James Franklin addresses speculation, rumors on Penn State future

Names are being thrown around this year for already-vacant coaching jobs in college football programs. One name coming up often is Penn State head coach James Franklin. In the Nittany Lions presser on Wednesday, Franklin was asked more questions about his future. One of which left Nittany Lion fans with more questions than answers.

During the press conference, Franklin was asked a thought-provoking two-part question. The first part was whether he worried about burning goodwill with the people around him, followed with how balancing his life and other things at the same time right now.

“At some point, I’d love to sit down with you guys over a beer and talk through all of this. Talk through all of this in detail, kind of how it goes, the challenging situation coaches are put in sometimes, especially if you’re trying to be honest and upfront with everybody and that’s something that’s very, very important to me,” opened Franklin.

All this comes on the heels of Frankin switching agents recently. The Penn State head coach will now be represented by  Jimmy Sexton and Creative Artists Agency (CAA), per FootballScoop. The representation switch comes at an interesting time, to say the least, as Franklin is considered among the leading candidates for the head coach openings at both USC and LSU.

Sexton, who’s considered college football’s most powerful man, represents the likes of Alabama head coach Nick Saban, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, Florida head coach Dan Mullen, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian, among many others.

“I think I have shown my loyalty to this team, to this program, to this community. I think I’ve been pretty consistent with that. There are times that you’re put in challenging situations, and I just always want to be able to, when I say something, it’s done and it’s in stone, and when you’re talking about the future, that can be challenging at times. So I am fiercely loyal to Penn State. I am fiercely loyal, most importantly, to these players and staff, but there’s a lot of moving parts with all of these things,” said Franklin. “There’s a lot of moving parts, some of which we have talked about in the past. At some point when it’s appropriate, I would love to sit down with you guys and just kind of talk through college football.”

Penn State is coming off a disappointing 20-18 loss to Illinois in nine overtimes. The Nittany Lions, who at one point were 5-0, have lost back-to-back games against Iowa and the aforementioned Fighting Illini. Both of their losses came when starting quarterback Sean Clifford was out. Clifford went down in their first loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes. Up next, Penn State travels to Columbus on Saturday to take an Ohio State team that’s only gotten better since an early loss to Oregon.

“I think your question is a fair one. For me, that’s what it’s all about. It’s about my relationship with these players, and the staff, and the people in that Lasch building, and the people in the community, and I think if people really would just take a minute and kind of think about how we’ve conducted ourselves over eight years in the community at everything else, I think our actions have aligned with that every step of the way.”

Franklin said a mouthful and stopped short of anything committing to the Penn State program beyond this season. With the possibility of him leaving the program for another head coaching gig, it’s clear to see why fans are uneasy. 

On3′ Tim Verghese contributed to this article