{"id":822879,"date":"2026-05-26T08:29:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T08:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/822879\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T08:29:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T08:29:22","slug":"cant-get-over-being-dumped-james-franklin-gets-no-mercy-from-penn-state-legend-joe-paternos-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/822879\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Can&#8217;t Get Over Being Dumped&#8221;: James Franklin Gets No Mercy From Penn State Legend Joe Paterno&#8217;s Family"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domBrandPTag__J0noE\">The James Franklin story in Happy Valley ended poorly last year after the Lions suffered three consecutive losses. Since then, both parties have moved on, with Franklin landing at Virginia Tech and Penn State hiring Matt Campbell. However, the former Lions head coach is still not over how he was let go by the program. ESPN further stoked the fire with a prediction for the 2026 season, and the son of Penn State legend Joe Paterno didn\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"player_stn-heading__CeYKZ\">Watch What\u2019s Trending Now!<\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domBrandPTag__J0noE\">On May 21, ESPN published a piece about top storylines and predictions 100 days before Week 0 of the 2026 season. In the 10 wild predictions for the upcoming season, the No. 7 was allotted to James Franklin and his revenge on Penn State. \u201cAlthough it\u2019s probably too outlandish to predict Franklin gets Virginia Tech into the playoff, winning nine isn\u2019t that far out of the question \u2014 which could mean Franklin wins more games in 2026 than his former team does at Penn State,\u201d the ESPN piece read.<\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domBrandPTag__J0noE\">Scott Paterno, the son of the head coach who led the Lions for 45 years, took to X to call out the prediction. At the same time, he also took a jab at the former Penn State head coach.\u00a0\u201cWell, he [James Franklin] did run from a game against JMU, and hung on to games against ODU and VMI,\u201d Scott wrote on X. \u201cWhat will prevent him from eclipsing PSU\u2019s record is the non-con chaff he schedule here for himself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domBrandPTag__J0noE\">An X user pointed out that he shouldn\u2019t be calling out Virginia Tech for dropping James Madison from its schedule, given that Penn State is playing Marshall, Temple, and Buffalo in its non-conference slate. Rather than accept the point, Scott Paterno doubled down, saying that Franklin made the Nittany Lions\u2019 2026 schedule when he was the head coach at Happy Valley.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" style=\"max-width:340px\" data-align=\"center\" id=\"node-twitter-embed-blockquote-4\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">ESPN predicts that James Franklin will \u201cget his revenge\u201d and have a better record than PSU this year.<\/p>\n<p>Well, he did run from a game against JMU, and hung on to games against ODU and VMI.<\/p>\n<p>What will prevent him from eclipsing PSU\u2019s record is the non-con chaff he schedule here for\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Scott Paterno, Shabbos Goy (@ScottPaterno) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ScottPaterno\/status\/2057482864879407524?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">May 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domBrandPTag__J0noE\">Virginia Tech fans pushed back, accusing Paterno of hypocrisy. Paterno doubled down, insisting Franklin had built the 2026 slate. When one user asked him to \u2018get over\u2019 his former head coach, Paterno dropped the hammer.<\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domBrandPTag__J0noE\">\u201cWe don\u2019t miss him. The story I comment on was how \u201che had a chip on his shoulder\u201d and wanted to \u201cGet revenge.\u201d In other words, your coach can\u2019t get over being dumped,\u201d Scott Paterno wrote. And he wasn\u2019t done. He ended his point saying, \u201cCall me in a couple years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domBrandPTag__J0noE\">On his part, James Franklin <a class=\"dom-traversal_es-hyperlink-new-brand__bRBfl\" href=\"https:\/\/www.essentiallysports.com\/ncaa-college-football-news-james-franklin-says-he-has-huge-chip-on-his-shoulder-after-taking-responsibility-for-failed-season\/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=website_internal&amp;utm_campaign=web_link_2?