The James Franklin era comes to an unceremonious end
Franklin did a lot of good in Happy Valley. But it was time for everyone to move on.
James Franklin’s first loss at Penn State came to Northwestern. His 45th and final loss also came to the Wildcats.
In between came most of his 104 wins, with the 100th win coming in the first round of last year’s College Football Playoff, setting off a locker room celebration led by the man who ended up firing him Sunday, athletic director Patrick Kraft.
Kraft, per the Centre Daily Times’ Jon Sauber, was not with Franklin in the minutes after Saturday’s 22-21 loss to the Cats, a departure from the duo’s postgame standard operating procedure and an absence that spoke volumes about the void that was about to be atop Penn State’s football program.
Franklin, normally protective of injury information, had no problem after the game volunteering Drew Allar’s lost-for-the-season status. The self-described Pennsylvania boy with a Penn State heart then pled little allegiance to the school when pressed repeatedly on his job future, instead turning his attention to his broken locker room.
He knew it was over.
Everyone knew.
Penn State and Franklin had reached past the point of no return with each other.
It is sad that it came to this. It is stunning, really, when you think about it.