James Franklin is regarded as one of the best college football players.
The Maxwell Football Club announced the Penn State head coach as one of 18 semifinalists for the George Munger College Coach of the Year Award on Wednesday. According to a release, the winner will be revealed on January 9 and the finalists will be revealed on Tuesday, Christmas Eve.
In his 11 years as Penn State’s head coach, Franklin enjoyed one of his best seasons, leading the Nittany Lions to an 11-1 regular-season record and their second trip to the Big Ten Championship, a 45-37 loss to No. 1 Oregon. Under Joe Paterno, Penn State had not finished an 11-1 regular season since 2008.
Since Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, the Associated Press coach of the year, is one of the 18 contenders, Franklin won’t be the front-runner. Dan Lanning of Oregon would also make sense, having led the nation’s lone unbeaten squad.
The sixth At noon on Saturday, Penn State and Franklin will play No. 11 SMU in Beaver Stadium in the College Football Playoff’s opening round. This will be Penn State’s first-ever postseason appearance.
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