Penn State coach James Franklin has a chance to make history in next week’s Orange Bowl/College Football Playoff semifinal.
Well, he technically already is.
Franklin is the first Penn State coach to lead his team into a College Football Playoff semifinal and the first Penn State coach to lead his team in a game played as late as Jan. 9.
But he also has a chance to become the person at any school to do something else. With a win over Notre Dame, James Geoffrey Franklin would be the first Black man to coach his team in a national championship game.
HISTORY EITHER WAY
NEW ORLEANS, LA – JANUARY 02: Head Coach Marcus Freeman of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates after the Notre Dame Fighting Irish versus Georgia Bulldogs College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl on January 2, 2025, at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, LA. (Photo by Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire)
History will be made either way Jan. 9 in Miami. Franklin’s opponent, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, is also Black. Freeman and the Irish beat Georgia 23-10 in Thursday’s Sugar Bowl, setting up a clash that will be of great interest to the whole nation but, in particular, Philadelphia, which has a ton of Penn State and Notre Dame fans. There will be plenty of storylines in this one, and the stories of the two head coaches will be among the biggest.
‘SOMEONE THAT LOOKED LIKE ME’
Photo by Matt Lynch, Nittany Sports Now: James Franklin
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Franklin doesn’t often talk about his status as an African-American coach.
Bur it’s not a fact that’s lost on him.
“This was a dream job for me,” Franklin told Ben Jones of StateCollege.com in 2019, “but in a lot of ways it wasn’t, because I didn’t know if it was a real possibility. I didn’t know if it would go outside of the family you know, the Penn State family, and the coaching tree that was here. And then you know obviously, (when I was younger), you just didn’t know if there would be someone that looked like me in this job or in this position.
There would be, and Franklin has done quite well.
No. 6 Penn State and No. 7 Notre Dame are scheduled to kick off at 7:30 on ESPN Thursday, Jan. 9 from Miami.
