Nobody talks enough about the human side of getting fired as a head coach. We talk about the reasons, buyouts, and replacements. We don’t talk about the Saturday afternoons, the routines, and the people you suddenly lose all at once. So listening to James Franklin talk about life after Penn State still sounds painfully fresh.

During a conversation with Adam Breneman, Franklin admitted he couldn’t watch Penn State games anymore. Not because of anything negative about the program, but because the emotional connection was still there, like an open wound. When the analyst asked whether he stayed connected to the team after the firing or avoided it completely, his answer was swift. 

“I watched college football,” he said. “I couldn’t watch Penn State. I couldn’t do it. It’s just too many emotions. And sometimes my wife and daughters would be upstairs in the kitchen, and they’d be screaming, but I don’t know what they’re screaming about, you know, but I knew they weren’t that into the other games that were on TV.

“So for my daughters, those players have been like their brothers. But yeah, I’d watch college football, but I couldn’t watch the Penn State game.”

Anyone who knows how James Franklin operates as a coach, that answer shouldn’t be a surprise. This is not some cold, CEO-style football coach. He has always been wired emotionally, and players genuinely mattered to him. That connection became obvious in the way he talked about his family struggling with the separation, too.

For 12 years, Franklin didn’t just build relationships inside the locker room. Those players were constantly around the house, at family events, and part of daily life. He even mentioned that his older daughter, Shola, once babysat for former Penn State DB Nick Scott.

Back during the 2024 NFL Draft, the 45-year-old started the evening in Maryland with OT Olu Fashanu when the New York Jets selected him No. 11 overall. Then he immediately got in the car and raced nearly 60 miles to another party for edge rusher Chop Robinson. By the time he arrived, his player had just been drafted No. 21 overall by the Miami Dolphins. His players are like the sons he never had and the brothers his daughters feel proud to have. 

So when Penn State AD Pat Kraft fired him on Oct. 12, the whole family lost a huge piece of their lives. That’s why this separation was personal. Listening to him now, Franklin does not sound bitter, but that doesn’t mean he’s not hurt by the turn of events. 

James Franklin admitted the hard reality

Despite the unceremonious exit, he wasn’t sitting there attacking Penn State for firing him. If anything, he explained why the decision had become unavoidable.

“Ultimately, it’s about winning,” he told Breneman. “If you don’t win, it don’t matter.”

That’s what it is now. No matter how big a brand you are, no matter your resume and experience, if you don’t win when it matters, your job becomes a fragile thing. When Franklin arrived at Penn State, the program was still crawling out of one of the darkest eras in college football history. He pointed out that while major programs normally carried around 16 to 22 scholarship offensive linemen, Penn State had just four when he took over. He then rebuilt the whole thing, but it still wasn’t enough.

“After 12 years, nobody cares about what the program was like when you got there,” he added. “We won a bunch of big games, played in a bunch of New Year’s Six bowl games, won two playoff games, did a ton of really good stuff. But ultimately it’s about winning national championships, and we weren’t able to take that last step.”

That doesn’t erase what he built at Penn State. It just explains why the ending happened. But now, he’s at Virginia Tech with a chip on his shoulder. It may take some time for him to build a connection like the one he had in Happy Valley, but he will. And maybe one day, he’ll be able to watch the Nittany Lions without those memories haunting him.