Kirk Herbstreit questions whether James Franklin lost locker room before firing

Kirk Herbstreit was as surprised as anybody by Sunday’s shocking midseason firing of longtime Penn State head coach James Franklin following a third-consecutive loss in a season that began with so much hope. In fact, the firing came just two weeks and a day removed from ESPN College GameDay‘s visit to Happy Valley — when Franklin made a live appearance on set — ahead of the third-ranked Nittany Lions’ 30-24 overtime loss to then-No. 6 Oregon.

Because of that rapid decline, which saw Penn State go from No. 3 to completely unranked following back-to-back losses to unranked Big Ten foes UCLA and Northwestern, Herbstreit can only surmise Franklin’s abrupt firing Sunday was the result of potentially losing the Nittany Lions locker room.

“Um, the only thing I can think of without talking to anybody there, is: was the locker room completely out? First of all, they lost to Oregon when they were still ranked and everybody thought they were a great team, a great football game they could’ve won. … And last year they were a play away from playing for the national title,” Herbstreit said during a Tuesday appearance on The Dan Patrick Show. “Everybody always talks about his record against Top 5 or Top 10 teams, but when he lost to UCLA, it was clearly – nothing against UCLA because they’re playing different right now – but it was clear the team was impacted by the disappointment (against Oregon) and couldn’t shake it. They showed up, looked at the film and were like, ‘This UCLA team sucks. They just fired their head coach, whatever, we’ll kill them,’ and then boom, got embarrassed.

“And I don’t know whatever happened on that flight home and during that next week of practice to get ready for Northwestern, the only thing you can (take away) is maybe he lost the team … I don’t know this, but maybe the ship was sinking as far as the buy-in behind the scenes, and maybe the decision-makers thought: ‘Let’s get out of this now, let’s try to salvage this year, and let’s try to find our next guy.’ That’s the only thing I can think of (for) why you do it right now.”

Franklin and Penn State entered the 2025 season with national championship aspirations after advancing to the College Football Playoff national semifinal last year, which ended with the program’s first Top 5 finish since 2005. Franklin finished his 12 seasons in Happy Valley with a 104-45 overall record, including 64-36 in Big Ten play, but infamously struggled against elite competition with a dismal 4-20 record against Top 10 opponents, including the overtime home loss to Oregon.

Kirk Herbstreit: Penn State is ‘premier’ job in college football

Following a 3-3 start to the season and back-to-back losses to UCLA and Northwestern, Penn State parted ways with James Franklin after 12 seasons on Sunday.

As the Nittany Lions brass begins its search for Franklin’s replacement, ESPN‘s Kirk Herbstreit proclaimed Penn State remains a “premier” job in college football.

“I still think it’s a premier job,” Herbstreit said on Tuesday’s edition of ‘The Dan Patrick Show.‘ “They spend money. They are willing (to spend money), and that’s sad that that’s how you have to look at it now, not tradition and history and what they’re capable of doing and Joe Paterno and all the wins and championships. Now it’s ‘are they spending money?’ And they are.

“They will be very attractive. … You’ve got all these money people now that are helping influence and make decisions. That’s a slippery slope when it comes to coaches making a decision on ‘should I go to this school?’ Because we’re gonna have some tough times and I need you to be in the corner with me. I don’t need you to throw me out there and leave me by myself.

“I like Penn State. It’s a great campus, great University, great tradition and great stadium. And they’re spending money. I think anybody would go to Penn State if they got the opportunity. That’s just my take.”

— On3’s Daniel Hager contributed to this report.