Clifford would struggle and suffer a leg injury that forced backup Will Levis into action against one-time Franklin commit Justin Fields and the Buckeyes in another brutal loss.

The season would end on a high note, however, as Penn State would make the Cotton Bowl Classic and drop 53 points on Memphis, powered by an incredible game from the latest elite running back, Journey Brown. Micah Parsons had emerged as a future star, taking home the Cotton Bowl Defensive MVP. After another 11-2 season with a first-year starter and limited expectations, the future looked bright.

And then, COVID-19 happened. While the Big Ten season was initially canceled, the conference wound up starting the season in October, but the Nittany Lions would be without their two best players. Brown had to medically retire due to a heart condition, and Parsons used the COVID-19 opt-out to prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft, where he’d go No. 12 to the Dallas Cowboys.

And so, that season was miserable. A controversial two-point conversion by Michael Penix Jr. in a season-opening upset loss to Indiana set the tone. A planned White Out without fans saw Ohio State’s offense run wild. Clifford eventually got benched, and the defense was getting trounced by Nebraska, Maryland, and Iowa as the Nittany Lions stumbled to an 0-5 start, their worst in program history. Four straight wins to close the season helped, but it was a lost year all around.

2021 wasn’t supposed to be like that. After the mess of 2020, the team got the benefit of the doubt from the college football world and rolled to a 5-0 start, which included two ranked wins. This set up a massive top-five clash with Iowa in Kinnick. While Penn State built a 14-0 lead, the game and the season were flipped on their heads when Clifford left the game with an injury in the second quarter.

Ta’Quan Roberson took the field in meaningful snaps for the first time and crumbled, writing his name into Penn State infamy as Iowa rallied back to win and start the snowball that turned 2021 into a nightmare. That nightmare was realized two weeks later, when a still-hampered Clifford struggled against the Illinois defense, and Penn State was dragged into overtime by a dreadful Illini squad. Nine overtimes later, and Penn State had lost the longest game in college football history.

Losses to Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State sank the Nittany Lions to a 7-5 year and a demoralizing loss in the Outback Bowl against Arkansas. Despite two straight years of mediocrity, athletic director Sandy Barbour awarded Franklin a ten-year extension, partially to keep his eyes from wandering toward the USC vacancy eventually filled by Lincoln Riley.

2022 was a much-needed revival for a program on suddenly shaky ground. Former Miami head coach Manny Diaz was brought in to revitalize a defense that lacked an identity, and he shone. A thrilling road victory at Purdue started a fun season, which included an epic blowout at Jordan-Hare Stadium against Auburn and the team blowing out almost everyone they faced.

The big game troubles, which were getting annoying by this point, showed up in an embarrassing second half in the Big House and a chaotic game against Ohio State, which saw Penn State go from winning to down 21 in less than ten minutes in the fourth quarter. Ultimately, with both Ohio State and Michigan making the College Football Playoff, Penn State got to coast to the Rose Bowl, where they got revenge for 2017 by defeating Utah and sending Clifford into the sunset with a win.

After years of accepting the team playing to the level of Clifford, the Nittany Lions had new hope with five-star quarterback Drew Allar taking the reins in 2023 alongside stellar sophomore running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen. It felt different when Allar torched West Virginia in the season opener and Penn State rolled to a 6-0 start that included shutting out Iowa in the White Out.

But ultimately, the first-year starter struggled under the lights and put up two dreadful games against Ohio State and the eventual national champions, Michigan. Once again, Franklin lost the two biggest games on the schedule, and Penn State limped into the Peach Bowl, where Jaxson Dart and Ole Miss tore a defense that saw five starters opt out and Abdul Carter get injured to shreds.

Was 2024 different? It’s hard to say. Penn State once again flatlined against Ohio State at home, but won 11 games in the regular season, punctuated by huge comeback road victories over USC and Minnesota, and stumbled into the Big Ten Championship for the first time in eight years against Oregon. Dillon Gabriel and that electric offense tore a very good unit, now coached by Tom Allen, to shreds, but for the first time, Allar and the offense kept up. Singleton and Allen ran roughshod; Tyler Warren continued his remarkable breakout campaign. When the Nittany Lions lost 45-37, it didn’t feel the same as the close, low-scoring defeats in big games.

The newly expanded playoffs allowed the 11-2 Nittany Lions in for the first time, and they pummeled an overmatched SMU at Beaver Stadium before containing Ashton Jeanty and rolling past Boise State to make the College Football Playoff Semifinal. At one point, they led Notre Dame 10-0 in the Orange Bowl and looked to set up a rematch with Ohio State.

At some point in that game, everything changed for Franklin and the program. Riley Leonard looked crisp after an injury scare, the offense short-circuited, and Cam Miller got dusted on a go route for a game-tying touchdown. Allar, whose passivity at quarterback had been criticized his entire collegiate career, forced a ball in the final minute that led to a back-breaking interception that Notre Dame turned into the game-winning field goal.

No matter how heartbreaking the end was, it was only supposed to set up further greatness. Every key contributor except Carter and Warren were set to return, the team poached Jim Knowles from Ohio State, signing him to the richest coordinator contract in history to coach the defense. Penn State was five measly points away from being the preseason No. 1 in the AP poll. They received first-place votes for four consecutive weeks for the first time since the 1990s. Even after a bad non-conference performance, they were 3-0 and were hosting Oregon in the White Out. No better place to be.

We all know what happened from there. In just 18 days, eleven years crumbled to the ground. Nobody knows where Penn State will look for their next coach, or where Franklin will go next. All that’s known is that the Franklin era is over, ending in a way that was more toxic and miserable than he deserved.

At Penn State, Franklin went 104-45. Despite his miserable record against Ohio State and Michigan (4-17) and his big game failures, he dominated everyone else in the Big Ten. He coached the Nittany Lions to their first College Football Playoff appearance and had them a breath away from their first national championship appearance since 1986. Penn State played in seven New Year’s Six bowls, winning four of them.

Franklin had stabilized recruiting at Penn State. According to On3, Penn State had all 12 recruiting classes in the top 25, 10 in the top 20, and three in the top ten, despite often recruiting with a hand tied behind its back compared to Ohio State and the SEC giants. He had developed three-star after three-star into genuine college studs.

At Penn State, despite rarely ever dipping into truly elite talent on the recruiting trail, Franklin produced eight first-round picks, 28 picks in the first three rounds, and 59 total draft picks. Penn State has produced at least five draft picks in eight consecutive drafts, a program record and a rarified air only joined by the most storied programs in the sport.

Saquon Barkley went No. 2 overall and became the highest-paid running back in the NFL. Micah Parsons went No. 12 overall and broke the NFL record for the largest contract ever signed by a non-quarterback. Both were recruited and developed under Franklin.

It’s easy to forget what the program looked like before he got here, but despite how it ended, I can’t imagine that the university could’ve asked for much more from a man inheriting a program in the midst of sanctions and two years removed from one of the worst scandals in the history of college sports. No matter what comes next, the entire Penn State community should be grateful.

Thank you for everything, Coach Franklin.