Nick Saban blasts Penn State for ‘unfair as hell’ James Franklin firing

James Franklin took the high road during his “College GameDay” interview Saturday in his first public comments since Penn State fired him earlier in the week, so Nick Saban did the criticizing.

Saban, the former Alabama coach, blasted the Nittany Lions’ decision to move on from Franklin after falling short of expectations — “that you created by what you accomplished at Penn State” — with three consecutive losses that followed three consecutive wins, a No. 2 preseason ranking and a trip to the College Football Playoff semifinals.

“It’s unfair as hell,” Saban said, turning toward Franklin’s seat next to him. “For those people not to show enough appreciation for that and gratitude for all the hard work that you did, I’m saying it’s unfair.”

Host Rece Davis initially asked Franklin about whether he thought Penn State treated him fairly, which prompted Franklin to say, “fair is not for me to decide,” right?

That led Saban, who retired following the 2023 season after 17 years and 206 wins at Alabama, to tell Franklin that he’d answer the question for him.

Franklin went 104-45 across his 12 seasons at Penn State, but any equity he’d collected evaporated after the Nittany Lions struggled to start 2025.

Following their loss to the Wildcats, Franklin was preparing for a team meeting Sunday when Penn State’s athletic director, Patrick Kraft, walked in and told him they were making a change — which he said left him in “shock.”

“Really took the next 15 minutes to let my kids know so they wouldn’t find out on the internet,” Franklin said, “and then walked down and had a super emotional meeting with the team to tell them I was leaving. Really, that was it. It was that quick.”

Associate head coach Terry Smith has taken over as interim head coach for the rest of the season.

But Franklin was defiant in his interview Saturday, not hiding his intention to land another coaching job and win the championship he never did at Penn State.

“I thought we were gonna win a national championship there,” Franklin said. “We were close. That goal hasn’t changed. We’re just gonna go win a national championship somewhere else now.”