"He's a hard coach to believe in": Paul Finebaum serves brutal reality check to James Franklin

James Franklin has coached Penn State since 2014, and he's led the Nittany Lions to winning records in all but one of his 11 seasons with the program. Franklin has earned numerous individual accolades as Penn State's head coach, including but not limited to a Hayes–Schembechler Coach of the Year Award, a Sporting News Coach of the Year Award, and one Woody Hayes trophy.

However, despite his success at Penn State, veteran college football analyst Paul Finebaum is not a fan. Finebaum sees Franklin as a head coach whom he struggles to believe in.

Speaking on "The Paul Finebaum Show", Finebaum said:

"I believe that they (Penn State) have a chance. Now, it's low-hanging fruit to attack James Franklin, but he's never had the groceries like he does this year. By the way, he made it to within a second of the championship game last year. So, it's not like he was slumming it."

Finebaum continued:

"He's a hard coach to believe in. But I also said the same thing about Ryan Day and Jim Harbaugh."

While Finebaum has his doubts about the Penn State Nittany Lions head coach, he did mention that he once had similar concerns about Ryan Day and Jim Harbaugh. Interestingly, both coaches led the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines to National Championship titles.

What's next for James Franklin?

James Franklin is gearing up for his 12th season as Penn State Nittany Lions coach. It's rather rare in the modern college football scene to see coaches spend a prolonged time with their jobs intact.

Franklin is fresh off posting his highest win total as a head coach. He led the Nittany Lions to an impressive 13 wins as they made it to the College Football Playoff Semifinals before losing to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The game went to the wire and was decided by a walk-off field goal with a mere seven seconds to play.

Franklin's next task will be to lead his side to a CFB title game matchup. It'll require him first to guide his side to the expanded College Football Playoff, and then beat some of the best teams.