Paul Finebaum calls for Penn State to make a change, move on from James Franklin

The 2025 season was supposed to be different for the Penn State Nittany Lions. On paper, this was the season where head coach James Franklin was going to get over the hump. On paper, this team was preparing for a national championship campaign.

Then, Penn State opened Big Ten play with two losses, including a massive upset loss to UCLA. Now, both Penn State and Franklin are being evaluated. Some, like Paul Finebaum, even think it’s time for the two to move on from one another. He explained why on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning.

“My favorite joke around the weekend was now you can’t add another digit to his win-loss record against Top 10 teams,” Paul Finebaum said. “Because this one didn’t count. The bottom line is, I think he should be fired. That was one of the most embarrassing performances I have ever seen in my life.”

Coming off a loss in the White Out, Penn State made the trip to Los Angeles to take on a UCLA team that had already fired its head coach. Then, the Nittany Lions took one on the chin, and UCLA scored first before recovering an onside kick. Penn State never got out of the hole, losing 42-37.

“It’s not the biggest upset in college football history. I think Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh from 15 years ago probably has that one locked down. I think that was a 42-point spread. In some ways, this was equal to that,” Finebaum said. “Because I don’t think we understood what we were watching with Harbaugh on that night. We know what we’re seeing with James Franklin. How you recover from losses tells a lot about who you are, and to go out and lose that game is inexcusable. That was not at The Swamp, that was not at Kyle Field with 100,000 people. That was a garden party in Pasadena, basically, and he still blew it.”

James Franklin first got to Penn State in 2014. At that point, the program is in the middle of a rebuild, coming off severe sanctions. He’d turn the Nittany Lions into a consistent threat in the Big Ten and has a 104-44 record there. The problem is Penn State has never really gotten to be more than a threat and he’s consistently struggled in big games. Now, he’s added a bad upset loss.

“I’ve said repeatedly that he’s a good football coach. He’s just not a top-tier elite coach,” Finebaum said. “But at some point, the Penn State fans and the administration just have to say, ‘This is maybe a good time for a change.’ And I think it is. I’m not talking about firing him outright. I’m talking about going to him and figuring out a way to have him go somewhere else at the end of the season with the blessing of the program. It’s become — James Franklin, sadly, for a guy with a pretty good record, has become a punchline in college football.”

Notably, Paul Finebaum isn’t calling for Penn State to fire James Franklin. He does have a reported $56 million buyout after all. Instead, it would be focused on getting him a new job. However, Finebaum also doesn’t seem to think there’s a massive market for him at Power Four schools following the UCLA loss.

“I think a couple of weeks ago, you might’ve thought a good SEC team would. I don’t think that’s the case anymore. And that’s really why, if he had just walked out of the season this year with another 10-3 record and the Playoff, and he just couldn’t beat Ohio State or Oregon, or win a big game, that’s one thing. Then you can find him a job,” Finebaum said. “But that might’ve been one of the most costly losses any coach has ever had. Great question. The answer is very few schools.”

All of that amounts to a potentially awkward situation between James Franklin and Penn State. Of course, winning cures everything, and the Nittany Lions still have opportunities to do that this season, starting with Northwestern next week.