James Geoffrey Franklin (born February 2, 1972) is an American football coach and former player. Franklin has served as the head football coach at Pennsylvania State University since 2014 and served in the same position at Vanderbilt University from 2011 to 2013.

Jan 4, 2025 · Either James Franklin or Marcus Freeman will make history Thursday night in Miami, and they’ll do so in multiple ways. If Penn State wins, Franklin will be the first coach to lead Penn State to a national title game appearance in the BCS/College Football Playoff era.

Jan 9, 2025 · Franklin noted the 2007 Super Bowl between the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts as a noteworthy moment for him as a young Black assistant coach on Ron Prince’s staff with the Kansas State...

Jan 8, 2025 · Franklin, who is bald, asked Freeman how old he was during Wednesday morning's Orange Bowl media availability. When Freeman responded "38," Franklin admitted he was "envious" of his full head of...

Jan 6, 2025 · Franklin, who has been the Penn State coach for 11 seasons after three at Vanderbilt, compared the opportunity to the first Super Bowl featuring Black head coaches, Super Bowl XLI between Tony...

May 5, 2024 · Below is Franklin’s coaching tree. Now, calling this a coaching tree isn’t technically accurate. It’s more of a coaching proximity map with Franklin being the root of all of this, but “coaching tree” sounds better and is easier to understand. A few ground rules as it relates to how this tree was researched.

Jan 4, 2025 · When Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts and Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears met in Super Bowl XLI that year, they made history as the first Black head coaches in professional football’s...

Mar 4, 2023 · James Franklin is targeting Chicago Bears assistant defensive line coach Justin Hinds for the defensive line vacancy at Penn State, sources told FootballScoop on Saturday. The Nittany Lions lost John Scott, Jr., a FootballScoop Defensive Line Coach of the Year finalist, to the Detroit Lions earlier this week.

Aug 21, 2023 · James Franklin has plenty of reasons to be optimistic entering his 10th season at Penn State. He knows the Nittany Lions have depth across the board, experience to match and a certain swagger...

Oct 29, 2014 · Ron Rivera, the former Chicago Bears linebacker and defensive coordinator, will interview for head coaching job Dr. Ngozi Ezike, face of Gov. JB Pritzker’s pandemic response, fined $150,000 for...