Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports reported in mid-October that Penn State "is preparing for Texas A&M to make a run at hiring James Franklin should Kevin Sumlin and the Aggies part ways."
Kudos to Penn State for understanding the value of their head football coach and taking a proactive approach in accepting the reality of the unpredictable coaching carousel. However, they must be struggling identifying non-grasping reasons why Franklin would leave Penn State for Texas A&M, Tennessee or any other job.
Geographically, the fit in College Station makes no sense. The closest Franklin has been to Texas came during a two-year stint as Kansas State's offensive coordinator and receivers coach from 2006-07. He's a Pennsylvania native who played at East Stroudsburg and has spent more time in or near the northeast than anywhere else.
Franklin signed six of the top seven in-state prospects (and eight of the top 12) in 2015, the top two in 2016, and two of the top four in 2017. Three of the top seven 2018 recruits from Pennsylvania have also committed to Penn State. All 13 of them are four- and five-star players who have helped return the program to title contention.
Additionally, 20 signees in their 22-man 2017 class are from within a day's drive of State College. Franklin has recruited in Texas, Tennessee, and their respective neighboring states, but not enough to suggest he wants to swap his current fruitful relationships in a talent-rich region for uncertainty elsewhere.
Financially, James Franklin is already a very wealthy man. After signing a contract extension in August (that runs through 2022), he is the fourth-highest-paid coach in the Big Ten in 2017, the third-highest-paid coach in the conference over the life of the deal, and one of the 20 highest-paid coaches in the country for 2017. He earns a base salary of $1.6 million plus an additional $2.2 million through media and public appearances and $500,000 from the school's Nike deal.
Franklin is not making Urban Meyer or Nick Saban money but he is earning more than Butch Jones ($4.1 million) and only slightly less than Kevin Sumlin ($5 million). While it's likely the Vols or Aggies would offer more than what they're paying their current respective head coaches, their enormous buyouts would limit the offer.
Lastly, and arguably most importantly, the health and overall state of the Penn State program is immeasurably better than Tennessee or Texas A&M. Short-term, the Nittany Lions are rolling following last year's Big Ten championship run, have an optimistic fan base contributing to huge fundraising efforts and are infinitely closer to a national championship than either the Vols or Aggies.
Unless James Franklin — who has repeatedly called Penn State his dream job and professed his love for the program, university, city and state — has some hidden ambition give it all up for a return to the SEC, there is zero reason he should — or will — leave.
