Big Ten Network
When the Penn State Nittany Lions and Notre Dame Fighting Irish square off on Thursday night in the College Football Playoff semifinals, it will mark the the 20th meeting all-time between the two storied programs. But it is the first time that they will have met since 2007 and the first matchup between head coaches James Franklin and Marcus Freeman.
Both Freeman and Franklin have taken similar paths to reach this point in their careers and the pair displayed mutual respect in Wednesday’s Orange Bowl press conference. At least, that’s how it looked to most normal people. Notre Dame fans, however, have manufactured a bizarre reason to dislike Franklin based on an other innocuous self-deprecating comment.
“I mean look at the hairline on this guy” 🤣@PennStateFball‘s @coachjfranklin says he’s ‘envious’ of Marcus Freeman’s hairline 😂 pic.twitter.com/88fxOz8GMi
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) January 8, 2025
Franklin, who is 52 years old, is 14 years the senior to Freeman. He has also been bald for nearly 20 years, dating back to his time coaching for Bill Snyder at Kansas State in the mid-2000s. And so Franklin, looking to break the ice at a typically tense and dull press conference, had this to say:
“It’ll be a great game. We’re really, really excited about competing. I’m looking over here at Marcus. How old are you now, Marcus … I mean, I look at the hairline on this guy. Envious of his hairline in a lot of ways.”
Freeman, 38, has a full head of hair. Franklin was taking a lighthearted dig at himself while praising Freeman for being highly successful in the coaching world at such a young age.
But Notre Dame fans didn’t seem to take it this way. Instead, they felt Franklin was somehow being disrespectful…
“Ohhh. James Franklin thinks this is a teacher-student thing. The guy that’s 1-14 vs Top 5 teams. Freeman forever. Alt lines,” one fan tweeted.
“The ‘Little Bro’ agenda Franklin put out there in this press conference ain’t gonna end well,” wrote another.
I mean, what in the world? We all know that athletes, coaches and sports fans like to make up fake disrespect in order to motivate themselves. But this is a stretch even if you accept that. Especially when you consider that Franklin was effusive in his praise of Freeman just moments prior.
A quick Twitter search shows hundreds, if not more, Notre Dame fans accusing Franklin of belittling Freeman. That’s certainly one way you can view the interaction. But it’s also far from the truth for anybody with an ounce of critical thinking skills.