Breaking down where Penn State NIL situation stands as administration aligns with James Franklin

James Franklin is obviously a very successful football coach at Penn State, but does his lack of a national title fall squarely on his shoulders, or are there administrative aspects at play weighing the program down a bit?

That’s a question which Andy Staples and Sean Fitz got to the bottom of on Monday morning’s On3 YouTube show. The two discussed programs that have national title expectations who aren’t meeting them, with Staples wondering whether PSU fell into that category.

The two ultimately came to the conclusion that there certainly isn’t the immediate pressure of a Florida or Nebraska, who will cycle through coaches pretty quickly if they aren’t winning. In fact, Fitz believes the administration is fully supportive of Franklin with their confidence in him as coach, but they haven’t always been the most supportive when it comes to providing extra assets to the program, particularly regarding PSU’s NIL situation.

“You went through the facilities arms race. I don’t know if it’s dead, but it’s moved to a different battlefield in terms of NIL, and you know, that was really hard for Penn State to deal with and navigate those waters, and of course, the money that comes with it,” Fitz commented.

“Now you find yourself in a similar situation with NIL, they’re kind of struggling in terms of finding the whales, finding the right people to foot that bill.”

That issue certainly isn’t exclusive to Penn State, however, they may be a little worse off than some of the other contenders across the country, or heck, even in their own conference now.

“We can argue all the time about why the system is not the optimal system to get that done, with fans paying the bill, but Penn State is still struggling in that aspect,” Fitz added.

However, he does believe there’s some incremental improvement in that department recently, but also, a better show of support from the administration across the board perhaps compared to years past.

“So, I think from an administrative standpoint, they’re better than they’ve been in a long time, and that’s okay and that’s in the right direction.”

So, per an insider like Fitz, the administration is stepping up to the plate in ways they maybe hadn’t in years past for James Franklin. But still, the NIL situation remains an issue. There could be ways the school could try to spike donations, but at the end of the day, as Fitz noted, if those whale-sized donors aren’t around, there’s only so much that can be done.