James Franklin recognized by "Bear" Bryant watch list

Penn State head coach James Franklin and the Nittany Lion football program are off to a 6-0 start, climbing to No. 3 in the national rankings. For the effort, he has been recognized on Wednesday on the Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year watch list.

Franklin is one of five Big Ten coaches to earn the distinction, joined by Oregon's Dan Lanning, Ohio State's Ryan Day, Illini head coach Bret Bielema, and Indiana's Curt Cignetti.

This is Franklin's second consecutive season notching a perfect record in the regular season's first half. His teams achieved the same mark or better in 2023 (6-0), 2019 (8-0), and 2017 (7-0).

James Franklin, Penn State secure OT win at Southern Cal

Most recently, Franklin and the Nittany Lions are coming off a 33-30 overtime win at Southern Cal on Saturday. Staying perfect on the season with the decision, Franklin acknowledged the payoff of a big victory in the celebration that emerged for his coaching colleagues and players in its aftermath.

"It was really cool," said Franklin. "The visiting lockers make it hard because they're so small, there's no space. Most home lockers, you got space where you can enjoy it all together. And the visiting locker rooms are broken up and divided and small. So it's, it's hard. It's not the same. But as you can imagine, it was, it was awesome in there. And to me, that's what it's all about.

"For me at this point in my career, I just want to see the players achieving their dreams and having fun and being rewarded for all their hard work. And the same thing with the staff. So that's what it's all about."

Staff recognized with Franklin

Mirroring the sentiment in its social media post acknowledging the coach of the year watch list honors, Franklin is pictured with the rest of his Penn State staff. A graphic designed listing the names of 12 assistant coaches and analysts, the Nittany Lions included linebackers coach Dan Connor and quarterbacks coach Danny O'Brien with the traditional 10 other assistants.

Next set to take on Wisconsin for another nationally televised, primetime kick on October 26 (7:30 p.m., NBC), Franklin and the Nittany Lions are progressing through a bye week. And, having cleared the hurdle of topping a USC team with talent, Franklin highlighted both the accomplishments of his program thus far as well as its room for growth moving forward.

"For me at this point in my career, I want to see them achieve their dreams and goals. So real, really cool for me. It's going to make for a great ride home. It's going to make great, make for a great bye week," said Franklin. "There's a ton of things I think we're going to be able to learn from this game, and we need to learn from this game, because we're far from perfect. But we're also 6-0 and 1-0 this week, and we're going to take this and run."