Next week, James Franklin will officially begin year 12 at the helm of the Penn State football program, a season that already has the potential to be his best since arriving in Happy Valley.
Despite being a veteran in the coaching profession, each new year presents its own set of challenges. With one of the most veteran rosters in the country and a No. 2 ranking heading into the fall, expectations for the Nittany Lions in 2025 have reached a level previously unseen in Franklin’s tenure.
And there hasn’t been much of an attempt by those in the Lasch Building to hide that the Nittany Lions are aiming for a national championship, either.
For guidance ahead of this career-defining season, the Nittany Lions head coach turned to the man with more championship rings than anyone else: Nick Saban.
“You’re constantly studying the game. You’re constantly talking to people about things that you handled the previous year,” Franklin told On3’s Josh Pate on Tuesday. “You’re talking about how do we go into this season? I’m on a walk the other day. I pick up the phone and call Coach Saban, right? Like, you’ve been in this situation before.
“He had really good feedback. As you could imagine, I’ve watched all this stuff. We’ve had a number of conversations. We were in the league together. But that was good. A lot of times, it’s not that they’re going to tell you anything different. They’re reinforcing what you already know, and there’s value in that, right?”
However, the conversation isn’t just reserved for the seven-time national title-winning Saban. Franklin is also leaning on the new additions to his coaching staff, which he has dubbed the best that he’s had since arriving at Penn State, to share their experiences from championship-winning teams.
“I think the other thing is leaning in [to what we have],” he said. “Stan Drayton has been a part of, I think, three national championships, right? Jim Knowles just had a national championship last year. So I’m trying to encourage Jim to say, ‘Look, like I just was a part of it. This is what it looks like. What we just did at practice yesterday, that’s what it looks like. This doesn’t, this is not aligned with championship-level football.‘ So I’m encouraging them to talk about it because we want to grow from their experiences as well.”
We’ll have our first chance to see if the new insights yield success when Penn State opens the season against Nevada next Saturday.
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