Penn State’s James Franklin says football could start a month after practice resumes
Penn State football could return sooner than most expect once the program gets the go-ahead from government and health officials that its safe to do so, head coach James Franklin said Wednesday on a teleconference with media.
The NCAA’s Football Oversight Committee has suggested a six-week period of practice before teams return to games, according to Stadium’s Brett McMurphy. But Franklin believes that window could be shortened.
Franklin said he could see a world where his team is ready to take the field for a game a month after it returns to practice.
“People forget, very quickly we forget, that when I played college football and a lot of people played college football, you weren’t there all summer,” Franklin said. “You were at home, working out on your own. You’d show up and you’d be in training camp for three weeks or a month before the season started and you went and played. I think you definitely can do it under six weeks. I think you can do it in a month. Because that’s how it was always kind of run before.”
If Franklin’s potential timeline was followed, that would mean his Nittany Lions would have to be back on campus Aug. 5 in order to play their season opener against Kent State on Sept. 5 as scheduled.
That timeline is much tighter than the one Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour said players would ideally have in order to play. In early April, Barbour outlined a 60-day period for the team to prepare for the season, which would necessitate a July 7 return in order to start on time.
While Franklin thinks a one-month window is all it would take to make sure his team is ready to play, he also understands there needs to be flexibility in discussing when the season can return and how long it will take to happen.
“I think there’s ways of getting it done,” he said. “I think we have to have some overarching guidelines that are based on science, that are based on the health and welfare of our student-athletes. But we can make a lot of different models work, but we have to be flexible, and we have to be willing and we have to be open to doing that. Fortunately we’ve got a bunch of really smart people that are working on this. There’s been a bunch of different models put together.”
His openness to flexibility extends beyond when the season can start. The head coach is willing to compromise on how the season will take place once it does start, in order to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved.
“I’m just open and flexible to doing whatever we possibly can to make it work,” Franklin said. “That could be shortened seasons, that could be a full season, that could be a full season with no fans, that could be a full season with partial fans. ... We just have to have an open mind to whatever this is going to look like and again go back and trust the experts.”
The Penn State head coach made it clear his top priority when it comes to the 2020 season is that nobody has their health and wellness put in jeopardy in order to make it happen.
Franklin emphasized his belief in science and the need to do whatever it takes to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“It’s all about the welfare of our students and keeping them healthy,” he said. “And not only our students but the fans and everybody. That’s what makes this issue so complicated. There’s all different discussions going on about it. ... I’m a believer in science. I’m a believer in medicine and listening to the experts. I think our decisions have to be based on that. No. 1, what are the experts saying, the scientists, what are the doctors saying? What can we do to create the best, safest, healthiest environment we possibly can. That’s No. 1.”
While health and safety are at the forefront of his mind when it comes to the return of college football, he said he knows the financial impact will, and should, be considered.
He’s just not willing to prioritize it over the health and welfare of the general public.
“We all realize there’s an economic part of this as well,” Franklin said. “For us to act like there’s not an economic part of this would not be transparent. But it better go in that order. It better go in health and welfare and science-based first, then take in the economic impact of it as well.”
Franklin said he understands the economic impact well and what it means for the State College area. He knows the impact the loss of a season would have, not just on the program, but also on the community around it. But he remains optimistic that the college football world will find a solution that allows for a season to happen. A solution that brings football back safely and with limited risk to those involved.
“I’m confident that we’re going to find a way to make this thing work,” he said. “I’m hopeful that we’re going to find a way to make this thing work. But never at the expense of what’s in the best interest of health and student welfare.”
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 5:09 PM.