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=website_internal&amp;utm_campaign=web_link_2\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">hasn\u2019t exactly criticized his former program or the fans<\/a>. His only issue was with the sudden nature of his firing at Happy Valley.<\/p>\n<p>James Franklin couldn\u2019t watch Penn State after being fired<\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domBrandPTag__J0noE\">The college football world wasn\u2019t exactly surprised by Franklin\u2019s firing. Ahead of the 2026 season, the former Lions head coach made moves to his coaching staff, signaling that he is looking to go big. The preseason rankings had his team No. 2. That hype ultimately paved the way for his exit after he lost three consecutive games to start the season 3-3. In a conversation with Adam Breneman, Franklin admitted that <a class=\"dom-traversal_es-hyperlink-new-brand__bRBfl\" href=\"https:\/\/www.essentiallysports.com\/ncaa-college-football-news-i-put-my-family-in-this-position-james-franklin-makes-painful-admission-about-psu-firing-virginia-tech-hokies-penn-state-nittany-lions\/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=website_internal&amp;utm_campaign=web_link_2\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">he was taken aback by the suddenness of his exit<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domBrandPTag__J0noE\">I didn\u2019t feel like I would be starting over. So, there\u2019s a chip that I\u2019m in this position. I got a chip on my shoulder that I put my family in this position. And I got a chip that I feel like all those players I created disruption in their lives that we didn\u2019t need. And I\u2019m not going to let it happen again ever,\u201d Franklin said.<\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domBrandPTag__J0noE\">That also affected how he consumed college football. The 2025 season still had a lot of games left to play when he left Happy Valley. And while he watched other teams, he couldn\u2019t get himself to have a look at Penn State games.\u00a0\u201cI couldn\u2019t watch Penn State. I couldn\u2019t do it. It\u2019s just too many emotions,\u201d Franklin said.<\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domBrandPTag__J0noE\">That chapter is in the past now, and it\u2019s better if both parties really move on rather than having digs at each other through the media.<\/p>\n<p>Share this with a friend:<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The James Franklin story in Happy Valley ended poorly last year after the Lions suffered three consecutive losses.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":822880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[43],"tags":[1444,338204,19997,11030,22608,41698,1641,41693,338203,17358,41703,41701,2965,338201,9658,15702,58324,2871,2074,1638,41700,41699,41681,338199,338198,41691,41705,3188,1318,27839,2941,12621,2692,311262,2362,33397,27838,2956,3958,2982,2942,41702,41704,2943,2968,1639,380,76899,1317,1315,1316,17267,41697,2991,2990,1618,6228,2955,2966,62,2959,242,2949,67,132,68,2969,41680,906,41706,41707,1640,9924,1615,3940,338202,3941,338200,3938,3946,3943,3939,3937,3936,3935,3944,2957],"class_list":["post-822879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-1444","tag-20251122_zma_c04_104-jpg","tag-acc","tag-action","tag-agency","tag-agentur","tag-am","tag-atkins","tag-atkins_fbc_virginiatech_miami_2025-21-jpg","tag-atlantic","tag-atlantik","tag-bilder","tag-cals","tag-cassell","tag-cfb","tag-coast","tag-coliseum","tag-college","tag-conference","tag-der","tag-dienst","tag-draht","tag-ehem","tag-einfuhrung","tag-einlaufenden","tag-fahrspur","tag-fbc","tag-fl","tag-football","tag-franklins","tag-fusball","tag-hokies","tag-hurricanes","tag-hurrikans","tag-im","tag-images","tag-jakobus","tag-klage","tag-kollegium","tag-konferenz","tag-kopf","tag-kum","tag-kuste","tag-kutsche","tag-league","tag-medien","tag-miami","tag-miamis","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-partner","tag-partnerin","tag-press","tag-presse","tag-quer","tag-service","tag-spiel","tag-sportart","tag-sports","tag-stadion","tag-tech","tag-und","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-virgina","tag-virginia","tag-vit","tag-vt","tag-wahrend","tag-wire","tag-x0x","tag-zagency","tag-zcfb","tag-zcsm","tag-zfbc","tag-zlast24","tag-zncaa","tag-zselect","tag-zsports","tag-zuma","tag-zumaest","tag-zumapress-com","tag-zwire","tag-zwischen"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}