This was a big week, both good and bad, for James Franklin and Penn State.
Franklin, who is in his eighth season at PSU, signed a six-year contract extension, pushing his deal with Penn State until Dec. 31, 2031.
The Nittany Lions boss, who turns 50 on Feb. 2, 2022, also coached his 100th game at Penn State. He lost that game, 30-27, to No. 12 Michigan State in the snow in East Lansing.
The Nittany Lions are now 7-5 after starting 2021 with a perfect 5-0. In the past two seasons, they are 11-10 overall and 8-10 in the Big Ten Conference.
That’s a lot to absorb. So I pulled out my notebooks, past columns and media guides, and scoured the Web. Then I crunched (and re-crunched) the numbers, so you didn’t have to. I will caution you to what Mark Twain once wrote:
“Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: ‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.’”
The context that Franklin came to Penn State in 2014, with the program still under sanctions, definitely colors the 2014-15 seasons and heightens his impact and magnifies his early success. That’s why many of the following numbers include a breakout of “since 2016.”
A few words about that new contract, engineered by Franklin’s new agent Jimmy Sexton, no doubt the head coach’s biggest portal pick-up in 2021:
According to what Penn State athletics has posted on its website, it officially kicks in Jan. 1, 2022. Assuming the old contract (announced in February 2020) is still viable through Dec. 31, Franklin still gets a retention bonus of $500,000 on the last day of the year and another $200,000 if Penn State goes to a bowl game. That contract also stipulated that if Franklin wanted to buy out his contract between now and Dec. 31, it would cost him $4 million and if Penn State wanted to let Franklin go between now and Dec. 31, it would cost PSU $26 million — a bargain, with tongue only partly in cheek, given the new contract’s terms, which up the cost of a Penn State buyout to $72 million in 2022.
Part of the new math: Beginning in 2022, Franklin’s salary (counting an annual $1 million loan against his life insurance and an annual retention bonus of $500,000) will be $8.5 million, which equals $23,287.67 per day — about $1,000 an hour.
Penn State’s potential future rankings on Selection Day of the College Football Playoff (CFP) could help Franklin’s mega-dollar extension make a bit more sense:
In the next two or three years (max), the playoffs will expand to 8 or 12 teams. No doubt that Penn State AD Sandy Barbour is betting high-stakes dollars Franklin can get Penn State back to where it was from 2016-19, when on Selection Day it was ranked fifth, ninth, twelfth and tenth — all big money spots, with the allure of a potential extra home game, if the CFP goes to 12 teams.
Here’s a look at Franklin’s 100 games, b(u)y the numbers:
FRANKLIN’S 100-GAME RECORD. A near-perfect bell curve.
Games 1-26 14-12 (.538)
Games 27-50 19-5 (.792)
Games 51-74 20-4 (.833)
Games 75-100 14-12 (.538)
Total 67-33 (.667)
Bowl Games: 3-3
Big Ten Conference 43-28 (.606)
Big Ten East 30-20 (.600)
Big Ten West 13-8 (.610)
vs. Ohio State 1-7; 1-5 since 2016
vs. Michigan 3-5; 3-3 since 2016
vs. Michigan State 3-5; 3-3 since 2016
FRANKLIN NATIONAL HONORS
2016: B10 title, B10 Coach of the Year, National COY
New Year’s 6 Bowls: Rose, Fiesta, Cotton (2-1)
AP Final Rankings: No. 7 (2016), No. 8 (2017), No. 17 (2018), No. 9 (2019)
College Football Playoff Rankings (Selection Day; top 4 made playoffs):
2016 – No. 5
2017 – No. 9
2018 – No. 12
2019 – No. 10
FRANKLIN vs. TOP 25 OPPONENTS
2014-21: 11-20
2016-21: 11-14
2019-21: 6-7
2020-21: 2-5
True road: 2-13
FRANKLIN vs. TOP 10 OPPONENTS
Overall: 2-13
2016-21: 2-10
2019-21: 0-5
Wins: Ohio State (2016), Wisconsin (2016)
FRANKLIN vs. TOP 5 OPPONENTS
Overall: 1-8. Win: No. 2 Ohio State (2016)
FRANKLIN IN TOP 10 vs. TOP 10 MATCHUPS. When Penn State and its opponents were both ranked in the Top 10 when they met.
