On Saturday afternoon, the Penn State Nittany Lions officially introduced James Franklin as the new head coach of the storied football program.
After three years at Vanderbilt where he orchestrated one of the more impressive turnarounds in the SEC, he’ll now look to keep re-building the Penn State program, a process started by previous coach Bill O’Brien.
Today, Franklin met with the Nittany Lions media, and he addressed a number of topics in regards to how he plans to make the program a power in the Big Ten once again.
He started out by naming the men that came before him in Happy Valley, including legend Joe Paterno.
"I'm honored to be joining a long line of great coaches: Bob Higgins, Rip Engle, the great Joe Paterno and success with honor." - Franklin
— Onward State (@OnwardState) January 11, 2014
Next, and more importantly to a lot of people, he addressed recruiting, where he may have given the best quote of the entire press conference.
"Our recruiting philosophy: We are going to dominate the state and we are going to dominate the region." - James Franklin
— Onward State (@OnwardState) January 11, 2014
Then of course, Franklin was asked about how long he plans to stay in Happy Valley, especially since the NFL also showed tremendous interest in him throughout this whole process. He answered that by simply pointing out that this is his dream job, given his Pennsylvania roots.
"We plan on being here for a long time. This is my dream job. This is where I want to be." - James Franklin
— Onward State (@OnwardState) January 11, 2014
To top things off, he was asked about the resurging Pittsburgh Panthers, the other top collegiate team in the state, where he gave the simple answer that every Penn State fans want to hear.
"I have a tremendous respect for the University of Pittsburgh…but WE ARE Penn State." - James Franklin
— Onward State (@OnwardState) January 11, 2014