James Franklin is out at Penn State.
The school fired the longtime head coach on Sunday, less than 24 hours after a 22-21 home loss to Northwestern all but ended whatever remote chance the preseason No. 2 team had of reaching the College Football Playoff.
Terry Smith will serve as the interim head coach for the rest of the season for the Nittany Lions (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten), who began the year with hopes of winning the national title only to have those hopes evaporate by early October amid a string of losses, each one more stinging than the last.
Penn State, which reached the CFP semifinals 10 months ago, fell at home to Oregon in overtime in late September. A road loss at previously winless UCLA followed. The final straw came on Saturday at Beaver Stadium, where the Nittany Lions let Northwestern escape with a victory and lost quarterback Drew Allar to injury for the rest of the season.
[MORE: Penn State QB Drew Allar Out For Season With Injury After Northwestern Loss]
Franklin went 104-45 throughout his eleven-plus seasons at Penn State. But the Nittany Lions typically stumbled in opposition to top-tier opponents, going 4-21 in opposition to groups ranked within the prime 10 throughout his tenure.
There was hope this fall is likely to be the one when Penn State would lastly break by. But after three straightforward wins throughout a light-weight non-conference schedule, the Nittany Lions crumbled.
Athletic director Pat Kraft mentioned the varsity owes Franklin — who’s owed almost $50 million in a buyout — an “monumental quantity of gratitude’ for main the Nittany Lions again to relevance however felt it was time to make a change.
“We maintain our athletics packages to the very best of requirements, and we imagine that is the correct second for brand spanking new management on the helm of our soccer program to advance us towards Massive Ten and nationwide championships,” Kraft mentioned.
Reporting by The Related Press.
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