Penn State coach James Franklin wows crowd with “team meeting”
Penn State football head coach James Franklin speaks during the Manufacturers’ Association annual meeting Wednesday at the Pullo Center at Penn State York. (Kate Penn, York Daily Record)
For Penn State head coach James Franklin, Wednesday night’s appearance at The Manufacturers’ Association’s 109th annual meeting was clearly a home game.
More than 600 Nittany Lions faithful packed the Pullo Center on Penn State York’s campus to hear Franklin’s talk entitled, “Leading for Success.” In an hour-long “team meeting” packed with PowerPoint slides, the high-energy coach revved up the crowd with advice as applicable to winning in the boardroom as on the football field.
Indeed, if you closed your eyes, you might have thought you were listening to the CEO of Ford or Harley-Davidson rather than the leader of a major college football program.
“Give of yourself completely, ask nothing in return and success shall be yours,” said Franklin, who took Penn State to a 7-6 record (2-6 in the Big Ten) and a victory over Boston College in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl in 2014, his first season.
Here are some takeaways from Franklin’s speech, which, as he reminded the crowd, comes 137 days before Penn State opens its season with a game against Temple University at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
— Franklin, whose day typically starts by 5:45 a.m. or 6 a.m., said he sees his role as “setting the tone for the organization.” But he doesn’t shy away from asking for input. He created a leadership council of players with whom he meets regularly.
And when it comes to his speeches, Franklin replays them and critiques his performance.
“I am unbelievably critical of myself,” he said.
— Franklin and his football program operate on four core values — having a positive attitude, maintaining a strong work ethic, competing hard and sacrificing.
“Everybody wants success, but are you willing to sacrifice to get the success?” he asked the audience.
— It’s important to get buy-in from your employees, or your players and assistant coaches.
“We’re all on the same page,” Franklin said. “We’re all singing the same song” in the same key.
That buy-in translates into the fact that Penn State, Franklin said, was the only football program in the Big Ten not to lose an assistant coach last season.
— Franklin said he doesn’t set goals because once you attain them, complacency sets in.
“We focus on the process of being successful, not the results of being successful,” he said.
But while Franklin eschews goal-setting, he’s not without lofty ambitions for the Penn State program.
He wants to win a Big Ten title and a national championship. He also wants Penn State’s players to have the highest graduation rate and grade point average in college football.
“We’ve come here to build the No. 1 organization in all of college football,” he said.
— And Franklin’s not stingy when it comes to giving his players leadership roles and praise. He has six captains on his team — two on offense, two on defense and two on special teams.
“I tell the players all the time how much I care about them, how much I love them,” he said.
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This article comes to us through a partnership between York Daily Record and WITF.
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