The collapse was as swift as it was stunning. And for every Kentucky fan watching, the entire saga felt painfully familiar.
On Sunday afternoon, it became official: Penn State pulled the plug on James Franklin. The move came after three straight losses, capped by an unbelievable 28–21 home defeat to Northwestern. A team once ranked No. 2 in the nation, hyped as the one to finally unseat Michigan and Ohio State, now sat at 0-3 in the Big Ten. The end was inevitable.
Franklin is gone. And his firing sends a brutal message to Lexington.
The ceiling that finally caved
This wasn't a firing for a lack of success. Since 2014, Franklin went 104-45, won a Big Ten title, and consistently recruited top-10 classes. But he could never win the one. He could never get Penn State over the hump, never beat the big dogs when it mattered most, never deliver on the promise of being more than just a really good program.
That invisible ceiling finally came crashing down on him this year.
Even before the collapse, there were warning signs. Penn State’s roster was talented, but uninspired. After an early-season overtime loss to Oregon, Franklin admitted his team never emotionally recovered before dropping the second loss, in a series of 3. to UCLA; a chilling confession from a head coach in year eleven making $7 million a year.
Are you watching, Mitch Barnhart?
That brings us to the money. Franklin’s buyout was a staggering $58 million. That number is important. It’s $20 million more than what it would cost to move on from Mark Stoops at Kentucky.
And yet, Penn State Athletic Director Patrick Kraft still did what needed to be done. He didn’t wait for the fanbase to fully revolt. He didn’t let the season spiral into complete hopelessness. He saw that a blue-blood program was slipping into irrelevance, and he said enough. We are not doing this anymore, and he made a move.
Penn State’s move wasn’t easy, of course. Franklin resurrected a program from ruins. But somewhere along the way, it became clear that he had reached his limit, and Kraft wasn’t afraid to admit it.
A familiar story of stagnation
Meanwhile, Kentucky football is stuck in neutral, clinging to a past version of itself that no longer exists. Stoops deserves immense credit for making Kentucky respectable for a while. But that was then.
Now, the program is stale and regressing. The Wildcats are 2–3, winless in the SEC, and playing a brand of football that looks a decade or more outdated. The energy is gone. The fanbase knows it. The players probably know it. Everyone seems to know it, except the two people it matters most to: Mark Stoops and Mitch Barnhart.
Penn State made a hard decision because it respected its fans and its future. Kentucky, on the other hand, seems content to ride out mediocrity, clinging to the tired excuse that “it used to be worse.” That’s not leadership. That’s fear. It has to be better.
The courage to move on
Franklin’s final years at Penn State looked eerily like Stoops’ last two at Kentucky: offensive stagnation, lack of ideas, and the same inability to evolve when the game changes.
Penn State didn’t wait for a total collapse though, they didn't need to see rock bottom to know it was coming. They paid the $58 million because they understand that the cost of standing still is even greater. Kentucky has an easier decision, and a cheaper one. But it requires courage.
Franklin's firing is a warning shot to every AD clinging too tightly to comfort. Programs that want to win at the highest level are no longer waiting for next year. Penn State chose its future. The question now is whether Kentucky has the courage to choose its own.
Drew Holbrook is an avid Kentucky fan who has been covering the Cats for over 10 years. In his free time he enjoys downtime with his family and Premier League soccer. You can find him on X here. Micah 7:7. #UptheAlbion