Thank you for getting this information out. It is nothing that wasn’t suspected, but hearing it told by someone who was living it every day, validates the fact that BGJ was our largest obstacle to being elite.
The feeling of a fresh start, with a coach that doesn’t appear to be an egomaniac like our previous guy, has me more excited about the program than I have been in years.
Wish you would have had more than 2 insiders and offered more than one perspective. There was some information that validated rumors, but with only two sources I think people who want to ignore this (VT and Franklin) will chalk this up to a hit piece. Not as "Shattering " as I was expecting. Not sure why it took all season to write.
The quotes are all made up. All the info was already known. No players speak or write this way. He also claims it's from 2 sources but the fake interview is only with one person. Clear AI writing throughout as well with the em dashes.
Two sides to every story. ?? And let's be honest a lot of ego involved at that level. Having played college football nobody is happy when they don't play. The fact that so many players returned prior to 2025 season and left with JF leaves some question to your sources. And as stated 2 sources. What still do we really know
i do agree JF was to lax with holding performances accountable but imho this team struggled for 2 major reason player leadership was lacking and QB play (and i love Allar as a Person). He was not instinctive nor was he emotionally mature!!
Just hearing from two players isn’t enough insight to really understand what happened. I keep reading that players felt they were ready to contribute but weren’t given a chance, but there’s often more to it than just talent. Things like going to class, being on time, doing things the right way, and showing coaches you know what you’re doing on the field all matter.
And if different players had been given those opportunities, this article could just as easily be coming from the players who lost their jobs, telling a completely different story about being treated unfairly.
I wasn’t in the program, and I don’t know what really happened. But hearing only from two players, who may be disgruntled, is not enough for me to draw conclusions or accept it as the full truth.
I am beyond thrilled that Penn State’s Franklin era is finally history. It was evident that the team looked and played better football under Coach Smith. And for that I’m am grateful to the players, staff and coach Smith.
Under college football’s new structure, Indiana proved that a program can reverse a losing culture and become champions in a matter of a couple of seasons. It saddens me that it took over a decade for Penn State to realize a change was needed.
I’m confident that coach Campbell can lead us into this new era, and transform Penn State football into an elite program, where it always belonged.
The gist of the article may be real, but none of these quotes are. No football players write with em dashes or speak in the way you wrote these quotes. The most charitable explanation is you fed their answers into AI and posted the AI output. The other explanation is you made up all these quotes. Everything in this article is already public information. And you claim it's from 2 sources, but this "interview" full of "quotes" is with one person.
"Obviously" BGJ was an egotistical tool, over what, I could never figure out. And Allar was just this big wuss throwing game-ending picks a la Carson Beckerhead. I had wanted Franklin gone for YEARS. The fact that he rehired Pry at VT told me that he valued loyalty more than performance.
Could’ve swayed me until I got to the quotes. No football player talks like that. I don’t even think Fernando Mendoza would use the words this story claims the players are saying, hilariously bad
One other factor i missed. No offense intended to fans. No coach who wants to win plays lesser guys over better guys. Especially when there is so much pressure by you fans to win. It is always an easy excuse by unhappy players. Think about it. JF may not be a great coach or recognizer of talent. We dont know. But he wants to win. He wants to win
Thanks for sharing. However, what you said doesn’t surprise me or anyone else I’ve talked to. In fact, your comments directly line up with what we saw on the field. The proof is in the performance and now we can move on to the next chapter. But, given the circumstances that you described, it is surprising how many coaches and players followed him to VA Tech. I would expect them to immediately improve based on the upgrade in talent that they’ve experienced. For us, I’m in a wait and see mode. I don’t know how replacing a bunch of really good Penn State players with a bunch of okay Iowa State is an improvement for us. I hope that you are correct that an improvement in leadership, communication, and fairness will be enough to get superior results on the field. We’ll see. But i do know that the fans and alumni that ive talked were not sorry to see Franklin go.
Extraordinary reporting here, especially highlighting that talent mismatch between roster strength and results. The behind-the-scenes culture collapse you describe makes total sense when you think about how visible lack of adaptability became on game days. I've seen similar patterns in corporate settings where control-oriented leadersihp stifled initiative and younger talent never materialized their potential. The contrast between the Terry Smith interim period and Franklin's tenure really underscores how much organizational culture drives performance beyond just X's and O's.
I think Matt Campbell will do a great job here! I understand the showers were still a problem under Franklin—even with Jerry Sandusky in prison. Matt will fix this problem and fix the program!
Thank you for getting this information out. It is nothing that wasn’t suspected, but hearing it told by someone who was living it every day, validates the fact that BGJ was our largest obstacle to being elite.
