James Franklin has been at Penn State for eight seasons and has put together a decent resume, although perhaps not the kind of resume that fans and boosters ultimately expect or want from their Nittany Lions.
Penn State is 65-30 on Franklin’s watch, won the Big Ten in 2016, and has gone to six bowl games, including a Rose Bowl and Cotton Bowl. However, the truncated 2020 season was a mess and, following a hot start in 2021, the Lions have lost two games in a row, including a brutal nine-overtime defeat to Illinois at home.
There’s just something about Franklin that has people thinking he might be ready for a change. And with both the LSU and USC jobs open, there are a lot of people thinking that he would be a frontrunner for both of them if he decided to leave for greener pastures.
Franklin has pushed back against rumors and questions linking him to either job. However, a report by FootballScoop on Monday evening put things in a different perspective as they’re reporting that Franklin has decided to change his representation to Jimmy Sexton and Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Doing so is essentially like saying you are interested in maximizing your financial situation, or, in other words, James Franklin is open for business. That’s especially true when you consider Sexton manages several SEC coaches, such as Nick Saban, Lane Kiffin, Dan Mullen, and Kirby Smart.
And whether that’s true or not, that’s exactly how college football folks on Twitter saw it.
James Franklin is offended that you’d suggest he might have suitors outside Penn State. He is furious, so furious that if the most powerful agent in the business wants to get him another raise out of Penn State, he just might do it, thanks to the media https://t.co/XCHDXCxCU3
— Alex Kirshner (@alex_kirshner) October 26, 2021
Remember when Harbaugh had to shoot down coaching rumors about his “agent” when he doesn’t even have one?
Well James Franklin is changing his agent to Jimmy Sexton mid-season…
Oh, and Jimmy Sexton represents 11/14 SEC coaches. Do what you want with that information 🙃
— Dillon Zulkowski (@DillonZulkowski) October 25, 2021
Tuesday when people ask him about this he's going to get really mad.https://t.co/0LQmFSToT2
— Andrew Clay (@AndrewClayTV) October 26, 2021
Sure enough, someone is going to ask Franklin about the report and he’s probably going to try to put the focus back on Penn State and what they need to do. But there’s no putting this genie back in the bottle and the odds are good that Franklin will indeed be in the mix for some major college football jobs later this season. Or, at the very least, a massive extension.
