What Kind of Boss is Penn State's James Franklin? His Staff Explains

Franklin has put together an experienced, eclectic coaching staff in his 12th year with the Nittany Lions. They discuss what it's like to work for Franklin.

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin reacts in the second half against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Jim Knowles quickly noticed something unique about James Franklin upon arriving at Penn State. The head coach walks a lot. Around State College, sure. Franklin is well known for the pace he sets on campus and downtown. But Knowles found Franklin to be a step-count leader in the office as well.

"I call it managing by walking around," said Knowles, Penn State's defensive coordinator. "Which means, he's always showing up in your meetings or walking through the building. And not in a micromanager kind of way. He's just very observant, very organized, but also willing to listen, which I think is unique."

Franklin walks into his 12th season as the Penn State football coach with what he repeatedly has called the best combination of talent and staff of his career. He also is the most contemplative version of himself, having accepted and absorbed callouses of last season's loss to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.

"So I think, just from an experience standpoint, I’m better," Franklin said in a spring interview. "I’m better for that, for sure."

But what is Franklin like to work with, and for? He has assembled an experienced, eclectic coaching staff with five college football championship rings (three coaching, two playing) and a Super Bowl ring. Four assistants played at Penn State. Two assistants played for Franklin. Two have been college head coaches. One is in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Among those coaches, a common theme emerged regarding Franklin. He has been known to correct spelling errors in a coach's Power Point presentation but won't tell them what to put in it. In other words, Franklin challenges details but won't do his staff's jobs for them.

"He's done a great job of hiring people, he does a great job of developing those people in those positions and he lets them do their jobs," Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki said. "But if he feels like he wants something done differently, he's going to communicate that."

The second-year offensive coordinator

Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki during a practice session outside Holuba Hall. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Kotelnicki could have left Penn State for a head-coaching position after one season. He returned, in part, to oversee an offense that returned its starting quarterback, two 1,000-yard rushers and five offensive linemen with starting experience. He has plenty of ideas how to deploy this group. And he said that Franklin has given him the keys.

"He trusts me to do my job," Kotelnicki said. "He doesn’t go in my office and say, 'This is what we should install today,' or, 'This is who we should get the ball to and why.' ... He doesn't come into the staff meeting and run it. He comes in and watches with us a lot, but he doesn’t take the remote from my hand and run it. A micromanager would do that."

Before becoming a head coach, Franklin was an offensive coordinator for five seasons. He has coached quarterbacks, tight ends and receivers. He spends a lot of time on the practice field with the offense. Surely, then, Franklin contributes more than mere "input" to the offense, right? Kotelnicki wouldn't hear of it.

"He doesn't tell me what plays to call," the offensive coordinator said. "He doesn't tell me, 'That play sucks, you shouldn't run it.' He doesn’t go, 'I want you to run these 10 plays.' He doesn't do any of that."

The first-year defensive coordinator

Penn State Nittany Lions defensive coordinator Jim Knowles looks on from the sideline during the Blue-White Game at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Knowles has worked for head coaches in the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, ACC and the Ivy League. He has been a head coach. He came to Penn State from Ohio State, perhaps the most pressurized coaching environment in college football, with a championship. What he found with Franklin felt new.

"He's very collaborative and very interested, moreso than any head coach I've been around, in feedback," Knowles said. "And not just from me; with everyone in the organization. He's interested in our opinions, our observations. I think that's kind of the cornerstone of who he is."

Knowles worked on Wall Street and has coached college football for 37 years, so he has seen his share of management strategies. What struck Knowles about Franklin's was that the head coach provided autonomy without allowing his assistants to become independent contractors.

"Sometimes, as you get to the highest level of football, or really any business, people can get put into silos, where everybody has their thing that they do," Knowles said. "There can easily be a lot of separation, like islands. And he's not that way. It's just much more of a collaborative approach."

Asked if he knew that about Franklin before taking the job, Knowles said, "I did not. That’s been a really pleasant surprise in how he leads the organization."

The mentees

Penn State football quarterbacks coach Danny O'Brien during a practice session outside Holuba Hall. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Danny O'Brien, Penn State's quarterbacks coach, played for Franklin at Maryland. Defensive line coach Deion Barnes played one season for Franklin in 2014. They are the assistants for whom Franklin also has been a mentor. And they have their own perspectives on Franklin as a head coach.

"One thing I've said to people who have asked what it's like to work for him is, I think this sums it up very well," O'Brien said. "It's that he's very demanding in terms of attention to detail and all that. But when people are very demanding, you know that they're a good human being and that they care about you. It's made me a lot better as a coach."

Both O'Brien and Barnes said that Franklin empowers them to run their rooms, though Franklin might spend more time in the quarterbacks room, since that's his home base. Yet O'Brien said he "loves it" when Franklin joins his meetings.

"He may not know this, but those are all full-circle moments for me," O'Brien said. "They make me happy, because a long time ago, I was the one sitting in the chair, and he was presenting to me."

Barnes, entering his third season as defensive line coach, was an intriguing promotion in 2023. He had been on staff as a graduate assistant for three years, but his only previous coaching experience was in high school. Even Franklin has said he wasn't sure Barnes was a serious candidate until his interview. Now, Barnes is among the top young coaches in the Big Ten.

"Who the hell is giving a job to a 29-year-old who was a [graduate assistant]?" Barnes said. "I mean, he saw something in me. He believed in me and he hired me. I'm forever thankful for that."

The assistant who was there at the beginning

Terry Smith, Penn State Nittany Lions associate head coach and cornerbacks coach, walks onto the field prior to the Blue-White Game at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Terry Smith is the only assistant still at Penn State who was on Franklin's first staff in 2014. He coaches cornerbacks and has been the associate head coach since 2021. Smith knows all of Franklin's quirks, like the three pages of handwritten notes he'll bring to meetings or his persistent requirement that 10-minute practice periods not bleed into 12.

Smith, who played at Penn State, has been one of Franklin's primary conduits to the program's history. He was there for the end of the NCAA sanctions and the beginning of the program's resurgence. For Smith, this is an important season.

"We want nothing more than to win this championship for him," Smith said. "He deserves it. He's worked hard at it. He has built our process. We come from a dark place when we started here. But we've stepped into the light, and he's made Penn State shine again."