Top 25
17-38
- Games
- 55
- Win rate
- 30.9%
Back to Coaches
Peak DominatorDefense-FirstLong Career
Coach Profile
James Franklin
2011-2025 • Penn State, Vanderbilt
2 schools coached, anchored by Penn State.
James Franklin's coaching record is 132-63, highlighted by seasons at Penn State from 2011 to 2025.
James Franklin coached 15 seasons, won 67.7%, and posted an average SRS of 13.6. Best season: 2017 Penn State. The profile was defense-first with a swing-heavy profile. 2 stints shaped the career arc.
- Career record
- 132-63
- Career win rate
- 67.7%
- Average SRS
- 13.6
- Peak SRS
- 25.6
Career Dossier
One glance at the full arc.
The profile below keeps the headline numbers visible, then moves into tenure shape, school impact, and full season detail.
- Seasons coached
- 15
- Career span
- 15 years
- Best finish
- #5
- Consistency
- 44.9
Primary school anchor
Penn State
Defense-First profile with 2 program stops and a peak score of 93.1.
Quick Answers
Records fans search first
Headline records use countable season rows after completed-game fallback. Partial seasons and provisional placeholders are called out separately.
- Overall record
- 132-63
- Penn State record
- 108-48
- Full-season record
- 125-57
- Vs AP Top 10
- 4-27
- Vs AP Top 5
- 1-21
- Vs Pittsburgh
- 3-1
- Postseason / bowl record
- 9-7
- CFP record
- 2-1
- National titles
- 0
195 countable games, 67.7% win rate.
12 countable seasons at Penn State.
14 full season rows; partial and backfilled current rows are separated.
31 games using AP ranking at game time.
22 games using AP ranking at game time.
Keystone Classic games in this dataset.
16 scored postseason games in this dataset.
3 College Football Playoff-labeled games since 2014.
Matched by coach team-season against the national championship dataset.
Record definition and data status
Career records use countable coach-season rows. Zero-game placeholders are excluded from aggregates until a completed-game fallback can verify the record.
Completed-game fallback uses scored games joined by coach, team, and season; advanced ratings are left blank when the season summary has not supplied them.
Latest completed coached game in this dataset: Dec 27, 2025. At least one season record was backfilled from completed games, so current-season totals may move as more scores are loaded.
Career Arc
Track how the coach's season-to-season performance changed over time, where the peak landed, and where each school stint appears.
Focus on where peaks separate, where floors hold, and how the shape of each career changed over time.
James Franklin
EliteStrongAverageLean
James Franklin: 2014 Penn State
2011Actual season year • SRS range 1.8 to 25.62025
Active comparison point
James Franklin • 2017
2017 Penn State
Best season11-2 • SRS 25.6 • SP Overall 26.0
Win %
84.6%
YoY SRS
+8.1
SP Off / Def
41.5 / 14.9
Finish
#8
Comparison context
Focus a point to inspect how it stacks up against the rest of the field.
Ranked opponent record
Track career record against ranked opponents with switchable poll source and ranking timing.
Using AP Top 25 rankings at the time of each game; week-one games use the week-one ranking release when available.
Top 10
4-27
- Games
- 31
- Win rate
- 12.9%
Top 5
1-21
- Games
- 22
- Win rate
- 4.5%
View ranked game results55
Tenure map
Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.
Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint
Penn State
2014-2025 • 12 seasons
Avg SRS 14.9 • Win % 69.2%
Vanderbilt
2011-2013 • 3 seasons
Avg SRS 8.3 • Win % 61.5%
- Longest tenure
- Penn State • 12 seasons
- Best tenure
- Penn State • 14.9 SRS
- Best tenure win rate
- Penn State • 69.2%
Style and Strength Profile
Compare strength, identity, steadiness, and ceiling through normalized bars with raw SP and SRS context underneath.
These bars are normalized against the full coach dataset. Raw SP and SRS values stay visible so the profile reads as evidence, not decoration.
Overall Strength
Start with total quality before splitting style and variance.
James Franklin sets the reference point in overall strength.
Overall Strength
Decisive edgeJames Franklin sets the reference point in overall strength.
Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.
James Franklin
Elite
- Raw avg SP Overall
- 16.8
- Percentile
- 95th pct
Elite
Normalized against the full tracked coach pool.
Impact by school
See how each stint compared with what that program usually looked like outside that same span.
