Column: James Franklin perceptions conflicted in light of successes, shortcomings
The refrain from some segments of the Penn State fan base has, at this point, become familiar.
In an argument that typically begins with James Franklin’s compensation, immediately points to his record against top 10 competition, and concludes with the irrefutable reality of the Nittany Lions’ absence from the 10-year, four-team College Football Playoff era, the sentiment is reduced to one word: “Overrated.”
The arguments against the criticism, at this point, have the same familiarity. Taking over a Penn State program bent to the will of NCAA sanctions in 2014, the Nittany Lions emerged from back-to-back 7-6 seasons with the program’s first Big Ten title since 2008. In the stretch since then, Franklin has guided his team to five double-digit win seasons, earning Fiesta, Cotton, and Rose Bowl trophies.
The latest round of college football, silly season contemplation, brings together both the breadth of Franklin’s tenure and the program’s more immediate results into focus. On Wednesday afternoon, CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli updated his annual list of the Top 25 Power Four college football coaches, surveying the outlet’s experts fo gauge the best of the best in the game. The Sporting News’ Bill Bender did the same this week. And, in March, The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman and Stewart Mandel produced their dueling Top 25 rankings of college football’s best coaches.
Here’s how they shake out for Franklin, in ascending order:
College Football Top 25 Coach Rankings
Mandel: 2024 ranking: 15 – 2023 ranking: 10
“It seems harsh to drop a coach five spots coming off of a 10-3 season (and 11-2 before that), but Franklin’s program is underachieving. Despite impressive recruiting classes, Penn State has lost seven years in a row to Ohio State, and Franklin is 3-7 against Michigan. He’s a top-15 coach based on his record, but the Nittany Lions have been mostly holding serve.”
Bender: 2024 ranking: 14 – 2023 ranking: 13
“Franklin’s ranking on this list has varied between 11 and 17 the last four years, and it’s a familiar narrative by now. Penn State is 32-16 since 2020, which is a half-game better than Texas in the same stretch. The Nittany Lions are 21-5 the last two seasons, and four of those losses are to Ohio State and Michigan. Franklin has built a Big Ten contender that would have been a playoff regular in a 12-team setup for the last decade. Will Penn State maintain that standing in the 18-team Big Ten?”
Fornelli: 2024 ranking: 11 – 2023 ranking: 10
“I think Franklin’s ranking was saved a bit by so many big-name coaches no longer being around. He’s been in or near the top 10 for most of his time at Penn State but drops slightly out of it this season following a 10-3 campaign. Franklin may be the poster coach for how coaches would be perceived nationally if we had an expanded playoff from the start. He’s had plenty of success at Penn State but has failed to break through the Michigan and Ohio State ceiling. If we’d had a 12-team playoff the entire time, Franklin and the Nittany Lions would have had at least five appearances.”
Feldman: 2024 ranking: 7 – 2023 ranking: 5
“Franklin and (Brian) Kelly’s cases are more similar than one might think. Kelly had a way better offense last year and Franklin had a much tougher defense, but both piled up double-digit-win seasons. They haven’t come close to winning a national title, except for Notre Dame’s aforementioned blowout loss to Alabama in Miami more than a decade ago. Penn State is 21-5 the past two seasons but just 1-4 against top-10 teams in that stretch. Franklin has turned in four 11-win seasons since 2016 there and has elevated Penn State back into a powerhouse, but the Nittany Lions struggle to match up with Ohio State and Michigan. Last year’s offense was a dud. Franklin fired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich and brought in Andy Kotelnicki from Leipold’s Kansas staff in hopes of taking that next big step.”
2024 average: 11.75
2023 average: 9.5
Where does James Franklin land?
Among the national college football voices, Mandel is the most “out” on Franklin. Bender and Fornelli acknowledge the four-team College Football Playoff era’s particular cruelty to Penn State. Without so directly saying it, their mentions of Michigan and Ohio State similarly acknowledge the Nittany Lions’ purgatory of the Big Ten East. And, Feldman compares Franklin favorably to his No. 6-ranked coach on this year’s list, LSU’s Brian Kelly.
Summarizing the emergent points from the latest round of coaching rankings, though, serves as a mirror to the conflict Franklin now faces at this point in his career.
On the affirmative end, no one is questioning his place among the best coaches in college football. His record is 88-39 at Penn State over 10 seasons. Two of those campaigns were conducted under sanctions (14-12) and another under the thumb of COVID restrictions (4-5). Taking those complications into account, the Nittany Lions are 70-22 (76 percent) in the other seven years, at 10 wins per year.
Dissenting opinions are not without merit, though. In many ways, they’re contained within the same train of thought. For as well as Franklin has fared on the whole, with undeniable highlights throughout his Penn State tenure, the program hasn’t risen to the heights of its perceived peers. The Buckeyes have won nine of 10 against Franklin-coached teams, and, despite a largely competitive series with the Wolverines, going 3-4 including the sanctions and COVID seasons, Penn State has since lost three straight to the reigning national champs.
Or, at its purest distillation representing exactly where the Nittany Lions have stood through the past eight seasons:
Penn State vs. ranked opponents: 13-20 (39.4 percent)
vs. top 5: 1-11
vs. Nos. 6-25: 11-9
Examining the competition
There are 10 Power Four programs with a winning record since 2016 against ranked opponents, which Penn State checks in at 15th. Changed to total wins against ranked opponents since 2016, Franklin and the Nittany Lions are 14th.
Against top 5-ranked opponents, Penn State is 1-4 at home since 2016. On the road, the mark is 0-7. Only one of the 12 opponents ranked No. 5 or better was not named Ohio State or Michigan in that stretch.
Where that balance puts Franklin is largely a matter of consensus. Clearly outside the current roster of college football head coaches to have reached the College Football Playoff in the past decade, Franklin is behind Kirby Smart, Ryan Day, Dabo Swinney, Kelly, Steve Sarkisian, Kalen DeBoer, Mike Norvell, and Lincoln Riley on Fornelli’s list. (Sonny Dykes and Luke Fickell are the only other active coaches with a playoff appearance. Dykes is No. 22 on Fornelli’s ranking, Fickell is 17th.) Of that group, only Swinney, DeBoer, Smart, Day, and Dykes have reached the final. And, Swinney and Smart are the only two active coaches to have won the CFP.
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