When James Franklin became Penn State’s head coach in January of 2014, he inherited a mess. The Nittany Lions were dealing with the worst non-death penalty sanctions that the NCAA had ever levied and due to this, he inherited a roster void of both talent and depth.
Due to this, bringing Penn State back was never going to be an easy task for James Franklin.
Adding to the tall task that Franklin was facing is that not everyone in the Penn State community was on board with his hire. A lot of Penn State fans, alumni, and boosters did not approve of the Franklin hire because he did not come from the Joe Paterno coaching tree.