Penn State
2014-2025 • 108-48
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS 14.9Win % 69.2%
Avg wins
Higher is better
9.0 during vs 8.2 baseline
+0.8
Avg SRS
Higher is better
14.9 during vs 6.3 baseline
+8.6
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
18.8 during vs 12.6 baseline
+6.2
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
50.0% during vs 20.0% baseline
+30.0%
Vanderbilt
2011-2013 • 24-15
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS 8.3Win % 61.5%
Avg wins
Higher is better
8.0 during vs 4.0 baseline
+4.0
Avg SRS
Higher is better
8.3 during vs -1.4 baseline
+9.7
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
8.5 during vs -2.6 baseline
+11.2
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
66.7% during vs 0.0% baseline
+66.7%
Career highs and lows
High Points
Best Season
Penn State 2017
11-2 • SRS 25.6
Biggest Improvement
Penn State 2016
11-3 • 13.2 SRS
Best Offensive Season
Penn State 2017
11-2 • SP Off 41.5
Best Defensive Season
Penn State 2023
10-3 • SP Def 10.5
Setbacks
Lowest SRS Season
Penn State 2014
7-6 • SRS 1.8
Biggest Drop
Penn State 2020
4-5 • -14.7 SRS
Season-by-season results
Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.
| Penn State | 2025 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 53.8% | — | — | 14.4 | 18.1 | 35.1 | 18.8 | -4.9 | -27.4% | Completed-game fallback |
| Penn State | 2024 | 16 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 81.3% | #8 | #5 | 19.3 | 24.6 | 37.5 | 13.1 | -3.5 | +4.3% | Season summary |
| Penn State | 2023 | 13 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 76.9% | #7 | #13 | 22.8 | 23.5 | 32.7 | 10.5 | +4.2 | -7.7% | Season summary |
| Penn State | 2022 | 13 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 84.6% | — | #7 | 18.6 | 22.4 | 36.6 | 13.9 | +4.6 | +30.8% | Season summary |
| Penn State | 2021 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 53.8% | #19 | — | 14.0 | 14.3 | 28.0 | 14.6 | +8.7 | +9.4% | Season summary |
| Penn State | 2020 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 44.4% | #7 | — | 5.3 | 13.9 | 35.0 | 21.0 | -14.7 | -40.2% | Season summary |
| Penn State | 2019 | 13 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 84.6% | #15 | #9 | 20.0 | 24.3 | 37.5 | 15.7 | +5.1 | +15.4% | Season summary |
| Penn State | 2018 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 69.2% | #10 | — | 14.9 | 19.0 | 33.9 | 14.6 | -10.7 | -15.4% | Season summary |
| Penn State | 2017 | 13 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 84.6% | #6 | #8 | 25.6 | 26.0 | 41.5 | 14.9 | +8.1 | +6.0% | Season summary |
| Penn State | 2016 | 14 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 78.6% | — | #7 | 17.5 | 19.0 | 38.0 | 20.9 | +13.2 | +24.7% | Season summary |
| Penn State | 2015 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 53.8% | — | — | 4.3 | 11.3 | 28.4 | 19.0 | +2.5 | 0.0% | Season summary |
| Penn State | 2014 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 53.8% | — | — | 1.8 | 9.2 | 20.6 | 11.0 | -4.7 | -15.4% | Season summary |
| Vanderbilt | 2013 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 69.2% | — | #24 | 6.5 | 7.5 | 29.1 | 22.2 | -4.0 | 0.0% | Season summary |
| Vanderbilt | 2012 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 69.2% | — | #23 | 10.5 | 10.0 | 26.9 | 18.8 | +2.6 | +23.1% | Season summary |
| Vanderbilt | 2011 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 46.2% | — | — | 7.9 | 8.1 | 26.8 | 17.8 | — | — | Season summary |
Similar coaches
Popular comparisons are fan-facing matchups. Statistical comps are matched by style, strength band, volatility band, peak range, and career length.
Statistical comps
Doug Dickey
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.2
Avg SRS 13.8 • Peak SRS 22.4 • 15 seasons
Best finish #2 • Volatility 7.2
Open profile →Emory Bellard
same defense-first identity • volatility within 1.0
Avg SRS 10.4 • Peak SRS 21.5 • 14 seasons
Best finish #7 • Volatility 6.0
Open profile →Frank Broyles
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.6
Avg SRS 15.2 • Peak SRS 26.1 • 20 seasons
Best finish #2 • Volatility 7.7
Open profile →Charley Pell
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.2
Avg SRS 14.8 • Peak SRS 22.7 • 8 seasons
Best finish #3 • Volatility 7.3
Open profile →Pat Dye
same defense-first identity • volatility within 0.7
Avg SRS 11.0 • Peak SRS 22.0 • 19 seasons
Best finish #3 • Volatility 7.7
Open profile →Charles McClendon
same defense-first identity • volatility within 1.3
Avg SRS 16.2 • Peak SRS 26.1 • 18 seasons
Best finish #7 • Volatility 5.7
Open profile →