Former Penn State football head coach James Franklin joined ESPN’s College GameDay live from Athens, Georgia, in his first public appearance since his firing on Sunday.

Franklin said Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Patrick Kraft told him that the team was making a change early on Sunday afternoon. He said he was in shock for most of the time and that it was hard to comprehend. He met with the players to let them know in an emotional meeting shortly after hearing the news of his firing.

“Most importantly, it’s all about the players. I’m a players’ coach, I always have been. So, that’s the hardest part, is walking away from all those young men in that locker room, the recruits that were committed to us, lot of tough conversations. That’s the challenge, it’s the people at the end of the day,” Franklin said.

Franklin emphasized that he is grateful to have had the opportunity to raise his family in State College, even saying that his youngest daughter wanted to go to Penn State. While those plans have changed, he will always see State College as where he grew his family and for all of the unbelievable moments he had coaching Penn State football.

However, Franklin is still a bit shocked by just how quickly everything surrounding Penn State football unraveled since last season’s College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Notre Dame.

“It feels surreal. I just got a message from Drew Allar’s dad that he’s sitting at home as well; we both should be in Iowa,” Franklin said. “It’s what we’re used to doing and how we operate…for 12 years, a ton of good moments, a bunch of big wins, but decisions were made. And I’m not involved in those decisions. I’m very, very grateful for the time I had, and most importantly, for the relationships I was able to build.”

Franklin said the thing he’s proudest of throughout his time as Penn State’s head coach was the fact that he brought it back to contention and national spotlight following the sanctions of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. It was an extremely difficult situation to take over, but Pat McAfee commended Franklin’s ability to turn the program around and make it nationally relevant once more.

Franklin said his goal of winning a national championship at the highest level hasn’t changed, but he just has to accomplish it somewhere else.

“I don’t know anything else. I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I don’t have hobbies, I don’t golf, I don’t fish. This has been such a big part of my identity, such a big part of my family. We love it,” Franklin said. “So, it was ‘take a deep breath’, kind of in shock, surreal for a moment, and then it’s a ‘we got to get back to doing what we do’, which is help young people achieve their dreams.”