James Franklin is an American football coach with over 30 years of experience at both the collegiate and NFL levels. He is currently the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions, a position he has held since January 2014. Franklin has established himself as one of the top active coaches in college football, boasting a career head coaching record of 125-57 and ranking among the few with a winning percentage above 68% across 14-plus years of head coaching[1][5]. Before Penn State, Franklin was the head coach at Vanderbilt University from 2011 to 2013, where he transformed the football program into a competitive team in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Under his leadership, Vanderbilt won three consecutive bowl games for the first time in school history and achieved back-to-back seasons ranked in the final AP Top 25 polls[2][3][7]. Franklin began his football career as a quarterback at East Stroudsburg University, where he set multiple school records and was a regional candidate for the Harlon Hill Award, recognizing the top Division II player[6]. His coaching journey includes stops as a position coach at various colleges, offensive coordinator roles at Maryland and Kansas State, and a year coaching wide receivers for the Green Bay Packers in the NFL[3][4][5]. At Penn State, Franklin has led the Nittany Lions to six Top 10 finishes and seven New Year’s Six bowl appearances, including winning the 2016 Big Ten Championship. His teams have consistently finished in the top 12 of the College Football Playoff final rankings in seven of the last nine seasons. Franklin is also noted for strong academic performance among his players, achieving a school-record 93% graduation success rate and a perfect APR score in 2018-19[1]. Franklin emphasizes four core values for his teams: a positive attitude, great work ethic, competitiveness, and willingness to sacrifice. Entering his 15th collegiate head coaching season in 2025, Franklin remains a prominent figure in college football coaching[1][5].