James Franklin Says Nick Saban Isn't Happy With Him Over Idea for New CFB Job

The Penn State coach was floating Saban's name around for a new role in college football.

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin said that Nick Saban didn't appreciate having his name thrown around as a hypothetical college football commissioner. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Penn State Nittany Lions head football coach James Franklin has a singular focus this week of getting his program ready to face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Orange Bowl, with a chance to punch a ticket to the national championship.

But there's still plenty on Franklin's mind when it comes to big picture matters in the sport. After all, college athletics is in an unprecedented place with conference realignment, NIL and revenue sharing, just to name a few of the sport's biggest talking points.

Franklin believes that college football needs a leader—a commissioner. But Franklin said that former Alabama Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban, who is now one of the premier voices in the sport at ESPN after a Hall of Fame coaching career, wouldn't be interested in the hypothetical role.

"I think there's just a ton of things that need to be discussed and looked at," Franklin said about the state of college football. "And I think we need to do it with people that do not feel the pressure from their university or their conference. I was on a call the other day with Nick Saban and he wasn't real happy with me promoting him for the commissioner of college football. But I think we need that. We need somebody that is looking at it from a big picture perspective."

"I was on a call the other day with Nick Saban and he wasn't real happy about me promoting him for the Commissioner of college football."

James Franklin shares his thoughts on the idea of adding a CFB Commissioner in the future ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/6h90NJUoX5

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) January 8, 2025

Franklin is right. The sport is lacking direction right now in this new Wild West frontier. Whether it's Saban or somebody else, a sole leader at the forefront of the sport would likely be best for all parties involved.

Just don't expect it to be the greatest college coach of all-time.

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