To call Penn State HC James Franklin polarizing would be like calling Simone Biles athletic.
Some PSU fans love Franklin, citing his overall record in Happy Valley (88-39, 56-32 Big Ten) as proof that his decade-long tenure has been a success.
Others can’t stand him, citing his failures against Ohio State (1-10 overall) and Michigan (three straight losses) as proof that Penn State deserves a better head coach.
Others acknowledge Franklin’s successes and failures and feel that, although he’s won plenty, he does need to be better in big games.
Franklin’s harshest critics tend to measure him against Joe Paterno.
Matt Rhule played linebacker for Paterno in the 1990s, started his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Penn State in 1998 and has since embarked on a successful journey that’s led him to become the boss at Nebraska.
Rhule— who twice coached against Penn State when he was in charge at Temple and is the only Temple coach to beat Penn State since World War II— looks forward to coaching against his alma mater again in 2025 at Beaver Stadium.
When asked about PSU last week at Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis, Rhule didn’t hide how he feels about the work Franklin has done, as well as the people who don’t appreciate it.
“Sometimes it’s ridiculous,” Rhule said. “I hear people give him a hard time. I mean, Penn State has been a nationally relevant program year in and year out. And he’s going to have them in the playoffs probably year in and year out.”
I asked Nebraska HC/former Penn State LB Matt Rhule about what coaching in a White Out game would mean to him.
He jokingly said he’d prefer it not to be a White Out but went into detail about what Penn State means to him. pic.twitter.com/IdHsJKfeEe
— Joe Smeltzer (@joesmeltzer775) July 24, 2024
The College Football Playoff is expanding this season from four teams to 12.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Penn State never made the playoff in the 10 seasons of the four-team format, which is something Franklin’s critics have used against him.
But if the 12-team format has started in 2016, Penn State would have made the playoff in six of the past eight seasons, including last year, when Penn State finished the regular season 10-2 and the was No. 10 in the final CFP rankings before bowl season.
A big key for Penn State football’s success throughout the rest of the 2020s will be AD Pat Kraft.
Kraft, who was Temple’s AD for Rhule’s entire tenure at Temple, maintains a close friendship with the former Owl coach.
“Pat Kraft is their AD he’s one of my best friends, we went through war together at Temple,” Rhule said. “So, it would be fun to go back there.
Rhule than remembered another fun time he had coaching.
“Beating Penn State in 2015,” he said. “It was really fun to see all my Penn State friends and tell them to keep their heads up their guys played hard.”
Rhule then said that Penn State “will always be a special place to me.”
“It’s where Julie and I met, we just had our 25th wedding anniversary,” he said. “We were silly kids who didn’t know anything. I’m grateful to James [Franklin] and the job that he’s done at my alma mater.”
