James Franklin differentiates transactional vs. transformational college coaches

The changes to college sports don’t appear to be slowing down any time soon amid the House Settlement being approved. Still, coaches like James Franklin at Penn State are trying to hold onto being a transformational coach rather than a transactional one.

Franklin recently explained the difference between transactional and transformational to him. Being that transformational coach, to him, means impacting his athletes in a positive way and it’s something he’d like to hold onto as long as possible.

“I guess what I’m saying is I think the majority of people got into coaching college football,” James Franklin said. “Probably my generation and older, got into it to be transformational on young people’s lives, right? None of us, my age or older, got into this business because of money. It was about because you love the game of football and you wanted to help young people grow and mature. I worry a little bit now that, because of how the sport has changed, there’s people being attracted to the sport for the wrong reasons.”

NIL and transferring without sitting out have now been in college sports for multiple seasons. Their impact has also been undeniable, allowing for movement every offseason, often based on who is willing to pay the most. That’s led to those transactional relationships that Franklin is hoping to avoid as much as possible.

“And, the way the sport has changed from a transfer portal perspective and from an NIL perspective, I think there’s also young people and families that are making decisions based on a transactional experience rather than a transformational experience. So, for us, we’re one of a handful of programs that are still holding on to,” Franklin said. “We want it to be as transformational of an experience as possible. I think that aligns with Penn State and what our values are and how we want this program to be run. That’s something that was always very important to me. But it was also very obvious to me coming to Penn State that that was something that’s very important to our alumni and very important to this community and very important to our Lettermen.”

The House Settlement was recently approved and that’s going to make this an even bigger challenge for James Franklin. Now, revenue sharing is a part of the game, and roster limits will be coming as well. That’s going to completely change how coaches operate again.

“So, we are fighting, scratching, clawing to balance those two things. There’s an aspect that you have to embrace the evolution of college football,” Franklin said. “But you don’t have to abort what your values are and how you still want it to go. And I think there’s a way that you can really blend the both, so that the kid, the family, the program, the university, you can still really provide a similar experience than we always have.”

In all of this change to college athletics, Penn State has largely thrived on the football field under James Franklin. The Nittany Lions are looking to continue that moving forward, despite further changes to the sport.