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Penn State's James Franklin appears to plagiarize Jim Harbaugh following loss to Notre Dame

Chris Breiler|
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Following a brutal loss to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff semifinal on Thursday night, Penn State head coach James Franklin seemed to channel his inner Jim Harbaugh. According to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, Franklin's postgame comments included his desire for college football to be more transformational than just transactional.

"We've got a throwback program with throwback uniforms," Franklin said. "It's about the guys. I understand the [transfer] portal and NIL are a part of college football and we'll embrace that, but I want this to be more than transactional. I want it to be transformational."

The whole transformational over transactional approach was something that Jim Harbaugh often talked about during his final years at the University of Michigan. Although Harbaugh was a huge advocate for players being able to share in the ever-growing revenue generated by college football, he was also reportedly resistant to the idea of simply paying players to come to your school. With Harbaugh in the fold, the NIL philosophy with the Michigan football program centered around the idea that student athletes would have endless financial opportunities after be joining the program, but NIL promises wouldn't be used to lure kids off the recruiting trail or out of the transfer portal.

"Our philosophy is that coming to the University of Michigan is going to be a transformational experience rather than a transactional experience," Harbaugh said back in 2022. "I've always been for student-athletes being able to profit off of their name, image and likeness. It just makes sense. I think we can all agree that's something that's fair and right."

Given the fact that Harbaugh's 'transformational over transactional' approach received so much attention at that time, fans were quick to notice the similarities with Franklin's comments on Thursday night.

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Chris Breiler
CHRIS BREILER

Christopher Breiler launched Winged Helmet Media and began covering the Michigan Football program in an unofficial capacity in 2017. He then joined Wolverine Digest as part of the FanNation network in 2021 as a contributing writer, where he served as both a writer and a photographer on game days. In 2024, he took over as the Managing Editor for Michigan Wolverines On SI. His love for Michigan Football brought him into the industry, and his passion for being a content creator has led to some amazing experiences along the way.

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