James Franklin reveals his biggest concern with ‘slippery slope’ of modern college football

College football has changed more in the last decade than at any time in the sport’s history. While the schemes and stadiums may look the same in the fall, the framework of the industry looks unrecognizable to what many have historically identified as the “college” game. Whether landmark changes such as the transfer portal or NIL will ultimately help or hinder the sport is yet to be seen. But one thing is clear: college football coaches and programs need to get on board or get left behind. But according to James Franklin, that doesn’t mean they have to like it. On Tuesday, the Penn State football coach detailed at length his biggest concerns with modern college football and where he thinks the sport needs to go from its current state.

James Franklin discusses the impact of transfer portal and NIL on college athletics

The paradigm of college football has shifted. Now more than ever, athletes have greater ability to determine when and where they will play, and how much they will get compensated to do so. As well they should; it is America, after all.

But the rapid introduction of NIL and the transfer portal has created what many college coaches have likened to the Wild West. Transfer portal tampering and NIL inducements have become commonplace. Some players are shopped around on the open market, even without officially entering the portal. Undoubtedly, the sport is in a perilous situation moving forward.

Like many college coaches recently, James Franklin has been outspoken on the potential pitfalls of the current direction of the sport. The Penn State football coach revisited the topic on Tuesday, going on a lengthy discussion about NIL, the transfer portal, and his biggest concerns about modern college football.

“You can’t tell me that it’s good for the student-athletes to transfer three, four times,” Franklin said during media availability Tuesday afternoon. “Every time you transfer, the likelihood of graduating goes down.

“Everyone knew you had to recruit [players] to coach them. There was a balance between those two,” he said of how the landscape once operated. “But all these other things are taking you further and further away from coaching and developing kids…You [players] came here because we want to develop you. But if you decide to jump in the transfer portal a year from now and you don’t give us the time to develop you, you’re almost forcing us to go to the transfer portal.”

What is James Franklin’s biggest concern with college football?

However, James Franklin is most worried about the intentions of some who have entered the orbit of college football. From coaches, athletic personnel, agents, and the like, the Penn State football coach has often spoken of those who have seen the rapid growth of the financial side of the game and have jumped into the sport for the “wrong reasons.”

While he did acknowledge that it may come across as hypocritical for one of the highest-compensated coaches in the sport to voice his concerns about the ill effects of money, Franklin did sound the alarm on the recent mass exodus of college football coaches and personnel.

“My biggest concern is you’re having people leave college football that would have never left college football because a lot of the head coaching positions, coordinator positions, and assistant coaches positions, it’s gotten further and further away from what they signed up for,” he expressed.

Time to find a balance

Overall, James Franklin painted a bleak picture of the landscape of college football. He described the current path of the sport as a “slippy slope,” long past the opportunity to return to the way things once were. Although he’s tried to embrace it, the leader of the Penn State football program has expressed repeatedly that it’s time for change. He did so again on Tuesday.

“The reality is, the college football that we’ve all known, the college athletics that we’ve all known, that’s not coming back,” Franklin said. “And you’re going to have to embrace the current model that we’re in. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t make it better and can’t still get back to something that I think is in the student athletes’ best interest long term.”

Franklin conceded that things like NIL and the transfer portal need to be available to players in the new age of college football. But, there needs to be a balance with what will be best for student-athletes once their playing days are over.

“What do we need to do short-term for the student-athletes, which they deserve?” he asked. “But what also is going to still prepare them long term for sustained success?”

Even amid the volatility and change of recent years, James Franklin contends that his motivations haven’t changed.

“I still truly believe that if you’re coaching college football, you should be coaching it because you care about the kids and their total development academically, athletically, socially, spiritually, the whole package.”

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