"I was raised by a single mom": When James Franklin got 100% real on genesis of his leadership before football career

Penn State Nittany Lions coach James Franklin was just a kid from Langhorne, Pennsylvania, before he became one of the best coaches in modern college football. He was raised by a single mother who worked as a custodian at his high school.

As a coach, Franklin is looked upon by student athletes as a leader and someone whom they can seek advice from. However, the seeds of his leadership were sown long before he arrived at Penn State.

In May 2015, the coach was on the stage of TEDx Talks, where he shared the story of how his leadership journey began.

"I was raised by a single mom who was a custodian at my high school, and that’s really where it all started for me — studying my mom," Franklin said (0:59).

"That’s really where it all started for me — studying my mom. I’ve studied people my whole life. I studied my mom: the work ethic she had, the leadership, and the relationship that we had. The love I had for her — the fact that I did not want to let her down — it started there. That’s where it all began for us."

After earning his degree from East Stroudsburg University, Franklin wanted to help people through mental health counseling. However, after some internships, Franklin realized it wasn't what he wanted to do.

James Franklin developed a coaching manual after 10 years studying people

After James Franklin redirected his career path, he worked at Kutztown University.

"I was there for six months," Franklin said in May 2015, via TEDx Talks. "After Kutztown, I coached as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in Roskilde, Denmark. I had a great experience."

What followed was a whirlwind of coaching stints across Europe, multiple U.S. states and the NFL, while studying leadership in every environment he entered.

Franklin knew he wanted to become a coach and had to be clear about the philosophy. He developed a coaching manual in those 10 years.

"I spent all my summers developing a head coaching manual," Franklin said. "It had a tab in there for everything — how I was going to handle discipline, how I was going to focus on academics, what the offensive philosophy was going to be, what the defensive philosophy was going to be. I spent all this time going through it. I had been working on it for ten years."

The playbook helped Franklin develop his program over the years. Last season, he helped the Nittany Lions to the College Football Playoff, but they lost to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the semifinal.