Taking over a storied program like Penn State had to have brought many challenges along with it.
In today’s day and age fans expect wins and they expect them now. There is no rebuilding. There is no “give me a year to get my guys in here.” There’s no excuses.
So far, Penn State’s newest head coach has met those challenges head on and now finds himself with a 2-0 record to start the 2014 campaign.
James Franklin had unheralded success while at Vanderbilt. Taking his team from the low rungs of the SEC and putting together back-to-back nine-win seasons capped off with bowl victories and Top 25 finishes were something that hadn’t been done in nearly a century but Franklin did it and he made it look easy.
Now, at Penn State, almost everything the coach does will be under a microscope – both on and off the field – given the program’s unfortunate recent past. But the coach has one thing under his belt following a 21-3 victory over Akron last Saturday: a home win.
Talking with the team’s website after the win, Franklin was asked about the experience of playing in front of his new hometown crowd.
“Coming out in the stadium was really awesome, it was,” Franklin admitted. “But the walk, getting off the bus and getting the chance to interact with my girls and interact with the fans…it’s a good thing I had those sunglasses on because I was fighting the emotions back a little bit.”
For Franklin, coaching Penn State’s football team may be more than a job. As he admitted in his introductory press conference, coaching Penn State was a chance to return “home” for the coach.
A Longhorne native, Franklin said he grew up rooting for Penn State and even played collegiately in Pennsylvania at East Stroudsburg. It only makes sense that the Nittany Lions’ new coach is at the top of the list when it comes to who wants this team to win.
His opening statement when talking with the team’s website proved that much.
“We’re going to enjoy winning around here,” were the first words to come out of the coach’s mouth in the interview.
That statement goes hand in hand with the “unrivaled” motto that Franklin has decided to build his program’s foundation upon.
Franklin wants his team to be unrivaled in its dedication, unrivaled in its work ethic, unrivaled in its attitude and unrivaled in its success.
With a 2-0 start to his first campaign, it sounds like the coach believes his players are living up to that standard.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
