Column: Youth critical to Franklins identity

In the past three weeks, James Franklin's picture has been taken thousands of times.

Standing against a white backdrop with Penn State's chipmunk logo affixed, the Nittany Lions' second-year head coach wore his broad smile, index finger pointing up, and kept the pose as a seemingly endless stream of fans entered the Penn State Coaches Caravan "photo booth."

Behind the frameless glasses, neatly trimmed goatee, and the sharp suit and tie combo has stood a bright-eyed leader. Owning a look best described as energetic, the 43-year-old is a young husband and young father to two elementary aged daughters.

By any measure, the image captured thousands of times the past three weeks is that of a young man.

Ask Franklin whether or not he considers himself a young coach, though, and the answer is much more complicated than a simple yes or no.

"'Youthful' is probably what I would prefer," he says.

Though he is the Big Ten's second-youngest head coach, nearly three years older than Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald, Franklin's experience in the profession now dates back 20 years. Almost a decade younger than the mean age of all head coaches in the conference (51 1/3 years old), Franklin's 52 total games as a head coach put him ahead of senior competitors Kevin Wilson, Darrell Hazell, Kyle Flood and Paul Chryst.

Compiling a staff of varying ages, races and levels of experience throughout the Lasch Building, Franklin believes he has achieved both diversity and a youthfulness critical to the success of the program moving forward. Specifically, recruiting and then developing an incredibly diverse team of 18 to 23 year old young men, the necessity of having resources for every conceivable background becomes incredibly important and valuable.

"You want to make sure that you have people within your organization that the players are going to be comfortable relating to and being able to go to talk to," Franklin said. "There's gotta be people within the organization that they feel comfortable going and talking to. I hope that's me, but if it's not, there's gotta be people in place and I think that's important."

For all of the racial, geographic, or experiential diversity Franklin has compiled on his staff, however, age must ultimately simply be a number.

Pointing to Director of Performance Enhancement Dwight Galt, the three-decade veteran in the field acts as a prime example. Still looking as suited to carry an ax and lead an ox as he does to train college athletes, even the graying goatee and grizzled voice aren't enough for anyone to think he's "old."

"I would describe Dwight Galt as youthful," said Franklin. "I want guys that have energy and enthusiasm and excitement in their job and the role of their job, and about Penn State."

In the long run, Franklin is expecting the same of himself.

During a Caravan in which he repeatedly cited the inner conflict of being treated differently by longtime acquaintances - while feeling very much unchanged through his ascent into national prominence - the monologue offered an interesting glimpse into Franklin's psyche. Regardless of his own age, progression and personal evolution, Franklin said he still considers himself very much the same guy he's always been internally.

What's left is a person who can acknowledge how far he's come, his current point in life and professional future, all while trying to stay keenly aware of the youthfulness with which he most identifies.

"I think most people view themselves still as young, but when the number starts creeping up and you think about when you were young and you thought of forty… Forty seemed really old when I was young. Fifty was like, Oh my gosh!" Franklin said. "But I'm knocking at those doors now. But in my mind, I still feel like the same kid.

"And the funny thing is, I would say the same thing about being the head coach at Penn State. It's still kind of a weird experience for me because I'm still James, but people view me and interact with me differently now because of this title I have… Don't get me wrong, I think being in this position, it does change you to a degree, but I hope the core of who I am is still the same 20 years from now."

Set to enter his second season with the Nittany Lions this fall, the thousands more images captured of Franklin in the coming months aren't likely to change significantly. In 20 years, whether he's still in coaching, let alone bears a similar appearance to the same young man he perceives himself to be remains to be seen.

Determined to stay true to himself regardless of age or position, Franklin's resolve suggests a "youthful" spirit likely to accompany the duration of his tenure as head coach at Penn State.