Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft revealed new details Monday regarding what drove him to fire coach James Franklin.
Franklin was fired on Sunday, one day after the Nittany Lions suffered a shocking home loss to Northwestern. Kraft admitted he had made the decision to move on from Franklin immediately after that game.
“I felt, after Saturday, sitting down and looking at everything, that where we were and what was in the best interest of my student-athletes and where the program was going, at this time, we just had to make the hard decision,” Kraft said. “I was going to sleep on it on Sunday, but I knew it was the right course of action for us as a program.”
Pat Kraft on the process of firing James Franklin.
— Chase Fisher (@chase_fisher4) October 13, 2025
Said it wasn’t just a 3-game sample size.
Also said he knew Saturday night, but wanted to sleep on it. pic.twitter.com/OeL7LH5asU
It is not tough to figure out why Kraft knew immediately that a change was needed. The scenes following the loss to Northwestern were pretty ugly, as Franklin had lost the fanbase completely by that point. Kraft might also want to fight the suggestions that he was not behind the decision.
Kraft asserted that the firing was not just the result of Penn State’s three-game losing streak, but consecutive losses to UCLA and Northwestern obviously played a huge role. The program’s long-standing struggles against top teams could not have helped Franklin, either.
