Seven games after being on the verge of playing for the national championship, Penn State has fired head coach James Franklin, capping one of the most stunningly quick collapses in college football history.
The move came one day after the Nittany Lions lost their third in a row and second straight as a 20-point favorite. A season that began with national championship aspirations unraveled with back-to-back losses to UCLA and Northwestern the last two Saturdays, ultimately ending Franklin’s tenure six games into his 12th season.
“Penn State owes an enormous amount of gratitude to coach Franklin, who rebuilt our football program into a national power,” athletic director Patrick Kraft said. “He won a Big Ten championship, led us to seven New Year’s Six bowl games and a College Football Playoff appearance last year. However, we hold our athletics programs to the highest of standards, and we believe this is the right moment for new leadership at the helm of our football program to advance us toward Big Ten and national championships.”
Thank you for everything, CJF. pic.twitter.com/2ZkNYrEbRp
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) October 12, 2025
Penn State (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten) entered the season ranked No. 2 in the AP Top 25. After opening 3-0, Penn State lost a heartbreaker to then-No. 6 Oregon in double overtime and fell apart from there, culminating with Saturday’s 22-21 home loss to Northwestern in which quarterback Drew Allar suffered a season-ending injury.
Franklin, 53, signed a 10-year extension in November 2021. The new deal ran through the 2031 season and was worth $7.5 million per year, plus incentives and a $1 million annual life insurance loan.
He will be paid around $45 million for his buyout, barring a settlement for a different amount, as his contract was fully guaranteed. That would be the second-highest buyout paid in college football history, behind the $77 million owed to Jimbo Fisher through 2031.
Associate head coach Terry Smith will serve as interim coach the rest of the season, Penn State said.
Franklin was hired by Penn State in 2014 after a three-year run at Vanderbilt, where he won 24 games in three years. He replaced Bill O’Brien when he left to become coach of the Houston Texans.
After a pair of 7-6 seasons to start his time in Happy Valley, Franklin guided the Nittany Lions to 11 wins and a Big Ten championship win in 2016 before Penn State lost to USC in the Rose Bowl.
From 2016 to 2025, Penn State was ranked in the top 10 in the preseason every year. It won double-digit games six times, but fell short of the Playoff — never finishing better than seventh until it expanded — to 12 teams in 2024.
Last season, Penn State was a few throws away from reaching the national championship game, leading at halftime but falling to Notre Dame 26-23 in the Orange Bowl. Like so often before, the Nittany Lions came up short against a top team. Franklin is 4-21 against top-10 teams and 1-18 against top-10 Big Ten teams. His winning percentage (.160) against top-10 teams is tied for the third-worst record by a coach (minimum 25 games) at a single school since the poll era began in 1936, according to ESPN.
“I get that narrative, and it’s really not a narrative — it’s factual. It’s the facts,” Franklin said of his reputation for not rising to big moments after this season’s Week 5 loss to Oregon. “I try to look at the entire picture and what we’ve been able to do here. But at the end of the day, we got to find a way to win those games. I totally get it. And I take ownership. I take responsibility.”
But before this season, Franklin hadn’t lost to an unranked team since 2021, when Penn State went nine overtimes against Illinois.
He took the field to boos from Penn State fans before Saturday’s homecoming game against Northwestern. Then Allar suffered a season-ending injury late, ending his college career.
The “Fire Franklin” chants continued after the loss. Now it’s happened, and Penn State is paying a gigantic sum to go find a different coach.
