Penn State Q&A: Sandy Barbour on James Franklin's new contract, NIL, and more

Tampa, Fla. — Penn State Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour held her annual end-of-year news conference with reporters here on Thursday.

Barbour, who like head football coach James Franklin is completing her eighth year in State College, covered numerous topics with reporters. Highlights from the question and answer session are below in that format.

Q: Why was it so important to you and the [Penn State] administration to give James a 10-year contract?

Barbour: “I think, obviously, there’s a lot going on in the college football environment. James is now completing his eighth season. If you look at the body of work, you look at what we’ve seen from James as it relates to who he is, what his values are, what his fit is for us, how he’s developed student-athletes, and then oh, by the way, we’ve also won a lot of football games. As you really dig into it, you know that ’16 ’17 ’18 ’19 four-year period was as good as we’ve been in about 35 or 40 years. So I think his body of work really spoke to me and spoke to the leadership of campus.

“We wanted to send a signal to him, and we wanted to send a signal to everybody else, how much he’s appreciated. He’s our guy. Penn State’s a place where we like to, [and] we feel very comfortable with, leadership over long, sustained periods of time. Certainly, as a follower and a student of leadership, sustained, consistent leadership, when you’ve got a good one, is really, really positive. Penn State has historically benefitted from that.”

Q: What kind of feedback have you received since then, both at Penn State and in college football about the money being spent on coaches?

Barbour: “I think it’s it’s all over the board. It also depends on, you talking about at Penn State? Are you talking about nationally? From our people, it’s been really positive. Because again, I think our people understand, see and appreciate everything that James brings to us. And it’s all those things I talked about. It’s not just the wins. Although again, the wins have been pretty darn good.”

Q: What was the tenor of the negoiations? It appeared for awhile that James was uncertain about certain things.

Barbour: “I would not ever characterize James as uncertain about anything. The conversations were really good. And I’ll be honest, and I think this comes as no surprise they were mostly about how we together saw the program and saw the investment. I thought it was really outstanding.”

Q: What tangible, specific things have changed [at Penn State] as a result of those conversations?

Barbour: “It’s all things that we’ve talked about over the course of the last seven years and either checked off the list, or that we need to continue to work on. I don’t that there was anything that was a surprise to either of us, and it was just about what’s your plan, you know, how do we make sure that we’re properly looked at? We’re investing in a way that is going to result in the success and the development of student-athletes that we all want.”

Q: Sandy, how aligned is your vision for the program, along with James’, and you have a new president. How well aligned is everybody?

Barbour: “First of all, I don’t know that a new president is a unique dynamic. James talks about [alignment] all the time, and I agree with him that that’s very important. James and I are absolutely aligned. We see success, and we see the investment for success, very similarly. As, does Dr. Baron, and we’ve enjoyed that for seven years. We’re now going to have a new president. I’ve had some conversations there, and I expect to continue to have 100 percent alignment.”

Q: What are some of the things that James is passionate about, and wants, [at Penn State]?

Barbour: “James is passionate about investing in the program. Some of its facilities and those are all things that we’ve heard. The second indoor facility is really about being able to accommodate all of our programs. But you all are as familiar with the needs at Lasch, obviously, James is, and let’s face it, we’re in the middle of the biggest piece, we’re under construction. We’re under construction for the biggest piece of the Lasch improvements, which includes, most prominently, the weight room. But, it’s also little things. It’s also things that don’t directly speak to onfield success but speak to that student development piece. Academic support. We’ve always been good there. We need to continue to make sure we examine it and do we have everything we need to put in place for today’s students?”

Q: How do you feel like six months into name image and likeness Penn State is doing on that front and what if any areas can you improve in?

Barbour: “I think we’ve done very well. Because of where we focused on from an educational standpoint, I think our student-athletes who are engaging with us, engaging with NIL, which I think at this point is somewhere between a quarter and a third, I think that will grow over time. I think those that are participating, that are engaging, are actually doing very well. That will evolve. I think where we need to continue to evolve is to really educate our alumni, educate our base, on what it is, when it’s not, and how important it is to the process.

“Whether it’s the process of current student-athletes and their educational and financial benefit, but also obviously, to recruit. I’m very pleased with how it’s gone. I think the student-athletes who have participated have really gained a lot of experience, knowledge, education, and oh, by the way, yeah, put some money in their pockets as well. But, we’ve got a long way to go. We definitely need from an environment standpoint, we definitely need all institutions, all states to be under one roof or guidance. I’m not sure exactly how that’s going to happen.”

Barbour also addressed what the future may hold for her at Penn State with just one year left on her current contract. You can read more about there here.