Steve Spurrier reacts to James Franklin firing: 'Everybody can't win'

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.

Over his 12 seasons in Happy Valley, Franklin led the Nittany Lions to a 104-45 (64-36) record with six 10-plus win seasons and an appearance in the 2024 College Football Playoff. Last season, Franklin led Penn State to a top-five finish ranked inside the season-ending polls for the first time since 2005. Just six games later however, he is searching for a new job.

College Football Hall of Famer Steve Spurrier reacted to Franklin’s firing on the latest edition of ‘Another Dooley Noted Podcast‘. When Franklin was at Vanderbilt (2011-2013), he was 0-3 coaching against Spurrier’s South Carolina teams.

“They were talking about, of course, about how James Franklin was not beating the good teams and ranked teams and all that,” Spurrier said. “Then they come out about Dan Lanning at Oregon not beating the good teams. So, everybody can’t win. That’s sports. In fact, somebody said the New York Yankees can’t even win anymore. When’s the last time they’ve won the World Series?”

Franklin’s tenure came to end following home loss to Northwestern

Although Franklin led his program to some big-time games, they were just 15-29 against ranked opponents during his tenure. That wasn’t good enough for the brass at Penn State, who will now turn elsewhere for a new head coach. Nebraska‘s Matt Rhule and Duke‘s Manny Diaz have emerged as early candidates for the job.

“I felt after sitting down Saturday and looking at everything, at where we were in terms of the best interest of the athletes and where the program was going that we had to make the hard decision,” Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft said on Monday. “Looking at where the program was, where it is, and where we want to be, I felt that there was no other course. I felt it was time.”

The Nittany Lions opened the season ranked No. 2 in the country and won their first three games of the season. This set up a top-six ‘White Out’ matchup between No. 3 Penn State and No. 6 Oregon in Happy Valley three weeks ago, which the Nittany Lions dropped in overtime. This spiraled into losses to previously 0-4 UCLA and Northwestern, which turned into Franklin’s firing.

“James Franklin is a good friend who has always carried himself with dignity, and represented Penn State with absolute class” Kraft continued. “We are all fortunate to have had James Franklin to lead this program for more than a decade and we wish nothing but the best for him and his family.”