James Franklin says he “cannot wait” to teach once more on the heels of Penn State firing him final weekend.
“I do not know anything,” Franklin stated Saturday throughout ESPN’s “School GameDay.” “I have been doing this for 30 years. I haven’t got hobbies. I do not golf. I do not fish. This has been such an enormous a part of my id, such an enormous a part of my household. We like it.”
On Sunday, Penn State let Franklin go after the Nittany Lions’ 0-3 begin in Large Ten play.
Off final 12 months’s look within the School Soccer Playoff semifinals, the staff started the 12 months ranked No. 2 within the AP Prime 25 preseason ballot. But it surely misplaced in double additional time at residence to Oregon on Sept. 27, dropping Franklin to 4-21 at Penn State in opposition to AP top-10 opponents, together with 1-18 in opposition to top-10 Large Ten groups in convention video games.
Then, with losses to UCLA and Northwestern, Penn State grew to become the primary staff for the reason that FBS and FCS cut up in 1978 to lose consecutive video games whereas favored by 20 or extra factors in every recreation, in line with ESPN Analysis.
Earlier than a staff assembly Sunday afternoon, Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft advised Franklin he was being fired.
“I used to be in shock,” Franklin admitted. “I am nonetheless working by means of it myself. It feels surreal.”
Franklin received 104 video games and reached double-digit wins six instances in 11 seasons at Penn State, together with the earlier three.
“I had an incredible run there,” he stated. “Penn State was good to me and my household.”
Franklin famous that Penn State’s expectations skyrocketed throughout his tenure, particularly this previous offseason. That, in flip, led to his firing when it grew to become clear the Nittany Lions would not meet them this season.
“We created that stress,” he stated. “That is the factor that I am most happy with.”
Franklin, 53, continues to be owed $49 million from his buyout, the second largest in faculty soccer historical past. He stated now that he’s trying ahead to attaining what he could not at Penn State.
“I believed we had been going to win a nationwide championship there,” he stated. “We had been shut. That aim hasn’t modified. We’re simply going to go win a nationwide championship someplace else now.”