Penn State has fired coach James Franklin six games into his 12th season with the Nittany Lions, the university announced Sunday amid a disastrous three-game slide. 

The No. 2 team in the preseason AP Top 25 just two months ago, the Nittany Lions slipped to 0-3 in Big Ten play following a stunning 22-21 home loss to Northwestern in Week 7 — a game in which they were a three-touchdown favorite. The massive upset was Penn State’s second in a row after falling at previously winless UCLA on Oct. 4, making it the first FBS team since 1978 to lose back-to-back games as favorites of at least 20 points. 

Associate head coach and cornerbacks coach Terry Smith will serve as interim for the remainder of the 2025 season. 

“Penn State owes an enormous amount of gratitude to Coach Franklin who rebuilt our football program into a national power,” Penn State athletic director Patrick Kraft said in a statement. “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.” 

Penn State also dropped its Big Ten opener in double-overtime against Oregon, which marked Franklin’s 15th straight loss against an AP top-six team. 

Coming off a College Football Playoff semifinal appearance against Notre Dame last year, the Nittany Lions were expected to repeat as a playoff team and push for a Big Ten title. Instead, they join a growing list of programs searching for a new coach. Penn State’s 3-3 record marks the worst six-game start for a preseason AP top-two team since Oklahoma in 1964. 

Franklin departs Happy Valley with a 104-45 overall record, including a 64-36 mark in Big Ten play. Penn State made its second Big Ten Championship Game appearance last season. The Nittany Lions won the Big Ten just once (2016) during Franklin’s tenure. They did win at least 10 games in six of his 12 seasons, including three straight double-digit win campaigns from 2022-24. 

Prior to his hiring at Penn State in 2014, Franklin spent three seasons at Vanderbilt. He led the Commodores to back-to-back nine-win seasons and top-25 finishes from 2012-13. 

James Franklin buyout, contract information 

Franklin’s latest contract at Penn State paid him around $8 million annually through 2031, including a $500,000 retention bonus paid each year on Dec. 31. That same contract stipulated that Franklin’s firing means he’s owed all of the remaining money on the deal from the date he was fired, not including that retention bonus. 

That means Penn State will owe Franklin around $50 million. Franklin’s buyout is the second-largest in college football history, behind only the $76 million that Texas A&M has to pay former coach Jimbo Fisher. 

A timeline of the collapse 

A hopeful 2025 campaign started out promising enough. The Nittany Lions, loaded with veteran talent like quarterback Drew Allar and the running back tandem of Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, stormed to a 3-0 record with wins against overmatched nonconference opponents. 

It was after that auspicious start that things began to unravel…

Sept. 27: Penn State storms back from a 17-3 fourth quarter deficit to force overtime against No. 6 Oregon. The Ducks score a touchdown on each of their two possessions. Allar throws an interception on Penn State’s first offensive play of the second overtime period, handing the Nittany Lions their first loss of the year. Oct. 4: Penn State hits the road to play an 0-4 UCLA team led by an interim coach and a brand new offensive coordinator. That new coordinator, Jerry Neuheisel, helps his team jump out to a stunning 30-7 lead. Penn State battles back but isn’t able to recover. Penn State is the first AP top-10 team to lose to an 0-4 team since 1985 BYU. Oct. 11: Penn State returns home to play a 3-2 Northwestern team that lost 23-3 to Tulane in its season opener. Northwestern walks out with a 22-21 win, its first victory in Beaver Stadium since 2014 — Franklin’s first year with the Nittany Lions. Penn State also lost Allar to a season-ending injury. 

Penn State’s 3-3 start is its worst of the Franklin era in a full 12-game season. The Nittany Lions did open their 2020 campaign with an 0-5 record before winning four straight games to close the year. 

Big-game struggles persist 

Penn State’s precipitous fall through the first half of the 2025 season certainly catalyzed the administration’s decision to part with Franklin, but discontent has been brewing under the surface for a while now. It’s all due to Franklin’s inability to win any big games, a consistent struggle that plagued his entire tenure in spite of the resources available to him at a storied program like Penn State. 

Franklin’s .160 winning percentage against top-10 teams is tied for the third-worst mark by a coach (minimum of 25 games) at a single school since the AP poll era began. That record is significantly worse when distilled to top-6 teams: Franklin posted a 2-21 ledger in such contests, the second worst mark all-time (minimum of 20 games) behind former Virginia Tech boss Frank Beamer. 

Here’s a deeper dive into the numbers behind Franklin’s big-game struggles: 

1-15 against top-5 teams 4-21 against top-10 teams 15-31 against top-25 teams 

Beyond that, Franklin finished with a 4-17 showing against top Big Ten foes Michigan and Ohio State. That record drops to 1-13 against the Buckeyes and the Wolverines if they have a ranking beside their name. As a result, the Nittany Lions made just two appearances in the Big Ten Championship Game during Franklin’s tenure. 

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