Great summation of what happened to James Franklin at PSU.
Also: His ego got in way, plus inability to find/develop WRs while having supposedly elite QB.
Maybe most important thing noted is how beating SMU & Boise to get to semis were never great wins. Franklin merely got lucky.
Since Sark decided to provide no context on this statement, I’ll do it.
Franklin won early and turned Penn State around (which he should forever get credit for). He was given plenty of grace through the 2020 and 2021 seasons when he went 11-11 in that two-year span. And then he went on to have three seasons in a row with 10 wins, but lost to OSU and Michigan each year and still couldn’t get over the hump.
Before Franklin was fired, it was widely agreed upon that drawing SMU and then Boise State in the 2024 CFP would forever be the easiest route to a CFP Semifinal game that there will ever be (people seem to have just kinda forgotten that now). Enter 2025: Franklin had been “pounding the table” for full support and alignment, and he finally got it. He went out and got the highest-paid DC in CFB history and had the opportunity to spend whatever he wanted in the portal.
Franklin himself said the 2025 staff and roster was the most talented group he’s ever assembled, and for most people Penn State was the Natty favorite going into 2025. Franklin went on to coach Penn State into the greatest collapse in College Football history, losing back to back games where his team was favored by more than 20 points. There’s your context for why a coach was fired after making it to the CFP semifinals.