James Franklin, Penn State in position to ‘flourish’ with new 12-team playoff

When college football ushers in a new era in 2024, there might not be a single program that stands to gain more than Penn State.

The Nittany Lions failed to make the College Football Playoff in all 10 seasons of the four-team era, but would’ve made it in six of the last eight years had there been 12 teams, including the last two. With a larger path to the playoff this year, the best recruiting class in James Franklin’s tenure enters its third year in the program, so the timing is right in Happy Valley.

Ahead of an all-important 2024 season, Franklin sat down with me on the latest “Big Noon Conversations” to discuss the benefits of the changes in the college football landscape, his expectations for his most talented recruiting class, and what went into his two coordinator hires.

(Read more from “Big Noon Conversations:” Sherrone Moore, Steve Sarkisian, Deion Sanders, Matt Rhule, Ryan Day, Kalen DeBoer)

Here’s a snippet of my conversation with Franklin: 

I’ve opened every interview like this, and I’ll do the same with you. What is the best part about being the head coach at Penn State?

First of all, obviously, the history, the tradition of the place, right? Then, on top of that, I grew up just outside of Philadelphia. So this is home for me, at a place that in a lot of ways is magical and, to be honest, that I probably didn’t think was realistic when I was coming up in this profession. … So, in a lot of ways, it’s humbling.

When did you maybe realize that [coaching at Penn State] could be in your future? You had a tremendous amount of success at Vanderbilt. Was it there that you thought to yourself, “OK, that’s a location I could be at?”

To be honest, I can’t remember if that really had kind of switched in my mind. I don’t know if you know this, but me and Bill O’Brien worked together at the University of Maryland. So we were close. When he left, and I got contacted, I reached out to him right away and talked to him probably 10–15 times.

But I’m not really sure. You’re just so busy doing the job, that you don’t really spend a whole lot of time on those types of things. To be honest, I struggled leaving Vanderbilt. I’m just a guy that’s so loyal to the people and the kids that I struggled. I struggled leaving there. I remember being in my office, emotional as anything with my wife and agent at the time, and really struggling to say goodbye to those kids.

Some changes are going on internally with your coaching staff this offseason. You’re gonna have two new coordinators.

Three!

Three new coordinators. I don’t want to shortchange the specialists. I think the big one, at least for people on the outside, is bringing in Andy Kotelnicki to be the offensive coordinator. He did a tremendous job at Kansas. As soon as I heard that name floated around, I thought, “That is a really good hire.” What made you gravitate towards Coach Kotelnicki? What do you think he can provide you guys?

The first thing is, I’ve been tracking, following and getting to know Coach K, which is easier for people to say, for a long time. We played Buffalo and thought they did a really good job. I’ve got a ton of respect for Lance [Leipold]. I think Lance has done a great job. Ever since we played, we’ve developed a relationship. They came up and visited a couple times. Then, I actually had a tight ends job open that I interviewed him for and ended up hiring a letterman, and it was the right thing at the right time. We just kind of stayed in touch.

When this opportunity came open, I was coming up with my list of who I wanted to hire and why and the data backing it all up, and he was on a short list. I gotta give Kansas, their athletic director and Lance credit because they didn’t make it easy. To me, it showed a true commitment from Kansas. They made it hard. Obviously, he’d been with Lance for like 11-plus years. So that was a big part of it as well.

But he’s been great, and I think he’s done a great job. He’s just very creative. He does a ton of different things to cause defenses to stress, from scheme, motioning, shifts and tempo, he really kind of does it all. I think if you just do one thing and you do that one thing all the time, even if it’s tempo, people can get used to that.

You look at the canvas that he has, you’ve got talented players. I remember, to tell a quick story from a couple years ago, we’re sitting at Purdue for the opener. Remember this?

Oh, do I remember. (laughs) Yeah.

Gus, Jenny and I were there to call the game. I’m sitting there and watching Drew Allar throw the football. He’s not gonna play, Sean Clifford’s gonna play. But I’m just looking at this big quarterback throw the football and I noticed somebody standing by me, but I honestly didn’t know who it was, and I just said, “That’s beautiful.” It was you! You started laughing at me. 

You were like, gawking. 

Yeah, that’s right. 

It’s effortless when he throws the ball. Obviously, that size is the first thing that gets your attention. Then, you see the ball come out of his hand. He’s got a combination of traits that get you excited.

There’s also going to be a change on the defensive side. You brought in Tom Allen to be the defensive coordinator. What’s it like to bring in a guy that has head coaching experience to be a coordinator for you, which is the exact same thing that you had with Manny Diaz, who ended up leaving for the opportunity at Duke?

I think it’s valuable. You have to be careful to try to kind of recreate the lightning in the bottle type of deal with Manny. But we’ve been fortunate. Whether it was Bob Shoop, Brent Pry or Manny Diaz, we’ve played really good defense. Penn State has a history of playing really good defense as well.

To find somebody who’s a scheme fit – a four-down attacking front, aggressive blitz, man coverage, those types of things, you’re kind of trying to find somebody in the country that makes sense because where we’re at as a program, we really don’t want to start over. 

Nor should you. Your defense has been fantastic. 

Correct. So, finding somebody who was comfortable, and it’s kind of a story. Tom comes in, but it’s during bowl practice. We’re recruiting, it’s bowl [season]. So, bring him in for the interview and we do about two hours at night. I’m like, “Tom, I need you to stay. Can you stay the night and we’ll get together again tomorrow? When I have time in between practices and meetings, we’ll sit down.” He’s like, “Yeah, that’ll give me an opportunity to be around the kids and the staff. That’d be good.” 

