James Franklin has put together a remarkable 101-42 record since taking over at Penn State heading into the 2014 season.
Yet, despite that success, which include three straight seasons of double-digit wins and a 13-win season last fall, critics of Franklin's tenure in Happy Valley come out in droves to note his struggle against top tier teams like Ohio State and Michigan as well as other programs ranked among the top 5 or 10 in the country at the time of their matchup.
What a lot of those folks lose sight of is the numerous times in the past that Franklin has been publicly critical of Penn State brass and their willingness to commit to the same standard as the nation's elite college football programs.
After over a decade of pounding the table, James Franklin shared with Andy Staples recently that he feels he finally has alignment with his program from the top down.
"For really the first time here at Penn State, we have the alignment that I have been pounding on the table for, for 12 years. That's from the board, to our president Neeli Bendapudi - who has been phenomenal, to our athletic director Pat Kraft - who played football in the Big Ten and understands what it takes and we've seen that type of commitment with some of the things we've been able to do."
"And then the head football coach. You know, it's a bit unusual, I've been here 12 years - which that alone is unusual - but I've had three different ADs and three different presidents and we are in a great position right now. So when we talk about alignment, we have that in a way that we've never had before."
This off season, Franklin was able to leverage that alignment from the top to help land arguably the hire of the off season by landing Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles to be the Nittany Lions new defensive coordinator, replacing Tim Allen who left for Clemson.
With the resources Franklin has been given, coupled with the hire of Knowles and the top-down alignment coming off an appearance in the College Football Playoff with plenty of key pieces returning to "run it back" for Penn State in 2025, is this the season Franklin and the Nittany Lions break through and win a Big Ten title and set their sights on bringing a national title back to campus?
James Franklin said something during our interview that merits a 👀.
— Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) April 1, 2025
“I’m in a situation now where where, for really the first time here at Penn State, we have the alignment that I’ve been pounding the table for for 12 years.” pic.twitter.com/3GtH5ZHJNi