The Penn State Nittany Lions came into the season with the hopes of winning a National Championship after making a deep run in the College Football Playoff. Fast forward 6 weeks and the Penn State Nittany Lions are 3-3 in a stunning collapse losing games to Oregon, UCLA, and Northwestern. The pressure in State College reached a boling point and on Sunday, the Nittany Lions made the stunning move.
Penn State fires James Franklin amid disaster
On Saturday Afternoon, ESPN's Pete Thamel reported that the Penn State Nittany Lions were firing their long time head coach.
Per his contract, Penn State owes James Franklin more than $49 million. https://t.co/IlWOXPS3QX
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) October 12, 2025
The move is surprising in the sense that it requires a massive financial investment as the Nittany Lions will pay James Franklin a $49 Million buyout and then additional money to whichever assistants are let go.
The narrative around James Franklin was that he could never win the big game, and when he lost to Oregon with this all in roster, it only got worse. The nail in James Franklin's coffin was losing the games we never saw him lose the last two weeks, with collapses against UCLA and Northwestern. This season was only going to get worse with Drew Allar out for the season and Penn State chose to look for the future now.
The Nittany Lions hired James Franklin in 2011, replacing Bill O'Brien who departed for the Houston Texans. Franklin leaves Happy Valley with a career 104-45 record including a 64-36 record in Big Ten play.
James Franklin did a great job with the program, bringing the team back from dark times to National relevance as they were constantly in the hunt for the Big Ten and College Football Playoff. Not being able to win against the best teams in the Country will end up defining his tenure but, it can't be understated what he meant to this program.