Live updates: James Franklin speaks on ESPN College GameDay

Full set interview.

How did JF become aware of his firing and find out the news? We were a practice Sunday team and we have a team meeting at 145 and about 130 the AD walked in and said we're going to make a change I'm sorry. Was in shock obviously. Really took the next 15 minutes to let my kids know so they wouldn't find out on the Internet and then walked down and had a super emotional meeting with the team to tell them I was leaving. it was that quick. Pretty much in shock.

Did he think he was treated fairly? Fair is not for me ot decide. A decision that was made that was hard for me to comprehend at the time. I want to focus on all the unbelievable moments. Penn State was good to me and my family. It's the people at the end of the day. What I don't think people rea]lize is how many people this affects.

On the impact on his family My daughters, you guys ave seen pictures, they came to PSU when they were 4 and 5. we were blessed that a majority of their upbringing was in State College. My youngest thought she was going to State College. Obviously the plans have changed there. ... The last six days have been comforting my daughters, and then a ton of players reaching out, talking to their parents, telling them to take a deep breath, everything is going to be fine. I got into this business to help people and young men and i'm going to continue to do that.

How'd we get here? I can't answer that.. I'm still working on it myself. It feel surreall. I fot a mesasge from Drew Allar's dad that he's sititng home himself and that we should both be in Iowa. To think six games ago we were fighting for a chance to be in the NC, a two-minute drive away, that's the thing, I can't answer that. Decisions were made. I'm not involved in those decisions. I'm grateful for the time we had. I thought we were going to win a NC there. We were close. That goal hasn't changed. We're just going to go win a national championship somewhere else now.

Saban weighs in: It's unfair as hell. And PSU not showing appreciation is unfair.

Did Did preseason rankings impact PSU? The negative is rat poison and the positive is rat poison. That creates a ton of pressure. Pressure we earned. The program was in a very difficult position, one of the most historical sanctions in NCAA history, and we got them back to be a consistent contender. The expectations, we created them, and I take pride in that. We got to do a better job of tuning all that out. That's challening.

When does the job hunt start? To be honest the first thing was I needed to take a deep breath and make sure the people around me are in a good place. After that, I don't do anything else. I don't have hobbies. This has been such a big part of my identity and family. We love it. It was take a deep breath, surreal for a moment, and then it's hey, we got to get back to doing what we do which is help young people achieve their dreams, get a great education, balance what CFB has become; I can't wait for that next challenge and we're going to go win a national championship.

Will JF change his approach in big games? I think to Nick's point there's things I know we did as well as anyone in the country but every offseason you have to take time and after what just happend I'm going to do that even more so. How can we maximize those opportunities? The other thing I want to hit on is we did it with integrity and class the entire time, and that's something that isn't happening universally.

That's a wrap.

Franklin was a lot more diplomatic than I wouldve been

Coulda been better, coulda been worse

Staff, did James really find out right before practice and was he really “shocked”? Seems like a lie to me.

Great interview for James Franklin. Makes you wonder. Think he should still be coaching.

GregPickel said:

That's a wrap.

First class all the way. I am going to miss James not representing Penn State.

Clip of Saban if anyone missed it

Still doesn’t want to reflect on what he did. But he could have been a lot worse to the university.

Saban dunking on Kraft. Yikes.

I understood the why firing was made, but when you mention the fact that we were an interception away from playing in the NC game last year, it does sound kind of ridiculous.

Franklin made his feelings very clear without stating as much directly, and allowed Saban and the ESPN crew to voice what he’s clearly feeling about the decision. He’s a smart guy who’s good at this.

Classy, sure. Unfair, maybe. It can be unfair and the right move at the same time. Thanks for all you did, James. Good luck in the future.

wumbro said:

Staff, did James really find out right before practice and was he really “shocked”? Seems like a lie to me.

He did reply with an exact time he was let go just prior to his Sunday team meeting.

We’re a pretty ungrateful fanbase. It makes me worried when he says “we” need to go win a championship somewhere else. How many players will portal in January? PSU is going to be a total rebuild in my worse case scenario.

Whart said:

He did reply with an exact time he was let go just prior to his Sunday team meeting.

The time he said was the same time the news dropped to the public.