James Franklin knew the questions were coming. And he clearly had no interest in answering them.
Prior to Franklin taking the podium for his press availability on Wednesday, a Penn State spokesperson read a prepared statement regarding two former Nittany Lions players who have been charged with sex crimes, including rape. While both of the ex-players — Jameial Lyons and Kaveion Keys — were dismissed from the team in early-August, the crimes they are accused of allegedly occurred while they were members of the Penn State program.
“Regarding the two former Penn State football players, we released a statement yesterday and our program and athletic department will have no further comment,” Penn State assistant AD for football communications and content Greg Kincaid told reporters prior to the availability, according to The Centre Daily Times.
Franklin proceeded to take the podium, with The Centre Daily Times‘ Jon Sauber immediately noting that despite the statement, the head coach had yet to comment on the “serious and sensitive” subject. Rather than answering the reporter or even referring back to the statement, the 2016 Big Ten Coach of the Year merely backed away from the podium and pointed to Kincaid.
“Jon, we released a University statement, alright? Do I need to read the statement again?” Kincaid asked, before doing just that.
“Hey guys, any questions?” Franklin said as re-took the podium as if nothing had just happened.
History then repeated itself, with The Athletic’s Audrey Snyder asking Franklin when he knew the two players in question wouldn’t be a part of the Nittany Lions’ 2024 roster. The 52-year-old head coach once again walked away, deferring to a visibly annoyed Kincaid.
“Again, guys, the University already released a statement,” the spokesperson said. “If you need the statement, reach out to me or [Senior Associate AD for Strategic Communications Kristina Petersen]. We’ll have no further comment.”
“Are there questions about Wisconsin?” Petersen could be heard saying off-camera. “Please keep your questions to Wisconsin.”
Franklin once again reassumed the podium as if he hadn’t just awkwardly walked away from it twice in less than a minute and dutifully answered questions about the Badgers.
James Franklin refused to comment on rape charges against former players. My story, with video (from @JacksonRanger1) of when Franklin was asked:https://t.co/9pbLokyZag pic.twitter.com/JUMZWhMbOR
— Jon Sauber (@JonSauber) October 24, 2024
All things considered, this was a horrible look for both Penn State and Franklin, especially when factoring in the school’s history with sexual assault scandals and the controversy regarding the head coach’s handling of such accusations when he was at Vanderbilt. While it’s perfectly reasonable for the school to put out a statement and defer to it, that shouldn’t prevent reporters from following up.
To their credit, at least two members of the Penn State beat did just that and the least Franklin could have done was acknowledge their questions and the seriousness of the accusations rather than walking away and using a school spokesperson as a human meat shield. And although the members of the Penn State communications staff were merely doing their jobs, their visible annoyance with the media only made for worse optics.
It’s understandable that Franklin would only want to focus on the No. 3 Nittany Lions’ next game, but the reality is that he’s making a lot of money — a $7.5 million base salary, to be exact — to be responsible for his team both on and off the field. And if there’s any program that should know there’s more to college football than wins and losses, you’d think it would be Penn State, although you wouldn’t have known it based on its handling of the situation on Wednesday.
