Penn State fired head coach James Franklin on Sunday, ending his 12th season in charge. Franklin signed a deal that says he owes more tha...
Franklin signed a deal that says he owes more than $49 million. There has only been one bigger buyout in college football history, and that was Jimbo Fisher's $76 million deal with Texas A&M.
The school says that associate head coach Terry Smith will be the Nittany Lions' temporary head coach for the rest of the season.
Franklin's program seemed to reach a new low when the Nittany Lions lost to UCLA two weeks ago, even though they had been to the College Football Playoff quarterfinals less than a year before. UCLA was winless and hadn't held a lead all season.
The problems flew back to Penn State with the team, and on Saturday, fans chanted "Fire Franklin!" at Beaver Stadium. Following their loss to Northwestern, the Nittany Lions lost their third game in a row and their second at home. The crowd at Happy Valley was shocked.
ESPN Research says that Penn State is the first team since the FBS and FCS split in 1978 to lose two games in a row even though they were favoured by 20 points or more in each one.
On Saturday, the Nittany Lions lost to the Wildcats. In the first half alone, they got six penalties worth 71 yards. They could never get out of their own way, and that was before QB Drew Allar hurt himself in the fourth quarter and had to miss the rest of the season. Earlier in the season, Franklin started his losing streak at home against Oregon. At Penn State, he was 4-21 against AP top-10 teams and 1-18 against top-10 Big Ten teams.
The move was announced by Patrick Kraft, vice president for intercollegiate sports at Penn State. He thanked Franklin and said that the school holds their "athletics programs to the highest of standards."
"... We believe this is the right moment for new leadership at the helm of our football program to advance us towards Big Ten and national championships," Kraft told us.
ESPN Research says that Franklin's.160 winning percentage against AP top-10 teams is tied for the third-worst record by a coach at a single school (minimum 25 games) since the polls began in 1936.