The feeling of a fresh start, with a coach that doesn’t appear to be an egomaniac like our previous guy, has me more excited about the program than I have been in years.
I don't know you, but you did an exceptional job on this story. Extraordinary reporting.
Wish you would have had more than 2 insiders and offered more than one perspective. There was some information that validated rumors, but with only two sources I think people who want to ignore this (VT and Franklin) will chalk this up to a hit piece. Not as "Shattering " as I was expecting. Not sure why it took all season to write.
The quotes are all made up. All the info was already known. No players speak or write this way. He also claims it's from 2 sources but the fake interview is only with one person. Clear AI writing throughout as well with the em dashes.
Two sides to every story. ?? And let's be honest a lot of ego involved at that level. Having played college football nobody is happy when they don't play. The fact that so many players returned prior to 2025 season and left with JF leaves some question to your sources. And as stated 2 sources. What still do we really know
i do agree JF was to lax with holding performances accountable but imho this team struggled for 2 major reason player leadership was lacking and QB play (and i love Allar as a Person). He was not instinctive nor was he emotionally mature!!
Just hearing from two players isn’t enough insight to really understand what happened. I keep reading that players felt they were ready to contribute but weren’t given a chance, but there’s often more to it than just talent. Things like going to class, being on time, doing things the right way, and showing coaches you know what you’re doing on the field all matter.
And if different players had been given those opportunities, this article could just as easily be coming from the players who lost their jobs, telling a completely different story about being treated unfairly.
I wasn’t in the program, and I don’t know what really happened. But hearing only from two players, who may be disgruntled, is not enough for me to draw conclusions or accept it as the full truth.
Fantastic job on the story.
I am beyond thrilled that Penn State’s Franklin era is finally history. It was evident that the team looked and played better football under Coach Smith. And for that I’m am grateful to the players, staff and coach Smith.
Under college football’s new structure, Indiana proved that a program can reverse a losing culture and become champions in a matter of a couple of seasons. It saddens me that it took over a decade for Penn State to realize a change was needed.
I’m confident that coach Campbell can lead us into this new era, and transform Penn State football into an elite program, where it always belonged.
The gist of the article may be real, but none of these quotes are. No football players write with em dashes or speak in the way you wrote these quotes. The most charitable explanation is you fed their answers into AI and posted the AI output. The other explanation is you made up all these quotes. Everything in this article is already public information. And you claim it's from 2 sources, but this "interview" full of "quotes" is with one person.
"Obviously" BGJ was an egotistical tool, over what, I could never figure out. And Allar was just this big wuss throwing game-ending picks a la Carson Beckerhead. I had wanted Franklin gone for YEARS. The fact that he rehired Pry at VT told me that he valued loyalty more than performance.
There's more here than anyone else has reported, but more than two sources would have been helpful. And the rah-rah ending is out of place.
Thanks
Great read, thank you!
Could’ve swayed me until I got to the quotes. No football player talks like that. I don’t even think Fernando Mendoza would use the words this story claims the players are saying, hilariously bad
One other factor i missed. No offense intended to fans. No coach who wants to win plays lesser guys over better guys. Especially when there is so much pressure by you fans to win. It is always an easy excuse by unhappy players. Think about it. JF may not be a great coach or recognizer of talent. We dont know. But he wants to win. He wants to win
Thanks for sharing. However, what you said doesn’t surprise me or anyone else I’ve talked to. In fact, your comments directly line up with what we saw on the field. The proof is in the performance and now we can move on to the next chapter. But, given the circumstances that you described, it is surprising how many coaches and players followed him to VA Tech. I would expect them to immediately improve based on the upgrade in talent that they’ve experienced. For us, I’m in a wait and see mode. I don’t know how replacing a bunch of really good Penn State players with a bunch of okay Iowa State is an improvement for us. I hope that you are correct that an improvement in leadership, communication, and fairness will be enough to get superior results on the field. We’ll see. But i do know that the fans and alumni that ive talked were not sorry to see Franklin go.
Extraordinary reporting here, especially highlighting that talent mismatch between roster strength and results. The behind-the-scenes culture collapse you describe makes total sense when you think about how visible lack of adaptability became on game days. I've seen similar patterns in corporate settings where control-oriented leadersihp stifled initiative and younger talent never materialized their potential. The contrast between the Terry Smith interim period and Franklin's tenure really underscores how much organizational culture drives performance beyond just X's and O's.
I think Matt Campbell will do a great job here! I understand the showers were still a problem under Franklin—even with Jerry Sandusky in prison. Matt will fix this problem and fix the program!