“A different take than Marcus Freeman”: CFB fans react as Penn State’s James Franklin’s old clip about being a black coach resurfaces

James Franklin led Penn State to the semifinal of the College Football Playoff. The Nittany Lions saw off Boise State in the Peach Bowl on the eve of New Year following their first-round heroics against SMU. They will face Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.

Franklin's dream was to become the first black coach to win the college football national championship. He made this known in 2019.

“I don’t usually talk about this publicly, but my goal is to be the first African-American football coach to win a college national championship,” Franklin said in an interview in 2019. “That's something that is very historic.

“I spent very little time talking about it because really, my job is to help the players reach their goal and maybe that's something we can do together.”

The video of him making the statement was surfaced online by RJ Young on Sunday, sparking reactions from college football fans. Here's a look at some of the reactions online:

Other reactions to Franklin's statement:

"Why does everything have to come back to the color of your skin?" a fan asked

"I’m gonna be honest, I had no idea he was black," a fan wrote.

"didn’t realize he was an African American..I always thought of him as 'football coach,'" another fan wrote.

James Franklin's approach to the College Football Playoff

The expanded format of the CFP is something new in the college football landscape. A total of 12 teams entered the postseason tournament with the aim of winning the national title.

James Franklin noted after the SMU game that the Nittany Lions are taking one game at a time.

“A lot of college coaches are talking about this being a four-game season. It's not," Franklin said. "It's a one-game season. ... How you value those reps, how you prepare, will give you an opportunity to play again. We're in a one-game season and we just extended our season one more game.”

James Franklin's view on Notre Dame

James Franklin offered his view on the Fighting Irish in his press conference session on Saturday.

“I think in a lot of ways, they are built similar to us. You look at their turnover ratio numbers, you look at their explosive play defense in terms of defending and limiting explosive plays,” Franklin said.

“You look at the middle eight, they are built in a lot of ways that I think we are in terms of emphasizing the statistics that matter.”

Franklin's abysmal record against top-ranked teams comes as a major obstacle for Penn State. Despite already reaching 100 wins with the Nittany Lions, he's 3-18 against AP top 10 teams.