Overall: 1-5. Win: No. 8 PSU vs. No. 6 Wisconsin (2016)
CLOSE, BUT… In games decided by 8 points or less, Franklin was 19-14 leading up to 2020.
Overall Big Ten
2014-15 6-6 3-5
2014-21 21-20 14-15
2016-21 15-14 10-11
2020-21 2-6 1-6
2020 REDUX. Penn State faced eight opponents in both 2020 and 2021. The Nittany Lions scored fewer points in 6 of the 8 rematches. They gave up fewer points in 6 of the 8 rematches. A comparison:
2020 2021 2 Years
Illinois W, 56-23 L, 20-18 (9OT) 1-1
Indiana L, 36-35 W, 24-0 1-1
Iowa L, 41-21 L, 23-20 0-2
Maryland L, 35-19 W, 31-14 1-1
Michigan W, 27-17 L, 21-17 1-1
Michigan St. W, 39-24 L, 30-27 1-1
Ohio State L, 38-25 L, 33-24 0-2
Rutgers W, 23-7 W, 28-0 2-0
Total 4-4 3-5 7-9
RECRUITING RANKINGS. I used the 247 Composite rankings, since the industry heavyweight utilizes an algorithm that “complies rankings and ratings listed in the public domain by the major media recruiting services.” Franklin’s nine-year average is a ranking of No. 15; his average over the past three seasons (2020-22) is No. 14.
Year Ranking
2022 5
2021 21
2020 15
2019 12
2018 6
2017 15
2016 20
2015 14
2014 24
CONTRACTS. The contract Franklin agreed to this week with Penn State is his fourth in 7 years, 10 months.
No. Announced Ensuing W/L Record
1 Jan. 11, 2014 25-15
2 Aug. 18, 2017 31-8
3 Feb. 26, 2020 11-9
4 Nov. 23, 2021 0-1
COMPENSATION AND BUYOUTS. This includes base, guarantee, bonuses, insurance loan, and COY (2016) and B10 title (2016) bonuses. For 2014-21, dollars also includes bowl bonus. For 2022-31, the dollars do not include potential bonuses for bowls, COY and B10 title, which are all part of the new contract, but they do include annual retention bonus.
Salary $ CJF Buyout PSU Buyout
2014 $4.5 mil
2015 $4.6 mil
2016 $5.4 mil
2017 $4.9 mil $2 mil $25.8 mil
2018 $5.0 mil $1 mil $22.5 mil
2019 $5.95 mil $1 mil $21.4 mil
2020 $6.7 mil $5 mil $32 mil
2021 $7.2 mil $4 mil $26 mil
2022 $8.5 mil $12/$8 mil $72 mil
2023 $8.5 mil $6 mil $64 mil
2024 $8.5 mil $2 mil $56 mil
2025 $8.5 mil $2 mil $48 mil
2026 $8.5 mil $1 mil $40 mil
2027 $8.5 mil $1 mil $32 mil
2028 $8.5 mil $1 mil $24 mil
2029 $8.5 mil $1 mil $16 mil
2030 $8.5 mil $1 mil $8 mil
2031 $8.5 mil — —
2022 PENN STATE SCHEDULE. Front-loaded, on the road early at Purdue and Auburn, plus Ohio State and Michigan are back-to-back. 2021 records in parenthesis (composite: 82-61, .659).
Sept. 3 – at Purdue (8-4)
Sept. 10 – vs. Ohio University (3-9)
Sept. 17 – at Auburn (6-6)
Sept. 24 – vs. Central Michigan (7-4)
Oct. 1 – vs. Ohio State (10-2)
Oct. 8 – at Michigan (11-1)
Oct. 15 – vs. Illinois (5-7)
Oct. 22 – bye
Oct. 29 – vs. Michigan State (10-2)
Nov. 5 – at Indiana (2-10)
Nov. 12 – vs. Maryland (6-6)
Nov. 19 – vs. Minnesota (8-4)
Nov. 26 – at Rutgers (5-7)
