James Franklin reveals why he signed extension, despite administration changes

James Franklin decided to remain at Penn State instead of looking elsewhere for a gig, even amid huge changes to the university’s brass.

Evidently, it’s paying off for the Nittany Lions leader, even if he had his fair share of jokes to make about his decision making on when to sign contracts. During an appearance on Next Up with Adam Breneman, Franklin elaborated on his decision to ink a decade-long extension with so much in flux in Happy Valley.

“I don’t recommend it, I’ve done this multiple times now. I took the Penn State job originally with an interim President, and an interim Athletic Director. … But then again, I sign a 10-year contract, and the President had announced his retirement, and then the AD decided to retire. So once again, here I am,” started Franklin. “But I think to your point, a guy by the name of Matt Schuyler, and Matt is the Chair of the Board. Ultimately, that’s my boss. It’s funny, the players always say, ‘Well you’re my boss.’ No, I just work for different people. And Matt Schuyler is the Chair of the Board at Penn State, and we’ve been talking for years about alignment, and Matt essentially runs Hilton Worldwide, lives in Northern Virginia.

“He’s been awesome. And me and Matt have been talking about alignment for a long time, and he just kept telling me to be patient, and be patient. Well there’s not a whole lot of patience in this industry.”

While Franklin didn’t know who Penn State’s President or Athletic Director of the future would be when the ink dried, he had no shortage of confidence in the school’s ability to give him what he needs to success.

“Basically, you know I made that commitment to him and the board, and they went out and hired two unbelievable you know, people. … So we have alignment now, for really for the first time that I’ve ever been a head coach,” added Franklin. “Back to Vanderbilt and now at Penn State, and it’s rejuvenated me in a lot of ways, when I didn’t even really know I needed to be rejuvenated.”

A rejuvenated James Franklin spells good news for Penn State, and bad news for the rest of the Big Ten Conference. A great year should be in store for the Nittany Lions, as stability has finally graced their program once again.