On Monday, Penn State head coach James Franklin and Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson met with the media one last time ahead of Tuesday evening's College Football Playoffs quarterfinal matchup in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl.
Find out everything that both coaches said below.
FOR SPENCER DANIELSON: Coach, as you're approaching the biggest game in Boise State history, how are you merging Boise State's history here at the fiestival with your task at hand tomorrow? Yeah, obviously so excited to be here. Appreciate all your guys' time. Thank you, Jesus, for another day of life and another opportunity.
SD: Yeah, obviously so excited to be here. Appreciate all your guys' time. Thank you, Jesus, for another day of life and another opportunity.
We were so blessed just to be able to play this game and impact these kids every single day. Our team's excited. Boise State has been here before. It's been a decade since we've been here, so it's been a while. Obviously, this is the first time it's ever been a Fiesta Bowl and a college football playoff game. Just making sure our guys focus on it's all about their work. Regardless of how big the game is, how big the stage is, how bright the lights are, it's all about earning the right to play our best. Tomorrow night, our goal is to get all the prep in and then go cut loose. Excited for our guys. I know Coach Franklin is going to say the same in reverse to his team, but we're looking forward to the game tomorrow night. We've got to continue to finish our prep.
FOR JAMES FRANKLIN: Coach Franklin, 12-2 season, number six seed, 38-10 win over SMU in the first round. It was a pretty dominant performance against SMU in the first round. The first step in your championship journey.
How do you keep that momentum moving forward tomorrow?
JF: First of all, Spencer's done a phenomenal job at Boise. I've been a fan of the university and the football program for a long time. Spencer's done a phenomenal job.
I love to see schools and athletic directors and administrators promote from within when they have an opportunity. You've done a phenomenal job at a special place. We were fortunate to get a home game.
I think that played a factor. You guys were able to get a bye. I think those are the two things that everybody in college football were working for, either a bye in week one or a home game.
We were able to get a home game. Against a really good SMU opponent who we had a lot of respect for on film. First quarter kind of worked through some things, but then we were able to get it going.
Our fans played a role in it as well, but our kids just played well. A lot of coaches, I think, across college football were talking about where we were in our season, a four-game season, and we didn't really approach it that way. It's really a one-game season.
65 plays on offense, 65 plays on defense is about what we've been averaging, about 24 on special teams. We better approach each one of those reps like they're gold. Our guys did a really good job of that and obviously played well.
I thought it was important for us, not very often that in a playoff game you're able to get your backups in the game in the fourth quarter, which for us in our quarterback situation was important. That was valuable as well. We're just trying to, as you mentioned, keep that momentum going, which we're going to need against a really good Boise football team.
FOR JAMES FRANKLIN: James, there was a lot made about Ohio State's price tag for its roster. I was wondering if you could shed any light on what exactly is the cost of a college football playoff team. What a great first question.
The way this system is set up right now, there's no real way to track that. The information that you see out there, or if an athletic director or somebody is willing to report it, there's no real way to track it. I think Boise's situation is probably a little bit different, and I think you guys know our situation has been a little bit different in those areas.
I can't really speak on that. I'm not one of these guys that feel like you should have a strong opinion if you don't have all the information or most of the information, and I don't have enough true, valuable, credible information to make that type of statement. I think there's things that we see out there on social media, how credible that information is, I'm not sure, but I just spend a ton of time on our roster and our guys and making sure they're having a great experience and give ourselves the best chance to go out and win as many games as possible.
We're working hard at it and trying to raise as much money as we possibly can to put our program and our university in the best position to be successful. I can't really speak on anything more than that.
FOR BOTH: Spencer, do you have any thoughts on the commissioner idea in college football, especially coming from a perspective of so-called non-power conference? And then James, have you heard from Nick Saban since yesterday?
SD: I get asked a lot of questions that I have no true say in. I get asked about the transfer portal a lot. I get asked about NIL, collectives, the future of college football, and no one's calling me to make changes, so I don't think about it a ton.
