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Penn State

James Franklin among Big Ten coaches on Dodd Watch List

nate-mug-10.12.14by: Nate Bauer07/07/25NateBauerBWI
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Penn State football coach James Franklin is among 26 watch list honorees for the Dodd Trophy. (Pickel/BWI)

Penn State head coach James Franklin is among 26 coaches recognized Monday on the annual preseason watch list for the 2025 Dodd Trophy. The award, which honors the national coach of the year for scholarship, leadership, and integrity, enters its 50th year ahead of the upcoming college football campaign.

According to the Peach Bowl, which oversees the award and its selection process, Franklin is one of the coaches whose programs “represent the highest ideals on and off the field.” The full watch list reflects academic progress rates from the last full calendar year and also considers “Graduation Success Rate, commitment to service and charity in the community, as well as projected success for the 2025 season.”

James Franklin pushes Penn State football forward

Propelling Penn State to the College Football Playoff last season for the first time in program history, Franklin and the Nittany Lions reached the semifinal round before falling to Notre Dame. Cementing a program-best 16 wins, the Nittany Lions lost only to the eventual No. 1 (Ohio State), No. 2 (Notre Dame), and No. 3 (Oregon) teams during the 2024 campaign.

In doing so, the Nittany Lions finished with their highest end-of-season ranking in Franklin’s 11-year tenure, coming in at No. 5 overall. It marked his fifth top-10 finish in the final rankings in the past nine seasons. Overall, the Nittany Lions have the fifth-best winning percentage in college football the past three seasons. They’re 34-8, trailing only Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, and Oregon over the same stretch.

Penn State commits to winning

Partnering with athletic director Pat Kraft to continue the program’s ascent, a standard has been established in which the Nittany Lions expect to compete at the highest levels of the sport.

“I’ve been all in on football. I’ve been all in on basketball, baseball, field hockey. I think if you’ve gotten to know me, I’m here to win,” said Kraft. “By the way, it’s not always about money. It’s how you’re investing your money. And I think we’ve shown that—we’re committed. I’m committed to working with, whether it’s James Franklin or Cael Sanderson or Erica Dambach, whoever the coach is, to win. And different programs are at different parts of their growth.

“But you don’t come to Penn State and just willy-nilly say, ‘Let’s see what happens.’ I’m here to win a national championship. We’re here to win national championships. And we’re here to do it the right way. So yeah, I’m committed—whatever you want to call it, we’re committed to it. It takes everybody. When it comes to football, we’re close. We’re close. And we’re going to keep going and keep going and keep going until we get to where we want to be. And it’s working together with James and all of my coaches.”

Franklin is among five Big Ten coaches named to the watch list. He’s joined by Illinois’ Bret Bielema, Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, Ohio State’s Ryan Day, and Oregon’s Dan Lanning.

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