How the Fiesta Bowl Coaches Bonded Over Their Division II Roots

Penn State's James Franklin and Boise State's Spencer Danielson got started in Division II football. With that, Franklin said, comes humility.

Boise State coach Spencer Danielson (left) and Penn State coach James Franklin pose with the Fiesta Bowl trophy Dec. 30 in Scottsdale, Arizona. / Mark Wogenrich/Penn State on SI

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona | At times this week, Boise State coach Spencer Danielson has sounded like a chapter president of the James Franklin Fan Club. Danielson has turned every media corner at the Fiesta Bowl smiling brightly at the Penn State head coach, reflecting on how long he has followed Franklin's career and noting the occasional similarities of their arcs.

"Obviously for the past decade at Penn State, the success they've had, he's just been someone that I've admired from afar for a long time," Danielson said Monday.

The Fiesta Bowl coaching matchup is among the intriguing subplots of Tuesday's College Football Playoff quarterfinal, bringing together two coaches from different corners of the country who have more in common than they thought. Franklin, at 52, is the oldest head coach left in the eight-team field, having just won his 100th game at Penn State. He has scraped for 11 years in State College to get to this moment, which he now views with an almost elder's lens.

Danielson, meanwhile, is the tournament's second-youngest remaining head coach at 36, having taken over Boise State in 2023 as interim head coach. Since then he has gone 15-2, won a Mountain West Conference title and coach-of-the-year honors and led the Broncos to the playoff's No. 3 overall seed. Danielson has set an early pace that's hard to fathom.

"Obviously I'm just getting to know Spencer, and what he's done in a short period of time as a head coach has been really impressive," Franklin said.

Franklin and Danielson are similar. They're relentlessly positive, process-driven coaches who slogan with the best. Danielson has helped Boise State carve "Please count us out" into the program's lexicon. Franklin, meanwhile, went from 1-0 to #LTFI. They have strong opinions on who should be college football's commissioner. Franklin nominated Nick Saban, while Danielson suggested one-time Boise State coach Chris Petersen (who Franklin endorsed as well). They each have two daughters as well.

Dig deeper and you'll find another connection of which Franklin is especially proud: Both began their college football careers in Division II. Franklin played quarterback at East Stroudsburg University ("the Harvard of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference," he said), and Danielson played linebacker at Azusa Pacific, where he transferred after starting at San Diego.

A unique aspect of the Fiesta Bowl is the head coaches’ D2 backgrounds. Penn State’s James Franklin played and coached at @ESUniversity (“the Harvard of” the PSAC, he said).

Boise State’s Spencer Danielson played and coached at Azusa Pacific. Franklin on being a D2 product. pic.twitter.com/IjDwbOZfXL

— Mark Wogenrich (@MarkWogenrich) December 30, 2024

After their playing careers ended, Franklin and Danielson got their coaching starts in Division II. Franklin worked at Kutztown University and East Stroudsburg for a year each. Danielson spent four seasons on the staff at his alma mater. To Franklin, there's something humbling about the Division II football world.

"When you're a Division II coach and a Division II player, a lot of the things that maybe our team takes for granted, or the staff takes for granted, we don't," Franklin said. "When you're a Division II guy, you kind of have to do it all. I think there's a lot of value in that. There's not 75 coaches; there's eight. And you're doing everything from lining the fields to coaching the guys. I remember I used to fill soda machines up on campus in the morning when I worked at Kutztown and the players made fun of me, kind of going to class, talking trash as they walked by. But I think humility is such an important part of our job in serving others. When you've been a Division II guy and kind of had to work your way up the ladder, I think you learn a ton from that."

Danielson's first season on Azusa Pacific's coaching staff, in 2013, coincided with Franklin's last at Vanderbilt. Danielson was a graduate assistant, a temporary tag anywhere in college football but truly in Division II. "It's not really a graduate assistant in Division II football," he said. "It's like, can you survive long enough to stay in this profession?" But the role got Danielson a trip to the AFCA convention, where he heard Franklin speak. The moment still resonates.

"[I was] just blown away by him," Danielson said. "He was a Division II football player, seeing his journey, seeing the success that Coach Franklin has had everywhere he goes. Obviously I did not know him, he did not know me. But [I had] just so much respect from afar, seeing the product that he's continually put on the field in every spot he's ever been."

It has been interesting to watch Franklin and Danielson navigate Fiesta Bowl week from different vantage points. Danielson understands he's a newcomer and has to develop his voice. "Nobody is calling me to make changes [regarding college football], so I don't think about it a ton," he said. "I focus on things that move the needle and what matters for our team."

So does Franklin. But he's also at a career stage where the coaching tree matters, where having a voice matters, and where he has an accumulated wisdom to offer. Further, it sounds as though Franklin sees something in Danielson that reminds him of himself.

"I think it's the best compliment you can get as a coach is that your players play hard and they do it the right way and they do it with class," Franklin said. "And they represent not only him, but the university the right way and the community the right way. I think that's more challenging than it's ever been when these young people got people pulling at them from every direction. This is just really kind of the start of our relationship. We'll have a heated, passionate, competitive game, but hopefully we'll have an opportunity to visit more and get to know each other."

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