I focus on the things that move the needle that matters for our team, but obviously college football is in a very interesting place and do changes need to be made? I believe they do. What those are and how they're supposed to be implemented, I don't spend a ton of time on that, but I do believe changes need to be made, and I am going to throw my vote in for Chris Peterson to be a part of that commissioner as well.
JF: Yeah, have not heard from Nick.
Obviously, they did a game at our place this year and came to practice, and we sat down in my office and had good conversations, and obviously I was in the SEC when he was in the SEC, so no Nick. I've got a tremendous amount of respect for him. I actually think Chris Peterson would be another really good candidate.
Another guy that I thought of, too, is Dave Clawson, just a really smart guy that did a really good job all the places he's been, won at a ton of different places, but I think people like this, I think it's a good conversation to have. I think they're three really good candidates. I don't know if this is going to go anywhere or not.
Me and Dave did text a little bit, not specifically about this, but have not heard from Nick. As you can imagine, it's not like I'm spending a ton of time on this. I got to ask the question that I just kind of answered, but I think Coach Peterson would be another really, really good example or person that can, I think, really represent college football as a whole, which is what I think we need.
FOR JAMES FRANKLIN: On where college football is headed with all the young coaches at major programs
JF: I guess the first thing is I probably don't have a whole lot of years left is what you're saying. No, I think it's good. To me, I think at the end of the day, whether it's age or whether it's experience or whether it's diverse candidates, you just want people in the job that have earned it and that are qualified.
Sometimes I think really good candidates have been overlooked because they're young and candidates have been overlooked for a ton of different reasons. I think sometimes we get into a tendency of reusing former head coaches that have done it before because it's a safe hire and you're not going to be ridiculed or criticized for going out and hiring a guy who's been a head coach before at a couple different places when maybe you really feel like you've got a great defensive coordinator on your staff that is prepared and ready for the opportunity. I think we all tend to do that sometimes as you try to make the safe hire rather than the best hire.
To me, I think it's a positive. You see it in the NFL. You see it in college football.
Obviously, guys like Spencer have earned this opportunity. Once he's able to get his foot in the door and get in that seat, he's run with it, which I think will create other opportunities for other guys just like I'm trying to create opportunities for guys as well.
FOR JAMES FRANKLIN: The challenges of preparing for a running back like Ashton Jeanty
JF: I think the first thing that we all try to do as coaches is you're trying to figure out who are the issues in the game or what are the issues in the game and then how can you limit their impacts. Obviously, a running back like him, everybody all year long has gone into it with the same plan and then would stop them. But I think that's where you've got to start.
Whether you're a defensive guy and you're trying to make people one-dimensional or you're an offensive guy and you're trying to make a team play in a style that they don't want to play in, that's what we all try to do. That's kind of where it starts. But I think the running back position, just like the quarterback position, they get a ton of credit and deservedly so.
He's earned that. But Ashton will tell you just like every other running back, if you don't have an offensive line in front of you, if you don't have a great offensive coordinator, it's calling the plays and taking advantage of your skill set that he's not nearly as successful as he is right now. Obviously, we've got a great example of that.
I want to be careful how I say this because I don't want to be disrespectful to anybody, but our guy Saquon Barkley. He's in a great situation with the Eagles, my hometown team, and he's flourishing right now. Part of it is because he's playing behind a great offensive line and maybe the best offensive line coach in the history of the NFL or at least part of that conversation he coached out.
So I think Ashton a great example and obviously he's done it. I've talked all week long about the craziest thing I've ever heard is 1,900 yards after contact. So it's impressive, but obviously, most importantly, they're in this position because they've got a great team.
Obviously, he's a focus point, but they've got a great team. I want to follow up on that, Coach Danielson. The yards after contact has been a big thing.
FOR SPENCER DANIELSON: How is Ashton Jeanty so successful at yards after contact?
