When James Franklin opened up on major challenges he encountered at Penn State after brief stint with Vanderbilt

James Franklin has been the coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions since 2014. This past season, he led them to the semifinal of the college football playoff. Things are smooth sailing now, but that was not always the case.

In June 2023, Franklin sat down for an interview with Adam Breneman. Franklin opened up about some of the challenges he faced after arriving at Penn State following a brief stint at Vanderbilt.

"Well, I think the first thing, the surprise was things that I found about the sanctions, which they didn't tell me about in the interview process," Franklin said (Timestamp 6:00). "We had three players walking around campus still on football scholarships that I couldn't replace.

"When I got here, I was shocked how far behind the facilities were, technology was. The bones were phenomenal but I was kind of shocked about things like that. Then the other thing was the players. The players themselves kind of had a wall up because, if I remember correctly, I was like the fifth head coach in 27 months if you count interim head coaches."

James Franklin said it took him some time to build trust with a tight-knit group of players in Penn State, which he did not really have to do during his time at Vanderbilt.

James Franklin took over at Penn State after three seasons at Vanderbilt

Before he got the opportunity to coach the Penn State Nittany Lions, James Franklin was the coach of the Vanderbilt Commodores for three seasons. After a 6-7 first season, he led the team to back-to-back 9-4 seasons in 2012 and 2013. Afterward, he got his opportunity to coach at Penn State.

While not every season has been a huge success with the Nittany Lions, Franklin has established himself as one of the most respected coaches in college football over the past decade. After last year's semifinal appearance, Penn State appears to be on the upswing and is expected to compete at the top of the Big Ten again.