James Franklin: 'This Is Home'
Penn State and James Franklin had been negotiating a new contract for nine weeks while Franklin took repeated questions about other jobs and his future. He called that the hardest part of the process.
But through those nine weeks, Franklin pointed to his loyalty and commitment to Penn State, offering hints that a resolution would arrive soon. When it happened Tuesday, with Penn State announcing the new 10-year contract, Franklin finally could say what he has wanted to since September.
"This is home," Franklin told reporters Wednesday in State College. "I've coached all over the country, in every major conference and the NFL as well. I had an opportunity to come back home, which is very unusual. But I'll be honest with you. For me, it's about people. And I'm committed to these kids and the staff and the people that I've gotten to know in the community.
"I'm very fortunate and blessed. I'm one of the few guys in this profession [whose] children have a chance to go to the same school from the time they're in elementary school all the way through high school and possibly college. That's very unusual in our profession. And I'm more than just a football coach. I want to be a good dad, too. So it’s all those things."
Franklin and Penn State Athletics Director Sandy Barbour spoke publicly Wednesday for the first time about Franklin's contract, which includes $70 million in guaranteed compensation and another $15 million in retention bonuses and life-insurance loans through 2031. Ultimately, Franklin could make more than $90 million through the contract's lifespan, depending on how well his teams play.
Winning the College Football Playoff championship provides for the contract's richest incentive bonus. If Penn State wins a national title, Franklin would earn his $1 million annual incentives maximum and receive an $800,000 annual salary increase for the contract's remaining years.
Barbour mentioned that national championship in explaining why Penn State offered Franklin the new contract.
"One of the things I love about our relationship is, we're always talking about what's next," Barbour told Penn State's Mitch Gerber in an interview posted on the team's website. "And what's required to, not just keep up, because I don't think we want to just keep up. We want to make sure we're doing everything we can from a Penn State perspective ... to be successful and chase that national championship that we all want."
Franklin said that the contract conversations lasted nine weeks because "it wasn't really about me." Once the talks began — between Franklin, Barbour, Penn State President Eric Barron and Board of Trustees chair Matt Schuyler — Franklin turned them toward negotiations about funding for staff, facilities and other concerns designed to make Penn State more competitive with the nation's elite programs.
This included philosophical changes about the resources Penn State had in the past and what it needs for the future. The coach reiterated his long list of projects (recruiting, strength and conditioning, playing schemes, coaching, training table, player housing and more) that he wants to upgrade.
"You know, if you get three or four more blue-chip recruits a year, over four years, that adds up," Franklin said. "And then, once they get on campus, if you have everything that you need to develop them, those little margins that you're scratching and clawing for, they all add up.
"We've been close. We've been really close in some games, we've been really close in terms of getting into the playoffs and have been ranked pretty high at times. We've got to be able to sustain it, and that's what this is all about."
Barbour called this contract a signal — to Penn State fans and to college football — that the program intends to compete for Big Ten and national championships.
"We certainly wanted to send a couple of signals as an institution ... about how we feel about James and his leadership of this football program, and how we feel about him and his family as members of this community," Barbour said in the interview. "And then also, as James was saying, about our football program: how important it is to us, how committed we are to it to have the success that we know coach Franklin wants, that I want and we know all of our fans do. So it was really about signaling that commitment and that we're all going to be doing this together for a long time."
Franklin said he told the team and recruits about the contract last week, taking particular care to keep the 2022 class informed about his status. With the contract settled, Franklin said he's turning to what's next.
"I think we've done some good things, but obviously there's a next plateau that we have to get to," he said. "And I recognize that and I'm committed to doing whatever possible to help us get there."
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