James Franklin reacts to Big Ten, SEC working together on issues: ‘The only solution’

Earlier this month, the SEC and Big Ten unveiled a landmark partnership, announcing the plans to form a joint advisory group to address the “significant challenges” in the current evolving college athletics landscape. As the two most powerful conferences will team up with a group of athletic directors and presidents to tackle some of the new challenges that collegiate athletics faces.

There were plenty of mixed opinions surrounding the partnership between the two titans in college sports, but Penn State head football coach James Franklin is surely in favor of the advisory group and believes it can be the solution to fix many of college football’s current problems at the moment. Speaking on the alliance during his recent winter press conference.

“Well the first thing is I just think it’s positive that commissioners in a lot of ways are really, you could make the argument maybe, the only people that can really get this thing fixed right now,” Franklin said. “And I love the fact that the Big Ten and the SEC have stepped up to have a leadership role, a significant leadership role in this and are using their voices.”

The Big Ten and SEC will look a little different starting in the summer, with the SEC adding Oklahoma and Texas to their conference and the Big Ten expanding their geographical footprint with the additions of  USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington. And while those changes along with the expansion of the 12-team College Football Playoff are exciting, other changes specific to college football have also come with challenges.

The rise of NIL and the transfer portal have been a positive for student-athletes, but the intersection of the two in regards to recruiting and the lack of rules and regulations surrounding them all have been problematic. With numerous programs finding themselves under NCAA investigation this offseason and the state of Tennessee and the commonwealth of Virginia recently filing federal lawsuit against the NCAA regarding NIL use in recruiting.

“Because as we all know we have have some tremendous challenges right now in college athletics right now as a whole, but specifically college football. So to see our conference and the SEC step up I think it’s really right now is the only solution. So I feel good about it, we have a call this week as a Big Ten, as head coaches and the commissioner, so I think that’ll be important moving forward,” Franklin said.

There’s no doubt that the SEC and Big Ten’s search for rules and regulations surrounding NIL, the transfer portal, and recruiting will be one of the biggest tasks of their advisory group. And it will surely be interesting to see when and how the two entities can push towards finding a solution.