There’s so much to like about what James Franklin has done at Penn State. He’s rebuilt the program from the throes of NCAA probation, turned the Nittany Lions into a consistent College Football Playoff contender and brought a sense of football normalcy to a town and program that desperately needed it.
Franklin is one of the sport’s top-10 coaches, something that can’t be questioned after his resuscitation of Vanderbilt and resurrection of Penn State. He’s won 70% of his games at Penn State and averaged 10.5 wins the past four years.
Since taking over at Vanderbilt in 2011, game management and clock management have lingered as one of the nitpicks on Franklin’s charmed record.