Last year, James Franklin stood at a crossroads after a 22-21 loss against Northwestern. Tense, looking almost defeated, he stood at the 10-yard line, hugged every player while “Fire Franklin” chants echoed in the background. The 54-year-old knew at that moment that his time at Penn State was up. Nevertheless, he took responsibility for the loss and declared, “I will get it fixed.” The firing came anyway despite a $49 million buyout, amid mounting donor frustration and fan resentment. But no one knew that, behind the scenes, something was brewing all along in the locker room that contributed to his mid-season exit.

Penn State’s senior cornerback appeared in a February 28 interview and detailed what happened in the background. “I don’t really want to get into detail with just a lot of stuff that happened,” Audavion Collins said.” We weren’t disciplined as a team. We didn’t have discipline, we didn’t. And we had some players doing their own stuff. So that’s all I’ll say on that…It was frustrating.”

In his 11 years at Penn State, James Franklin always struggled in big games. His 4-21 record against AP top-10 opponents wasn’t improving, and in 2025, the team couldn’t even defeat small teams. After an overtime loss against Oregon at home, Penn State went on to lose 42-37 against UCLA, a team that was with an interim head coach and had not led before hosting Penn State.

Thereafter, the Nittany Lions hosted a 21.5-point underdog Northwestern, and again fell 22-21. Despite having a good and long-term relationship with Franklin, AD Pat Kraft fired him, but cited reasons to be more than just the three losses. In the background, though, morale was at an all-time low in the locker room, and players were already entering games anticipating a loss.

“The culture had gotten really tight,” an Athletic department source told ESPN. “People around here were like, ‘We’re going to get f—ing crushed by Oregon.'” After the Oregon loss, a source close to Penn State described the team as “emotionless” and said that it “needed inspiration and confidence.” Amid that impending need, all James Franklin got was “hesitation,” the source said to ESPN.

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After watching their Big 10 counterparts, Ohio State, win the natty in 2024 after pouring $20 million into the roster, Penn State replicated that blueprint. Amid the $700 million renovation of Beaver Stadium, Penn State provided everything Franklin wanted. Franklin got the money to keep Drew Allar from going in the NFL, along with ace RBs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen. The Langhorne, Pennsylvania native also solved his most glaring 2024 problem: the receiving unit.

He brought in Syracuse’s captain and veteran WR Trebor Pena. He took in First Team All-Sun Belt, Devonte Ross, along with USC’s Kyron Hudson. But when it came to performance? “Wide receivers weren’t finishing routes, guys weren’t finishing blocks,” a program source said to ESPN. “The defensive line not being where they’re supposed to be — things that were always done at Penn State weren’t happening.”

The team’s struggles boiled down to hesitation and a lack of confidence in players. Expectations for Penn State had gone from doing “great things” to proclaiming “natty or bust” in just one season, the same expectations that Franklin had led the team to. In 2024, James Franklin showed Happy Valley the dream of a playoff run. A dream that remained unfulfilled as Franklin retained his “best roster and coaches” ever in his PSU tenure, coming in 2025. In reality, it was always going to fail, with the way Franklin was aiming to progress in Happy Valley.

James Franklin became a casualty of PSU’s lofty aspirations

When coaches like Dan Lanning took those fourth-down calls five times in the game, Franklin chose a safe and conservative approach. When facing a fourth-and-9 call, he sent his punt team in. It was a touchback, and the Ducks capitalized quickly, scoring two touchdowns in consecutive drives. Penn State’s 2025 season fell like a house of cards thereafter.

“Right now, we’re comfortable being great,” Franklin said after a one-point loss to Ohio State in 2018. “I’m going to make sure that everybody in our program, including myself, is very uncomfortable. … We are going to break through.” Penn State hierarchy and fans decided that the 2025 season was the time to move up from those “great” results, and everything crumbled under that immense pressure. The lack of confidence, low morale, and plunging desire were just its byproducts.

It’s hard to say if new head coach Kyle Whittingham can realize that natty dream. But during Franklin’s time at Penn State, the team finished with double-digit wins six times and won 104 games. That can soften his public perception with time. In truth, Franklin’s fault was just that he didn’t adapt fast enough in the current fast-paced college football world, and in turn, it backfired. But amid all of it, “the players really did love him,” a source said to ESPN.