Penn State gave Franklin everything and he couldn’t win the big one
PSU point/counterpoint: Your biggest takeaway from the James Franklin firing is what?
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If you accept Pat Kraft at his word -- that James Franklin's dismissal was "not a three-game thing" -- it's apparent all that Penn State gave the coach, who by his own admission would "pound the table" for anything and everything, came with a price.
Which is: OK, but you had better deliver.
That's my biggest takeaway in this stunning turn of events -- how a guy who could be playing for a berth in the College Football Playoff final just seven games ago could now be out of a job, at a place that set a standard for patience.
That someone ranked No. 2 on Sept. 27 and was within a defensive stop of beating Oregon and probably being No. 1 in two weeks became so unpopular with the fan base that the chants of "Fire Franklin" could be heard in Boalsburg.
The truth is it was more than this year's collapse.
It was building through big-game losses and too many head-scratching decisions on the day of the game -- most of which were the final straw that clinched defeat.
And not necessarily to superior teams. As new interim coach Terry Smith said Monday, in essence admitting what many observed in the UCLA and Northwestern losses.
"When you watch us play, you guys will come in here and your questions won't be about effort. Your questions won't be, 'they look lethargic,'" Smith said. "If we lose, it's going to be because that team beat us, and they were just better. We won't answer questions about how we lost the last three games. There is not one of those teams that we could arguably say was better than us, including Oregon."
Another takeaway is turn on an NFL game -- any NFL game -- and chances are a couple of the best players in it are Penn State products. That is a credit to Franklin's recruiting and player development, but it's maddening to see the likes of Micah Parsons, Adbul Carter, Tyler Warren, Saquon Barkley and on and on and on were all part of three-loss PSU teams.
And that the only time Franklin beat Ohio State was on a blocked field goal.
Franklin repeatedly praised Kraft and the university administration, saying it was the "most aligned" that he had experienced in his 12 years, and he got them to make Knowles the highest paid defensive coordinator in the land at $3.1 million annually.
That was the crowning blow as Knowles' unit never picked up his scheme (and after this year, he'll have to be paid off, too).
Poaching from the Buckeyes was ego-driven, but it's clear Penn State could afford it: After all, it's now going to pay Franklin $49 million just to pack up.
But it was another example -- the final example -- of how Penn State almost always said yes to Franklin's requests (OK, maybe it didn't extend the runway at the Centre County Airport, and he occasionally had to fly out of Harrisburg, as if that was a big deal.)
That's my biggest takeaway: James Franklin was a very decent guy who put the Nittany Lions back in the national conversation, but Penn State gave him everything he wanted, and he still couldn't make them elite.
Even after he promised to do so.
Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.