'I Think I'm Developing a Penn State Story'

James Franklin says Penn State football is in a "really healthy place" eight years after the NCAA sanctions.

Penn State's James Franklin is the longest-tenured coach in the Big Ten East, a status he called "cool and disturbing at the same time." Franklin has walking routes of campus, a favorite coffee spot and a turkey burger named for him at a State College restaurant.

That sort of security seemed distant eight years ago, when the NCAA announced a set of sanctions designed to make Penn State's football team uncompetitive and to humble its fans. As the NCAA said on July 23, 2012, "What some refer to as the death penalty was not severe enough."

Yet here's Franklin, with a 42-11 record over the past four years, a Big Ten title and three New Year's 6 bowl appearances. He has a six-year contract that guarantees him $35.4 million through 2025 and guided a program that, during the 2018-19 fiscal year, generated more than $100 million in revenue for the first time.

Late last season, Franklin reminded people of the program's direction.

"To be honest with you, I don't know if it's talked about enough, in my opinion, to think about how far we have come in the last eight years," Franklin said. "It's remarkable."

Thursday marks the eighth anniversary of the NCAA sanctions, which were guided by investigator Louis Freeh's report into Penn State's handling of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. The NCAA fined Penn State $60 million, banned it from bowl games for four years, reduced football scholarships and vacated late coach Joe Paterno's wins dating to 1998.

"For the next several years now, Penn State can focus on the work of rebuilding its athletic culture and not worrying about whether or not it is going to a bowl game," NCAA President Mark Emmert said then.

The competitive sanctions lasted until September 2014, when the NCAA removed the bowl ban and fully restored the program's scholarships. The NCAA restored Paterno's wins in 2015 following the settlement of a lawsuit that two Pennsylvania lawmakers filed against the governing body of college sports.

Franklin's first two years, both of which ended with 7-6 records, coincided with those decisions but came with challenges the coach later acknowledged. Franklin was the third head coach (fifth counting interims) to whom some players reported, and they were weary of changing voices.

The coach's turning point came at halftime of Penn State's Oct. 1 game against Minnesota. The Lions, 2-2 after a 49-10 loss to Michigan, trailed the Gophers 13-3. Some fans chanted "Fire Franklin" as the coach ran to the locker room.

"I remember that very clearly," Franklin said. "I probably always will."

But Penn State rallied for a 29-26 victory, punctuated by Saquon Barkley's overtime touchdown run. That victory began a nine-game win streak on the way to the Big Ten title.

Since that loss to Michigan, the Lions are 40-9 with a 2-1 record in New Year's 6 bowl games. Penn State has been ranked 12th or better in the final College Football Playoff rankings for the past four years.

All that prompted ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit to proclaim last fall that "Penn State's brand is back."

"You have to look back at where this program was, really not that long ago," Herbstreit said. "I mean, Bill O'Brien took over this program [in 2012], I remember thinking, 'Man, how is he going to do this? ... And he started to give this program a pulse and get them back and it was like, wow, these guys are going to a bowl game. This is positive.

"So now James Franklin comes in and it takes him two or three years to kind of get things up and recruiting players that are pretty good. ...Look at Nebraska, look at Miami, look at Florida State, look at Tennessee, look at USC. There are big-time perennial powers that wish they could be Penn State over these last three years."

In a recent interview with SI.com, Franklin marveled at the concept that he's beginning his seventh season at Penn State. Coaching for seven years at one program no longer is the norm in college football.

"Whereas at Penn State, I think it's a place where people come and expect you to stay," Franklin said. "So when you're being compared to 50 years, seven years doesn't feel like a lot. But when you look at the industry as a whole, I think it's significant."

Franklin feels as though he has a "good understanding" of Penn State and his place in it. He said the football program is in "a really healthy place." And he's taking a larger stake in the university.

Last fall Franklin and his wife Fumi formed the Franklin Family Education Equity Scholarship. It was designed to encourage first-generation college students from lower-income families whose backgrounds are underrepresented at Penn State.

In July, Franklin announced that the scholarship had raised more than $460,000 to establish an endowed fund. 

Be the change that you wish to see in the world. -Gandhi

Please take a moment to read the following message. #WeAre pic.twitter.com/f2X9Hl1alv

— James Franklin (@coachjfranklin) July 10, 2020

"I think I’m developing a Penn State story," he said. "I think I’m developing a true appreciation for what makes this place so special. Again, I know we’ve still got a lot of work to do, and I know I still have 43 more years or whatever it may be until anybody will really listen to me.

"But I do feel like I'm part of this community. I think I’ve shown people that I’m invested in this community, and this community is important to me, this university is important to me, not just by the wins on the football field but by our actions off it, too."

Get the latest Penn State news by joining the community. Click "Follow" at the top right of our AllPennState page. Mobile users click the notification bell. And please follow AllPennState on Twitter @MarkWogenrich.