Nick Saban calls James Franklin’s firing ‘unfair as hell’
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Nick Saban gave his thoughts on the firing of James Franklin, with Franklin appearing on Saturday’s edition of “College GameDay” in Athens for his first interview since his dismissal from Penn State on Sunday after over a decade.
“It’s unfair as hell for you to go to the Rose Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl, get in the final four (of the College Football Playoff), come out being ranked number one this year, an expectation that you created by what you accomplished at Penn State, and for those people not to show enough appreciation for that and gratitude for all the hard work that you did,” Saban told Franklin.
The Nittany Lions enjoyed their best year under Franklin in 2024. They went 13-3, advanced to the Big Ten Championship Game, and made the Playoff for the first time in program history. They defeated SMU and Boise State before losing to Notre Dame in the semifinal.
Less than nine months later, he was fired after a three-game losing streak that included a defeat to Oregon and a pair of upset losses to UCLA and Northwestern.
If anything, Nick Saban‘s displeasure over the way Penn State fired Franklin may throw water on any idea of the seven-time national champion donning the headset in Happy Valley.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
