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James Franklin Reveals How He Found Out He Was Getting Fired By Penn State
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- James Franklin Reveals How He Found Out He Was Getting Fired By Penn State
It has been six days since the Penn State Nittany Lions fired head coach James Franklin on Sunday following a third straight loss.
Penn State opened the season with a 3-0 record before losing to the Oregon Ducks, UCLA Bruins and Northwestern Wildcats. The Oregon game was a double-overtime thriller, while the games against UCLA and Northwestern were complete letdowns.
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Franklin has taken some time to process the decision since he was the head coach for 12 seasons, and on Saturday's edition of ESPN's "College GameDay," he made his first public comments since being fired. He discussed how it went down following the loss to Northwestern.
Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin walks off the field following a game against the Northwestern Wildcats.
"The AD walked in and said we're gonna make a change, I'm sorry," Franklin explained to the "College GameDay" crew . "Was in shock, obviously. Really took the next 15 minutes to let my kids know so that they wouldn't find out on the internet, and then I walked down and had a super emotional meeting with the team to tell them I was leaving. That was it. It was that quick."
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Associate head coach Terry Smith will serve as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season while the school works to hire Franklin's replacement. Penn State is the top job open in college football right now, especially after the program got to the College Football Playoff semifinals last season.
The Nittany Lions have six games left in the 2025 season and still have bowl eligibility to play for. They'll play their seventh game of the season on Saturday against the Iowa Hawkeyes .
The game will be inside Iowa's Kinnick Stadium and will start at 7 p.m. ET on Peacock.
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Related: Demand Grows for James Franklin to Replace $51 Million SEC Head Coach
Related: Nick Saban Sends Message to Penn State After James Franklin Firing
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Oct 18, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
