James Franklin Admits He Was Too Much Of A 'CEO' At Penn State Before Shocking Virginia Tech Move
The former Nittany Lions coach explains the 'tricky situation' that led to his firing.
James Franklin was fired as head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions after nearly 11 years in State College, a stunning conclusion to what had been an impressive tenure.
In what was a crazy coaching carousel in college football in 2025, Franklin's firing was one of the most surprising. To outsiders, and to Franklin himself. He spoke about it in a recent interview, saying that being pushed out at Penn State left him with a "huge chip" on his shoulder heading into the 2026 season at Virginia Tech.
But while the chip on his shoulder is a result of his firing, what does Franklin believe was the cause of it?
Fans would have their own answer, whether it be underperformance in rivalry games or against top Big Ten teams, but the final straw for the administration was the disastrous start to 2025. The Nittany Lions lost at home to the Oregon Ducks, suffered a huge upset at the Rose Bowl to the UCLA Bruins the following week, then lost at home in shocking fashion to the Northwestern Wildcats, 22-21. A day later, Franklin was gone.
And he has an explanation for what went wrong.
Former Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin. (Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)
James Franklin Believes He Became A 'CEO' At Penn State
Franklin joined the "Speaker Series" on "Josh Pate's College Football Show" this week, giving his perspective on how things went sideways in State College. Part of that, he says, is that he became too much of a "CEO," something that he's grown out of after leaving. He told Pate that he's explained to transfer portal recruits that "The James Franklin you knew at Penn State is not the James Franklin that you know now, and not from a negative standpoint, but just like everybody needs to be growing and evolving and learning from experiences."
Pate brought up that he'd heard Franklin say that he became "More and more of a CEO," meaning he was "less and less in the weeds, hands on, day to day in practice, and that's something you wanted to get back to." Pate asked how different spring ball has looked at Virginia Tech with a different approach.
"So, I think it's a combination of factors, right? When you're at a place like Penn State and you've had the type of success that we've had and you're able to go out and hire the people with the resumes, it's a fine line because you're hiring these people to do a job and then how much do you get involved and how much do you let them do their jobs and you want them to feel supported and those types of things. But that's the tricky situation, right? So I felt like when I took this time and look back at it, had become more of a CEO that I really want to be."
Becoming more hands-on has been "great," Franklin continued. "I'm enjoying it. Wanted to get back to, you know, kind of how this thing all started."
The problem with success at a big school is that coordinators are always leaving for other jobs or better opportunities. When that happens, replacing them is vital, particularly when you're taking on more of a CEO-type role instead of doing minute-by-minute coaching. Franklin seems to think he may have let that balance get away from him towards the end at Penn State.
Though then again, he was a few points away from playing in a National Championship game in the 2024-2025 playoffs. So things weren't entirely bad.