SD: Yeah, he trains that way. Ashton, and I've been very open about this just to make sure everybody kind of sees behind the veil how great of a young man he is, how hard he works, and that's what he's done since he was a 17-year-old early enrollee freshman doing it against the starting defense when I was the defensive coordinator, getting really upset with him. He's been doing that this whole time and trains at that standard.
It's January, last offseason, and he's the guy on the blue, in the snow, with his shirt off, doing tug of war against the rest of his teammates, running them all around the field. It's how he trains, and he's built for that. But to Coach Franklin's point, it takes a team, and Ashton will be the first to tell you that.
It takes the offensive line, the tight ends, our receivers. It's mandatory to walk on our team. We're a run-first operation with compliments off of it, and so there's a lot of pieces that go into the success that Ashton had.
I'm not taking anything away from Ash. There have been multiple times where there's been 11 guys that have a shot at him and don't get him down, but it definitely takes a team.
FOR SPENCER DANIELSON: What's been the most valuable lesson you've learned in this new assignment? (since taking over as head coach on December 3, 2024
SD: We could probably be here all day talking about lessons I've learned, but I'm with you. I've got such great mentors around me, Mike.
Chris Peterson being one, we talk often. Obviously, dirt-cutters in the building pick his brain all the time. There's multiple people in my life that I pick their brain on because there's a lot of things that I screw up on a daily basis, and there's a lot of people around me that help support and learn.
I think for me, it's always just finding the fine balance between how God made me, what I'm passionate about, how I feel called to lead this team because I've been open about it. I think it's all about developing champions for life for me, and the byproduct are the championships. So staying true to that, true north for me, but then learning a lot of lessons along the way from scheduling to staffing to players to all sorts of things that focus on the development of these kids.
And so there's been so many different lessons throughout. There's been lessons I've learned as we came out to Arizona to play the Fiesta Bowls. There's been so many different lessons, but there's a lot of people in my life that help me see around the turn because they've been there before me, talking to Chris Peterson, who's played in this game, some things that, hey, what are some things that you would have liked to know the first time you played in a Fiesta Bowl? And so I'm able to pick so many different people's brains to help me as my first year as the full-time head coach.
But I'm so blessed. This is a dream job for me. Thank you, Jesus, for the opportunity, and there's a lot of things that I'll mess up every day.
I got a lot of really good people in my life that help me learn and grow from it.
FOR SPENCER DANIELSON: Spencer, 14 months ago, Boise State was on the verge of having their first losing season in almost three decades. For the first time ever, they fired a head coach in the season, and 14 months later, you're at the Fiesta Bowl.
The players clearly bought into your message. What is it like, after all that emotion last year, to be able to extend it this far this year from your players?
SD: Great question. I'll never forget stepping into the interim role.
So many things going on. At that point, head coach can get let go. Players can transfer.
Coaches, the smart thing is probably to get your resume ready to roll because you don't know what's about to happen in two weeks. And the staff and the players at that time really put their foot down and said, we're going to finish. We're going to do this for each other.
We're going to do this for the seniors. Go on to win a championship game. You know, so blessed to be able to be named the head coach after the championship game.
And then, even in January, a lot of things pulling at our players to leave and what's going to happen. And when an action gent, he says, I'm staying. I want to leave a legacy.
I want to do something different. The college football has expanded. Like, let's do something that's never been done before.
And Ahmed says he's going to do the same. And then it trickles down to the whole roster and seeing these guys, you know, what it's done in the dark will be brought to the light. These guys just went to work day in and day out.
And then seeing them reap the benefits of that work when no one was around, no one was tweeting about them, no one was talking about them. Seeing that work come to fruition now, I think, is just such a valuable lesson for life. It's not about what you talk about.
It's about what you do. It's about your actions and the work you put in. And seeing our guys do that and so blessed to be a part of it.
I mean, they impact me every single day. And I make sure I'm very open about that. This isn't, all right, I'm driving this whole truck.
