Penn State football coach James Franklin slapped with 'fire Franklin' chants after Ohio State loss
After starting the 2024 season at 7-0, Penn State picked up their first loss of the year to Ohio State in Week 10. The team's overall record did not seem to matter to their fans after the disappointing defeat as head coach James Franklin was showered with boos as he left the field.
Franklin not only had to deal with boos as he walked into the team's tunnel but listened to fans chanting "fire Franklin," via Audrey Snyder of The Athletic. The 52-year-old did not react to the noise or slow down as he paced into the locker room.
Franklin is currently in his 11th year as the head coach of the Nittany Lions, making him the second-longest tenured head coach in the Big 10 and tied for the eighth-longest in Division I. Only Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, the NCAA's longest-tenured head coach, has been leading the same Big 10 program for longer than he has.
Franklin has been successful throughout his tenure with Penn State but is often criticized for failing to win big games. The loss to Ohio State dropped his record to a mere 1-10 against the Buckeyes. He is now also just 3-18 against top-10-ranked teams, which, for Franklin, have often been against either Ohio State or Michigan.
Michigan's previous head coach, Jim Harbaugh, received similar criticism around a lack of winning big games before he broke the chain and made the College Football Playoffs in 2021. The Wolverines returned to being a powerhouse program after that, culminating with an undefeated national championship season in 2023.
James Franklin's career at Penn State
While Franklin is not at the same level as Harbaugh, there is a chance he can follow a similar career arc as the current Los Angeles Chargers head coach had at Michigan. Penn State has been a perennial top-25 team under Franklin with just a few games each year preventing an elite season.
The highly respected head coach signed with Penn State in 2014 after a successful three-year period with Vanderbilt. His predecessor, Bill O'Brien, left the team after just two years to become the head coach of the Houston Texans in the NFL. Subsequently, Franklin was hired only three years after legendary head coach Joe Paterno was infamously let go.
The expectations have always been high for Franklin in University Park but he has met them more often than not. While the conditions of his hiring were undesirable, Franklin's 11-year run has been the standard at Penn State, a school with a history of lengthy head coaching tenures.
Overall, Franklin owns a record of 95-40 through Week 10 of the 2024 season. He has guided the Nittany Lions to a winning record in all but one of his years with the exception being the shortened 2020 COVID-19 season. In 2016, Franklin was named the Big 10 Coach of the Year after an 11-3 year led to a Rose Bowl berth.
