James Franklin took the excessive highway throughout his “School GameDay” interview Saturday in his first public feedback since Penn State fired him earlier within the week, so Nick Saban did the criticizing.
Saban, the previous Alabama coach, blasted the Nittany Lions’ resolution to maneuver on from Franklin after falling in need of expectations — “that you just created by what you achieved at Penn State” — with three consecutive losses that adopted three consecutive wins, a No. 2 preseason rating and a visit to the School Soccer Playoff semifinals.
“It’s unfair as hell,” Saban stated, turning towards Franklin’s seat subsequent to him. “For these folks to not present sufficient appreciation for that and gratitude for all of the laborious work that you just did, I’m saying it’s unfair.”
Host Rece Davis initially requested Franklin about whether or not he thought Penn State handled him pretty, which prompted Franklin to say, “truthful shouldn’t be for me to determine,” proper?
That led Saban, who retired following the 2023 season after 17 years and 206 wins at Alabama, to inform Franklin that he’d reply the query for him.
Franklin went 104-45 throughout his 12 seasons at Penn State, however any fairness he’d collected evaporated after the Nittany Lions struggled to start out 2025.
Following their loss to the Wildcats, Franklin was getting ready for a group assembly Sunday when Penn State’s athletic director, Patrick Kraft, walked in and advised him they had been making a change — which he stated left him in “shock.”
“Actually took the following quarter-hour to let my youngsters know in order that they wouldn’t discover out on the web,” Franklin stated, “after which walked down and had an excellent emotional assembly with the group to inform them I used to be leaving. Actually, that was it. It was that fast.”
Affiliate head coach Terry Smith has taken over as interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
However Franklin was defiant in his interview Saturday, not hiding his intention to land one other teaching job and win the championship he by no means did at Penn State.
“I believed we had been gonna win a nationwide championship there,” Franklin stated. “We had been shut. That objective hasn’t modified. We’re simply gonna go win a nationwide championship some other place now.”
