College football’s offseason brings news almost daily and James Franklin seems pretty comfortable with it all.
Penn State’s head coach met with the media Tuesday for the first time since the Nittany Lions lost in the semifinals of the college football playoff. During the interim:
*Defensive coordinator Tom Allen left for the same job at Clemson and Franklin was able to hire as his replacement Jim Knowles, from Ohio State, who’s considered arguably the best at his job in the country.
*Running backs coach Ja’juan Seider was hired away by Notre Dame.
*Recruiting coordinator Khalil Ahmad was hired away by Temple for a “high-ranking front office role.’’
*Running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, defensive tackle Zane Durant and center Nick Dawkins, all key players who could have left for the NFL, announced they’re staying for another college season.
Quarterback Drew Allar, who also would have been drafted has he chose to turn pro, announced he was staying in December.
The reason for Franklin’s comfortable vibe, in addition to the fact that his football team won 13 games in 2024 and is like to enter next season ranked in the top five nationally, is the action behind what has become one of his favorite words, “alignment.’’
“I think the last two years, our commitment has matched our expectations,’’ Franklin said. “There’s very few places in the country that can actually say that. I don’t know if I would have said that before.’’
The alignment between the football program, athletic director Pat Kraft, the university Board of Trustees and University president Neeli Bendapudi is no longer theoretical.
Knowles will make $3.1 million per year. He is believed to be the highest-paid assistant coach in the sport’s history. Who knows what it cost to keep Allar, Singleton, Allen, at al around?
That’s on top of a $700 million investment in renovating Beaver Stadium.
“We have unique flexibility because we’re self-sufficient,’’ Franklin said, meaning Penn State’s athletic department is a separate entity from the University and pays for it self.
“It still takes the support to get those things done, … obviously, when you’re able to be able to go out and compete with who we competed with to get arguably the best defensive coordinator in college football, I’m very, very appreciative of that.’’
Knowles was at or neat the top of Franklin’s DC list three years ago, when he hired Manny Diaz and Ohio State got Knowles.
This time, Knowles was clearly at the top of Franklin’s list, but it wasn’t until he got a phone call from Knowles at 5:40 a.m. two days after the national championship game that Franklin thought, “it might be real.’’
Oklahoma, Notre Dame and perhaps others were interested in Knowles. Ohio State, presumably, wanted to keep him, although stories swirled soon after the Buckeyes locked up the national championship that Knowles was prohibited from attending the university’s celebration of the title.
“Jim had all intentions of gong to their national championship celebration,’’ Franklin said. “We did not have a deal yet. Even the day (it) was being announced by everybody, it was not done. I was concerned that it being announced might screw up our ability to get it done.’’
Seider was at Penn State for seven years, during which the program recruited and developed running backs as well as anybody. Seider is from Florida and was well-connected among high school coaches in that talent-rich state.
Again, Franklin seemed sanguine.
“We’re fortunate in that we’re able to hire, I wouldn’t say anybody we want to, but we’re able to get a really strong list,’’ he said. “I would say most of the list, we would be happy hiring. Now it’s trying to find the best one.’’
Unless Neeli Bendapudi has elite route-running skills and catch radius, alignment won’t solve the short-term wide receiver problem. The wideouts were a problem all year and went catchless in the national seifinal loss to Notre Dame.
Franklin defended them anyway.
“I felt we got better this year,’’ he said. “When the season ends the way it did, that probably taints that perspective.
“We’ve been able to bring in a couple guys who graduated early from high school who’ve been impressive, at a position where freshmen can play. And we got a couple guys from the transfer portal who have also been impressive.’’
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