Penn State will pay nearly $50 million to fire the coach who took it to the playoff last season

Penn State entered the season as the No. 3 team in the country. Six games later they are 3-3 and fired their coach with a buyout worth nearly $50 million.

Late in the evening on Sept. 27, the Penn State Nittany Lions were undefeated and ranked No. 3 in the country and had a two-touchdown lead on then-No. 6 Oregon in the fourth quarter of a home game.

Fifteen days after having lost that game in overtime — and then losing two more games in which they were favored by at least 20 points — the Nittany Lions are 3-3, and they have fired coach James Franklin despite owing him more than $49 million.

“Penn State owes an enormous amount of gratitude to Coach Franklin who rebuilt our football program into a national power,” Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft said in a statement. “He won a Big Ten Championship, led us to seven New Year’s Six bowl games and a College Football Playoff appearance last year. However, we hold our athletics programs to the highest of standards, and we believe this is the right moment for new leadership at the helm of our football program to advance us toward Big Ten and national championships.”

Franklin’s firing is quite stunning even in the chaotic world of college football, both because of the money left on his contract and the team’s recent success.

Franklin, 53, is the second winningest coach in Nittany Lions history, behind only Joe Paterno. Last season, he led Penn State to the semifinal of the College Football Playoff, and the team finished the season ranked fifth in the final Associated Press poll — the Nittany Lions’ best finish since 2005.