James Franklin will spend the upcoming season separated from his family, the Penn State head coach revealed in an interview on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.
Fumi Franklin, along with the couple's two daughters, Shola and Addison, will spend the season sheltered at the family's vacation home in Florida in order to safeguard the health of Addison, 12, who suffers from Sickle cell disease.
"There was was a lot of tears, a lot of emotion having this conversation," Franklin said on the program, via All Penn State. "So a lot of heartache over it."
Franklin said the family spent time in Colorado in March, then did not leave their State College home for more than a month.
"Because of my daughter's illness, we've been on lockdown from the beginning," Franklin said this spring. "It's not something we've messed around with at all. We've been on total lockdown."
It's unclear when the Franklin women will re-join James, as the end of the regular season in late November/early December rolls directly into the recruiting stretch run in early-to-mid December in a typical year.
Plenty of coaching families live apart on a permanent or semi-permanent basis, though having this arrangement thrust upon them for the first time because of a pandemic is certainly new.
"When I worked in the NFL, families weren’t allowed to the offices," Franklin said at the AFCA Graduate Assistant career forum in 2018. "I’ve worked at places where they said it was a family environment but it really wasn’t. My wife and kids are at the office almost every day. I’ll be honest with you, I have Coach Guilt. I don’t spend enough time with my wife. I don’t spend enough time with my kids. There isn’t balance. I do think my daughters gain something from this, being raised in an environment that values education, that gives them 125 role models."
The decision to separate was, obviously, a terribly painful one for the Franklin family, and fortunately in their situation a second home was available. Please hold out a good thought for all families facing similar dilemmas without the same resources.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.