Penn State fires James Franklin after disastrous collapse — and with a coach owed nearly $50 million | College football

James Franklin is out in Pennsylvania. The school fired its longtime head coach on Sunday, less than 24 hours after a 22-21 home loss to Northwestern, but it ended any remote chance the No. 2 team had before the season of reaching the College Football Playoff.

Terry Smith will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the season for the Nittany Lions (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten), who began the year with hopes of winning a national title only to have those hopes evaporate by early October amid a string of losses, each more painful than the last.

Penn State, which reached the CFP Tournament semifinals 10 months ago, fell at home to Oregon in overtime in late September. This was followed by a road loss at previously winless UCLA. The final straw came Saturday at Beaver Stadium, where the Nittany Lions allowed Northwestern to escape with a win and lost starting quarterback Drew Allard to injury for the rest of the season.

Franklin went 104-45 during his 11-plus seasons at Penn State. However, the Nittany Lions faltered too often against top-tier opponents, going 4-21 against teams ranked in the top 10 during his tenure.

There was hope that this fall would be the fall that Penn State would finally break through. But after three easy wins during a light non-conference schedule, the Nittany Lions collapsed.

Athletic director Pat Kraft said the school owes Franklin — Which is worth nearly $50 million at buyouof his contract, which runs through 2031 — “a tremendous amount of gratitude” for leading the Nittany Lions to relevance, but he felt it was time to make a change.

“We are holding our athletics programs to the highest standards, and we believe this is the right moment for new leadership at the helm of our football program to push us toward the Big Ten and national championships,” Kraft said.