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It’s safe to say that the divorce between Penn State and former head coach James Franklin wasn’t exactly amicable. The former Nittany Lions coach was unceremoniously booted after a 3-3 start to the season in 2025, including an 0-3 start in Big 10 play.
He did, however, seemingly land on his feet with the Virginia Tech Hokies, where he’s seemingly taken every opportunity he can to take shots at his former employer.
The most recent incident of him doing so came during a one-on-one interview with Matt Hayes of USA Today.
James Franklin Claims Penn State’s NIL Budget Was Lower Than It Actually Was
During the interview, Franklin discussed some of the limitations he felt he had while in State College. Among them was an NIL budget that Franklin claimed was far below that of his competitors.
“You remember the 2024 season, right? Penn State lost a gut-punch of a game at home to Ohio State — yet another loss in a big game for Franklin — and lost in the Big Ten championship game to Oregon,” Hayes wrote. “The Lions played that season, Franklin told USA TODAY Sports, with an NIL budget of $7 million. Seven million.
“There were Group of Five schools with larger budgets.”
Except there’s just one problem. That story falls apart under any sort of legitimate scrutiny. Penn State released a report on its NIL spending during the 2024-25 athletic year as part of a larger NCAA requirement.
According to the report, the Nittany Lions spent over $13.3 million on football that season, by far the most of any sport at the university and nearly double the amount that Franklin alleged.
So, did Franklin just not expect anyone to follow up on his answer? Why did Hayes not follow up before reporting it? Is it possible that neither knew that the data was publicly available? Maybe they both believe Penn State is lying about their spending for some reason?
Either way, it appears that Franklin just blatantly lied about the amount of money he was given to spend on his roster, and it makes him look pretty silly when the truth is so easy to find.