James Franklin Suggests He Stayed Too Long at Penn State

In a new interview, Franklin says he turned down other opportunities because the Nittany Lions were "close" to winning a championship.

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin stands on the field following the game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Beaver Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Here's a new twist in the saga surrounding James Franklin's 2025 firing at Penn State. Franklin says in hindight that he stayed with the Nittany Lions too long because he wasn't given a chance to stay longer.

In a new long-form article published by The Athletic, Franklin again discussed his 2025 firing and his quick pivot to looking for a new job. That led him to Virginia Tech, where Franklin said he plans to apply the lessons he learned in nearly 12 years at Penn State.

However, Franklin suggested that, in hindsight, he might have stayed at Penn State too long. Asked by The Athletic's Ralph Russo, whether he regrets not leaving "on his own terms," Franklin answered, "Yes."

"I say that because of how it ended," Franklin told The Athletic. "I didn't feel like that at the time because when all these opportunities came I turned them down because we were so close."

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin stands on the field following the game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Beaver Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

That comment, part of a much longer story about how Franklin plans to approach his job at Virginia Tech, underscored the tension Franklin had with Penn State for years and that finally broke last October.

Franklin and his representation engaged in multiple conversations with other programs while at Penn State, most notably with USC in 2021. Franklin also was mentioned as a potential candidate for the LSU job that year.

Franklin used those flirtations to land a 10-year contract with Penn State that would guarantee him $85 million over its lifespan. Penn State and Franklin ultimately negotiated asubstantially lower buyout after his firing.

In a series of interviews dating to the spring, Franklin has spoken about his firing as a thing that was abruptly, unjustly delivered upon him. Franklin told Adam Breneman that he felt hedeserved more "grace" from Penn State leadership after the team's 0-3 start to the Big Ten schedule in 2025.

"When you give yourself to a place for 12 years and you turn down a bunch of jobs and you build it back to pretty much a consistent top-10 program competing for championships, that's where you felt blindsided and you felt like you'd earned at least that, right? A conversation," Franklin told Breneman in an interview.

Franklin repeated that idea with Russo of The Athletic, calling his firing "unhead of."

"Well, it's unheard of because people have had challenges and had a chance to fix it," Franklin told The Athletic. "What makes it what you described is we didn't get a chance to fix it."

Indeed, Penn State Athletic Director Pat Kraft fired Franklin one day after the Nittany Lions' 22-21 loss to Northwestern at Beaver Stadium. However, Kraft later said that his decision did not reflect solely Penn State's three-game losing streak to Oregon, UCLA and Northwestern.

This is not just a three game thing," Kraft said in October. "This is really diving into where we were as a program. What is the trajectory of this program? And you all know, and I'm not shy to admit it, I'm here to win national championship. I believe our fans deserve that, and I wake up every day trying to achieve that goal."

The Athletic article also highlights some unique differences between Penn State and Virginia Tech, notably how Blacksburg viewed Franklin's availability on the coaching market. Whit Babcock, Virginia Tech's former athletic director, said he told Franklin that he wants the school to build a statue of Franklin next to one of Frank Beamer at Lane Stadium.

"You want to be at a place where you're celebrated, not tolerated," Babcock told The Athletic. "And he is celebrated here."

James Franklin told me he’s incredibly proud of the legacy he left at Penn State, helping rebuild the program after its darkest chapter and restoring it to national relevance, even though they never took the final step of winning a national championship ⬇️⬇️@NextUpBreneman x… pic.twitter.com/wA3aDasQsj

— Adam Breneman (@AdamBreneman81) July 7, 2026

Sign up to our free Penn State Nittany Lions newsletter and follow us on social media.