James Franklin ranked as top 5 coach in college football

James Franklin has long been maligned for his failure to lead Penn State football to a breakthrough on the biggest stage. The numbers tell a definitive tale: a 1-15 record against top-10 competition since 2014, one playoff appearance in 11 years, and countless opportunities for a narrative-altering win that have seemingly slipped through the Nittany Lions’ fingertips at the last possible minute.

But when analytically looking at his entire resume, where does Franklin stack up against college football’s elite coaches? According to ESPN’s Bill Connelly, the face of the Nittany Lions program comes in right near the top of the list.

This week, Connelly released his rankings of the top college football coaches over the last 20 years. To account for differences in program resources, Connelly compared each coach’s annual performance – using, in part, his famed SP+ metrics – to their program’s average performance over the last 20 years.

Franklin comes in at No. 8 when comparing all coaches with at least nine seasons of experience over the last two decades. However, when filtering out inactive coaches, Franklin is vaulted into the top five, coming in at No. 4.

Connelly’s list of top five active coaches in FBS (with a minimum of four years of experience) is as follows:

1. Ryan Day, Ohio State
2. Josh Heupel, Tennessee
3. Kirby Smart, Georgia
4. James Franklin, Penn State
5. Dabo Swinney, Clemson

Whether or not you agree with Connelly’s ranking, it’s hard to deny that 2025 is a critically important year for James Franklin and Penn State football. With a top five talent roster fresh off a National Semifinal appearance, this fall could be viewed as a “put up or shut up” season for Franklin’s legacy with the Nittany Lions.

“They may very well be favored to win the Big Ten, and James Franklin does not handle pressure well,” Paul Finebaum recently said of the Nittany Lions. “He had a 10-point lead against Ohio State last year. Blew it. He had a 10-point lead against Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl. Blew it. And that’s why he gets in trouble with his fanbase. His record is exemplary, but he can’t seem to handle the pressure and he has it now.”

Penn State will open 2025 with four straight home matchups, including a primetime White Out against defending Big Ten champion Oregon on September 27. A road trip to Ohio State looms on the calendar on November 1, as well as a visit to Iowa on October 18 and a contest against 2024 CFP contestant Indiana on November 8.

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