Penn State AD Sandy Barbour stated unequivocally this week that head coach James Franklin is in no jeopardy of losing his job at the end of this season.
Speaking to a chamber of commerce group in Altoona, Pa., Barbour said, "He's not on the hot seat, and he's not going to be on the hot seat in December.
"James is going to be our football coach," she elaborated, according to the Altoona Mirror. "I believe in where this football program is going under James Franklin, and I think he's going to be our football coach, period."
In his third season at Penn State, Franklin is 16-14 in leading the Nittany Lions. While dealing with the ramifications of scholarship reductions resulting from the Jerry Sandusky scandal, Franklin has successfully guided the undermanned Lions into bowl games in each of his first two seasons but struggled to compete with the upper-echelon programs in the hotly competitive Big Ten East. Franklin is 0-7 against the trio of Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State, with the last five setbacks all coming by multiple scores, including a 49-10 loss to Michigan on Saturday.
Thus, the hot seat questions.
Franklin earns $4.2 million this season and would be due in the realm of $12.5 million if Penn State were to move on after this season.
Here is Penn State's schedule this year. The Lions went 7-6 in each of their first two seasons under Franklin.