Like, it's a player-led team. I mean, they love each other, but they hold each other to extremely high standards because they know what they want most. And I'm just so blessed to be a part of it.
FOR BOTH - only answered by Danielson: What type of asset is Boise State special teams coordinator Stacy Collins? (Collins previously coached at Penn State for the 2022 and 2023 seasons)
SD: Yeah, Stacy's been a huge, huge addition for us. I know Coach Franklin was able to work with him for a couple years.
He was a guy I knew kind of growing up in the profession. When he was at South Dakota Mines and I was at Azusa Pacific, remember, going out to play them in South Dakota, then we were able to work together in 2021. So, he's a, not only in regards to what he does for special teams for us, what he does for our linebackers, he's a huge addition for me in regards to just picking his brains. He's been a head coach. He's got a good understanding of kind of all facets, from recruiting to game planning to scheduling, all the things that, as a first-time head coach, I want someone to be able to be honest with me, not just, I think it's good, Spence, like, really be able to speak into my life and being able to speak into our team. And Stacy's able to do that.
FOR BOTH - You both have talked about how much respect you have for each other. I'm just curious if you see, from the outside looking in, any similarities between how you approach your jobs and, you know, your programs overall?
SD: When I was, so I got in, I stopped playing football in 2012 at Azusa Pacific, and in 2013, in January, I started coaching right away. And at Azusa Pacific Small School, people are like, oh, so you're a graduate assistant. It's not really a graduate assistant in Division II football.
It's really like, can you survive long enough to stay in this profession? And I was so blessed. Victor Santa Cruz was the head coach at that time. And I was able to go to one of the AFCA conventions, listen to Coach Franklin speak, and just be blown away by him.
You know, his journey, he was a Division II football player, seeing his journey, seeing the success that Coach Franklin's had, everywhere he goes. And he was just, you know, obviously did not know me, did not know me, but he had so much respect from afar, and seeing the product that he's continually put on the field in every spot he's ever been, obviously for the past decade at Penn State, the success they've had, he's just been someone that I've, you know, admired from afar for a long time.
JF: Yeah, obviously, I'm just getting to know Spencer, and what he's done in a short period of time as a head coach has been very impressive, really kind of how you described it, you know, took over a program at a challenging time.
Both D2 guys, now I did go to East Stroudsburg, which is like the Harvard of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, which I take a lot of pride in. But I do think his point is a good one. When you're a Division II coach and a Division II player, a lot of the things that maybe our team takes for granted or staff takes for granted, you know, we don't.
You know, when you're a Division II guy, you kind of have to do it all, and I think there's a lot of value in that. There's not 75 coaches. There's eight, and you're doing everything from line to fields to coaching the guys.
I remember I used to fill soda machines up on campus in the morning when I worked at Kutztown, and the players used to make fun of me, kind of going to class, talking trash as they walked by. But I think humility is such an important part of our job in serving others, right? And when you've been a Division II guy, kind of had to work your way up the ladder, I think you learn a ton from that. And, again, I think the humility is a huge aspect for all of us.
But I'm looking forward to getting to know Spencer better. I've gotten to know him fairly well through guys on the staff that I have a ton of respect for, and then just watching him on film. I don't care what people say.
Your team is a reflection of you, and they do it with class. You listen to their players speak. You watch how they conduct themselves on tape.
You look at how hard they play. I think it's the best compliment you can get as a coach is that your players play hard, and they do it the right way, and they do it with class, and they represent not only him but the university the right way and the community the right way. And I think that's more challenging than it's ever been when these young people got people pulling at them from every direction.
So this is just really kind of the start of our relationship. We'll have a heated, passionate, competitive game, but hopefully we'll have an opportunity to visit more and get to know each other. I'm a big fan of Victor Santa Cruz as well.
We've stayed in touch over the years. He came and visited us as well at Penn State. But he's worked with good people and for good people, and I feel like I've done the same throughout my career.
Fantastic. Well, thank you both for your time this morning. I really appreciate it.
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