What a week to sub in for Chris for MMQB.
Maybe, this week, it’s Monday Morning Athletic Director. James Franklin is gone, and while we don’t yet have clarity on Penn State’s future, it feels like a bit of emotional clarity is coming over the fanbase.
When the news first broke, my brain wasn’t sure if I had just won the lottery, had a death in the family, lost my job, or gotten into a car accident. Franklin’s demise was all but sealed Saturday night — if it hadn’t already been sealed in Pasadena — but the sudden
finality of it all was still a bit jarring.
After having the afternoon and evening to process it all, my brain figured out what was going on. Penn State is going through a divorce. It was a messy breakup, and everyone will be better off, but the overwhelming emotion is sadness. It was a fickle, unhappy, and, at times, abusive marriage. Both sides loved each other, but it was getting harder and harder to make things work.
The opposite of love is not hate. It’s apathy. In the week following the UCLA loss, that’s how things felt. That’s how every Penn State football fan knew, deep down, that it was over. The Northwestern game was just the unceremonious cherry on top.
Scrolling through social media and seeing old pictures of Franklin smiling during his first tour around campus, repping Penn State on the recruiting trail, or being goofy with old players at practice elicited feelings of heartbreak. It’s that same feeling when you catch a glimpse of an ex-lover in public, or flip through a photo book to see a friend or relative who isn’t in your life anymore. A sort of dull pain in your chest and a ping of nausea.
The good memories will soon start to cloud our memories. “Was it really that bad?” we’ll start to ask ourselves. Everyone who’s been through a breakup knows the feeling. The 2016 White Out, the Rose Bowl win, and the NFL Draft days will stick out, while things like the abysmal top-10 record and embarrassing losses to Illinois and UCLA will start to fade. It’s so easy to forget the bad times, especially if things don’t get better fast. Nostalgia can be cruel.
I wonder if Pat Kraft & Co. feel any regret or sudden clarity now that it’s over. Was this an overreaction to a few bad weeks? Every logical bone in your body knows that this is the right decision. A separation of ways when both parties desperately need a fresh start. A radical act of self-respect when one party failed the other in colossal and epic fashion. But some emotional part of your brain still might push back a little bit. Staring into the abyss of the uncertain future is scary.
There will be a custody battle in this divorce. Some current players will follow Franklin to his new destination, while others will stay committed to the university they chose to attend. Most recruits will opt to avoid the mess altogether. Lettermen will speak out and choose sides. Some, like Micah Parsons, already have.
Penn State, which dumped Franklin, is going to need to “rebound” fast. Who’s to say if the Nittany Lions will vie for the new and flashy guy a la Lane Kiffin or Kenny Dillingham, or if they’ll try to settle down with someone like Matt Rhule or even Urban Meyer? It’s going to be icky.
It’s going to feel really weird when Terry Smith takes the podium in Beaver Stadium Monday morning, and it’s going to feel even weirder when Franklin is MIA in Kinnick Stadium next week. For 11 years, he’s been a constant in the lives of Penn State fans and alumni. It might take a while to move on, and I think that’s okay.
