James Franklin shares needed steps for Penn State to win national championship

James Franklin believes Penn State is “better positioned than ever before” to win a national championship. A proud program that has two national championships, you have to go back to 1986 to find the Nittany Lions’ last one. Franklin thinks a few factors are playing into why they are in a good spot heading into the 2023 season.

His first thought is the top level of his staff remains the same from a year ago. Offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich returns for his second season, as does defensive coordinator Manny Diaz. Even special teams coordinator Stacy Collins returns, giving Penn State familiarity in all three phases of the game.

“Our staff. I feel as good about our staff as I have in a long time,” Franklin said. “When you’re able to have the budget to retain your staff in terms of a returning offensive coordinator — a veteran, proven, established offensive coordinator. Same thing on defense with Manny. Same thing with special teams. There’s no turnover. We’ve had some assistant turnover but not much.”

Franklin then focuses on something not related to football at all. He believes the entire Penn State administration is aligned from him as the head coach, to the athletic director, and even the university president. Recruits have taken notice in recent times too, giving Franklin a huge boost.

“Alignment,” Franklin said. “If there’s something we need and it’s important and it’s going to impact winning, I can make a call to (athletic director) Pat Kraft and it can go up the chain of command and we can get things done and we can get things done quickly. One of the reasons we are having a great recruiting class, two of our top recruits met with Dr. Bendapudi. She killed it, they committed that weekend. That alignment matters.”

Just one area is lacking for Penn State and in today’s age, you could argue it’s an important one. Franklin believes the program needs to play catch up in the NIL game. According to On3’s list, Penn State has four NIL collectives. Even so, Franklin still wants to see more from fans across the country.

“Really the one thing that is lagging that we got to get right is NIL,” Franklin said. “I think we’re headed in the right direction but also being willing to talk about it publicly. Hopefully, a bunch of Penn Staters understands the importance of it.”

As usual, Penn State has to go through a tough Big Ten East before thinking about a College Football Playoff. Ohio State will be played on the road, while Michigan will come to Happy Valley. Two crucial games in order to make it to Indianapolis while building a CFP resume.