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Penn State made the biggest move thus far on the 2025 college football coaching carousel when it fired James Franklin on Sunday amid a stunning three-game losing streak. The Nittany Lions’ change in leadership sent shockwaves through the sport, and a number of former Nittany Lions spoke up with a range of reactions, including Green Bay Packers star Micah Parsons, program legend LaVar Arrington, and former quarterback Trace McSorley.
Franklin’s shortcomings against elite competition and Penn State’s consecutive losses this season to Big Ten bottom-dwellers created what the university deemed an untenable situation. But Parsons indicated that he did not fully agree with the program’s decision.
Parsons was a 2019 consensus All-American under Franklin’s tutelage and shined with the Nittany Lions as an eventual first-round NFL Draft pick. He played two seasons at Penn State and excelled in his lone year as a starter in helping the program reach 11 wins.
That was one of six seasons with double-digit victories for Franklin. The 12-year Nittany Lions coach places his program at the forefront of college football as a mainstay in the Big Ten championship race and top 25 rankings. Each of Franklin’s last 10 teams cracked the top eight of the AP Top 25 poll, and last year’s squad set a program record with 13 wins en route to the College Football Playoff semifinals.
In the end, three consecutive losses including two to UCLA and Northwestern cost Franklin his job. Penn State carried national championship aspirations into this season after returning most of the top contributors from last year’s College Football Playoff semifinal roster, and its sudden fall from the top of the title race to the bottom of the Big Ten standings was the last straw in a tenure that lacked signature wins. Franklin went just 4-21 against AP top-10 teams and closed his Penn State career with 15 consecutive losses to teams in the top six.
Penn State’s coaching search may be the most prominent on the 2025 carousel. It is not every season that a job of this caliber comes open, and with the rich tradition and immense resources that come with the Nittany Lions position, the program could have its pick of some of the nation’s most promising candidates. Nebraska’s Matt Rhule and Indiana’s Curt Cignetti are two of the numerous massive names to watch as the search begins.
