Athletic director declares James Franklin is going to remain a Penn Stater

DALLAS — The details of James Franklin’s recent contract extension must be shuffled through the legal dots and crosses in which universities specialize.

Until they are completed, the most interesting speculation will revolve around not merely how much the sixth-year Penn State coach will earn in the future, but how much a competing suitor must invest to transcend the contract.

It’s called the buyout clause. Every Power Five coach has one, and it tells you a lot about the mobility and leverage each side — the university, the coach and his agent — seeks and is willing to accept.

Franklin’s prior deal included a buyout of just $1 million from 2017 through the remainder of the deal through 2022. That meant Franklin, his agent Trace Armstrong and any interested suitor need only cobble together a million lying around to free him from the pact and sign with some other school.

That low buyout was a subject of great interest when Clay Helton appeared destined for dismissal at Southern Cal (he survived an 8-4 season thanks to the arrival of a new president and AD) and other high-profile jobs such as Florida State came open.

In 2012 during the Jerry Sandusky aftermath, Penn State made a production of emphasizing it was committed to transparency in coaching contracts. Well, it turned out to be translucency in some respects.

The contract of outgoing PSU offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne was not made public, even though it likely amounted to about $500,000.

The contract details of men’s basketball coach Patrick Chambers never have been released even though the university promised it would do so when his deal was renewed in May 2018:

Penn State’s policy, then, has always been variable and subject to change. So when athletic director Sandy Barbour was available for questions here Friday, she was asked whether Franklin’s buyout number would be included in the details when they are finally released. She responded:

“Yes. That will all come out in the terms and conditions.”

So what about that total transparency that then-president Rodney Erickson and then-AD Dave Joyner pledged in 2012? Do Barbour and current president Eric Barron share a commitment to that mandate?

“We’ve been very clear that the head football coach’s contract will be made public and that the athletic director’s contract will be made public. And we have lived up to that.”

It appears Franklin has been able to secure competitive salaries for his lead assistants. Otherwise, it’s unlikely he would have been able to lure new OC Kirk Ciarrocca from Minnesota, where he was set to make $1 million annually next season and in 2021.

In a follow-up, Barbour was asked whether Franklin entered demands for facilities upgrades and assistant salaries during the negotiations. Barbour said, not as such, because those are ongoing issues that are commonly discussed “almost daily” during any given period:

“I would hesitate to say that those ended up being part of his contract negotiations. Now, don’t get me wrong. James is always looking out for his assistants. James is always pushing (for) what’s going to help Penn State be competitive.”

Barbour also was asked about the seemingly yearly reports regarding other schools’ interest in Franklin and whether the new contract will settle down speculation, at least in December 2020. Barbour expressed positivity about the phenomenon in itself:

“I think it’s awesome. You always want someone that other people want. Because if they don’t, you got a different kind of problem.

“I think it’s fantastic. I love the fact that Penn State has a coach that a lot of other people want. This contract — any contract — is not gonna stop that. And I don’t really want it to. I want to continue to have the kind of success that’s going to draw other people to James.”

That’s when Barbour made what sounded like a declaration:

“He’s a Penn Stater. He’s our coach. And he’s going to remain that way.”