Well, that went on for like a week. I’m not exaggerating, went on for like a week. Two hours, two hours, two hours, but it ended up being really good because where he’s at in his career, he didn’t need to take a job. It allowed him to be really kind of strategic and calculated. It allowed us to do the same thing. By the end of it, he felt really comfortable. I felt really comfortable. 

He’s very different than Manny, which I respect and appreciate that he’s comfortable in his own skin and who he is. It’s been great. He’s very relational as a leader, which is kind of how I’m wired. So that’s been good, too.

The class that you recruited in 2021, they’re all going to be in their third year. This is a class that I certainly had been looking at for a long time. It’s a talented class and young players. There are real NFL players in this class, not just in their third year, but you got fourth-year guys as well. Drew at quarterback. Your two running backs, Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton. Abdul Carter has switched to move to edge to maybe promote some more of the pass rush.

I think even the fans have circled a year like this with this class and these players. Do you feel that building toward this fall?

I think your point is a fair one. When these guys were freshmen, we’re like, “this has been an impressive class” when they showed up on campus. A lot of times, you think guys are going to play as freshmen, but they aren’t really able to do it. These guys all did, and not just play, they made splash plays, they made game-changing type plays. We felt like in two years, we would have a chance to make a run at this thing. Things continue to evolve. Obviously, you’d prefer not to have the coaching turnover that we’ve had, but that’s the nature of college football now. 

So, now we’re excited. We need to have a great training camp and a great summer, but we’re excited with the opportunity.

I imagine a number of these guys are going to get drafted. So, the question becomes, are you going to try to replicate hitting two or three players’ draft night parties like you were able to do with Olu Fashanu and Chop Robinson? I don’t know how you did that! Take us through that night. 

We’re fortunate that both are from Maryland, which is unusual. It doesn’t happen very often. But they’re both from Maryland, about an hour apart from each other. Literally, we get to Olu’s house and there’s a bunch of players there, ton of family and having a great experience. But you feel weird, you’re trying to give them a hug and celebrate, but with the same hand you’re trying to run out the door. 

So, I’m like, “We gotta get to Chop’s.” We run out of there and jump in the car, literally. My guy, Kevin Threkel, who’s been with me for 17 years, goes like 95 mph on the beltway. In the car, guys in the back are saying, “I hope that Chop doesn’t get drafted before we get there.” I’m like, “I hope he does, that could be a difference of like, $6 million.”

So we pull up, we get a call that he’s getting drafted. I’m running down the sidewalk, into the house and it couldn’t have timed up more perfect. I come in and the family was so supportive. His friends, mom and dad were like, “Coach, get up there.” Literally, as soon as I got up there, the pick comes in and it’s the Dolphins. 

It was really an awesome night, and that’s what you want. You want these guys to have great careers, which they did at Penn State, then be able to chase their dreams at the next level. 

There’s a gigantic shift that’s happening in the structure of the sport this fall. Obviously, expansion to a 12-team playoff and the Big Ten expanding way out West to become one of the two super conferences. I believe that Penn State is in a position to benefit maybe more than anybody else from those two things. If you just take a quick snapshot of the recent past, you’ll see that no team in America would have made more playoffs than Penn State – if it would have been 12 teams vs. four – of the teams that did not get in. You were also in a division that was incredibly lopsided. 

That’s why I think your program is in a position to really flourish in the next few years in particular.

Well, good. I’m glad you feel that way (laughs). I agree with you. Whether it was the year we won the conference championship and didn’t get in, or years that we had really good years. It’s interesting, because things have changed so much. You go to the Rose Bowl, and the Rose Bowl is not a part of the playoffs, it doesn’t seem like as big of a deal. When we grew up, you go to the Rose Bowl, you just had a phenomenal year.

I think it’s going to be good for college football. You could make the argument in some ways, and I’m not trying to go down this path, but the more teams we can have, the better because I do worry about the bowls and the teams that don’t get into the playoffs. Is that going to be even more challenging than what it’s been in terms of opt-outs and things like that? 

I think we’re very aware of where we’re at. … Once this thing settles, which I think it’s starting to, I do think it’s going to make for really exciting football, really great games that are gonna be captivating. We’re about to play, arguably one of the most exciting schedules that Penn State’s ever played before, when you talk about the regular season. There’s a lot of things to be excited about.

I think we have to be careful as college football coaches, ADs, analysts, fans that you focus on the things you struggle with rather than the positive, because there are a lot of positives. 

Penn State would’ve been in six of the last eight playoffs if it was a 12-team format. Just from a definition of success and perception standpoint, how do you think that would’ve changed the perception of your program?

Dramatically. Let’s be honest, dramatically. Programs like Penn State, and however many that are out there, the playoffs made things even more challenging, because now the definition [of a good season] has shifted. It was playoffs or bust, which also makes some of those games challenging when literally, your players are being told by the fans and media that you have one loss, the season’s almost over in some ways. 

So, I think long-term, it’s going to be really good for college football. I know it’s going to be good for Penn State.

For more of my conversation with Franklin, head over to Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Joel Klatt is FOX Sports’ lead college football game analyst and the host of the podcast “The Joel Klatt Show.” Follow him on X/Twitter at @joelklatt and subscribe to the “Joel Klatt Show” on YouTube.

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