Former Penn State football coach James Franklin went on ESPN's College GameDay Saturday, to talk about his recent firing. Franklin was canned after starting the season with a disappointing 3-3 record. Penn State pulled the plug on the Franklin tenure, after consecutive losses to Oregon, UCLA and Northwestern.
That free fall stunned Penn State fans. The Nittany Lions entered the 2025 season with national championship aspirations. Franklin opened up to ESPN's hosts Saturday about how he feels following his firing.
“I thought we were going to win a national championship there (at Penn State). That goal hasn’t changed. We’re now going to win a national championship somewhere else,” Franklin said, per NBC Sports reporter Nicole Auerbach.
Franklin said his firing happened very quickly, and he was surprised by it.
“We were a practice Sunday team,” Franklin said on ESPN, “and we have a team meeting at 1:45. About 1:30, the AD walked in and said, ‘We’re gonna make a change, I’m sorry.’ Was in shock, obviously. Really took the next 15 minutes to let my kids know so they wouldn’t find out on the Internet, and then walked down and had a super emotional meeting with the team to tell them I was leaving.
“Really, that was it. It was that quick.”
“That was it. It was that quick.”
James Franklin opens up about the moment he learned he was being fired by Penn State. pic.twitter.com/fehnzSo25N
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 18, 2025
Franklin leaves Penn State after winning a Big Ten championship in 2016. He also posted 104 wins at the school. In the end, that wasn't enough as he struggled against Top 25 opponents.
Penn State has a few names it is considering to be the next coach
The Nittany Lions are already looking for Franklin's replacement. Penn State has its eyes on Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko, as well as Nebraska coach Matt Rhule. Rhule played at Penn State, and Elko is from the northeast area not far from State College.
Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti was seen as another candidate. Cignetti signed a contract extension at Indiana, and that almost certainly takes him out of the running.
Penn State is led by interim coach Terry Smith. The Nittany Lions will try to get back in the win column when they take on Iowa Saturday.
