Penn State's James Franklin: 'I'm Not Going to Apologize for Winning'

Franklin says 'everybody is overly concerned' when the Lions win while looking less than dominant.

Author:
Mark Wogenrich
Nov 1, 2023 8:26 PM EDT

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Penn State coach James Franklin culled a few college football results from last Saturday for his weekly PowerPoint presentation to the team. This one included a note that three ranked teams (Oklahoma, Oregon State and North Carolina) lost last weekend to unranked opponents. So when the Nittany Lions beat Indiana 33-24 despite some well-covered struggles, Franklin wasn't be shy about celebrating it.

"I'm not going to apologize for winning," Franklin told reporters after practice Wednesday in State College.

During his mid-week media availability, Franklin fielded two interesting questions about the Indiana game and his team's future, which includes Saturday's game at Maryland. One defensive player referred to the Indiana win as a "humbling experience," and Franklin even said that sometimes the "ugly game" is needed to shape a team.

In this exchange, Franklin said he felt that Penn State gets different treatment than other programs. "But when we struggle to get a win, or it's not as pretty, then everybody like, is overly concerned, in my opinion," Franklin said.

The coach further mentioned a society that wants to "win at all costs," perhaps making a glancing reference to a major story line in college football.

Anyway, here's the complete transcript of the two-part question and answer. Check out the video below from Blue-White Illustrated to watch Franklin's media session.

Question: In the context of how this week went and how the previous week went, do you get a sense this week that perhaps the team is galvanized in a way that maybe wasn't there before?

Franklin: I guess where we're different is — and I get it, the fans and the media that cover Penn State football, you're totally focused on us. And I get it, but there's just so many examples. I mean, there's teams that are ranked No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 in the country, and they struggle to get a win. And no one talks about that. But when we struggle to get a win, or it's not as pretty, then everybody is overly concerned, in my opinion. It's a long season. You're not going to dominate every single week.

You've got to find ways to win, however you do it. And then you've got to learn from the wins. And you've got to learn from the challenges. And you've got to learn from the setbacks and be very honest and transparent with yourself and your team. But I also think it's important to put in perspective. Every Sunday, I put up on a PowerPoint slide — I never come in and say it to you guys because I think if I say those things, it's going to be looked at as a slight to another program, which I don't mean it as — but I think it was three programs this week ranked in the top 17 in the country that lost to unranked opponents. And then when we don't play as well as people think we should but still win, I'm not I'm not gonna get into that. I'm not going apologize for winning.

So I get it and I get the question. I think you need to become stronger throughout the entire season based on your experiences, the successes, the setbacks, the adversity, the challenges, all of it. It's experiences, for these young guys and for our staff, to continue to kind of learn and grow and evolve and see who we are and use that to get better as fuel, in a lot of different ways. I understand the question, but to me, it's a season that's gonna look very different each week based on a lot of factors: home, away, weather, environment, matchups. There’s going to be a team where you say, on paper, you're supposed to be worse or supposed to be better, and the game doesn't play out that way because you got matchups that are in your favor or not in your favor. So there's just so many things that go into it.

Question: Do you get the sense that maybe folks aren’t putting things into context? You were asked after Saturday about the emotional, physical, mental toll that goes on the players and very quickly said ‘People don't care about that.’ Why don't you think people care about that? Because there's a lot more that goes into the season, kind of like you said.

Franklin: First of all, again, I don't really want to get into this. But to try to answer your question the best I possibly can: Let's be honest, we all know there's examples. We're going through an example of it right now. As much as, at Penn State, that we value education, the complete experience the well-rounded student-athletes, the well-rounded individual, society from every direction is telling you that it's win and win at all costs. And that's all that matters. And to be honest with you, you guys see examples of it every single day. And you're a part of it and I'm a part of it, too. It's mixed messages. And as a society, it's become more and more of them. And I mean, there's a ton of examples of it right now. So my point is, is all that other stuff that you're talking about, is it real? Yes. Does anybody want to hear it from me? No. And to me, I think there's just a ton of examples, and in some ways, it's sad that if you're winning, none of that other stuff matters. And the opposite is also true.