More than a championship berth at stake for James Franklin, Marcus Freeman in Miami

Seventy-eight years after Penn State’s football team refused to play segregated Miami, history returns to South Florida. This time, it’s not about who can’t play — it’s about who will win it all. 

When James Franklin and Marcus Freeman meet in Miami’s Orange Bowl on Jan. 9, one will emerge victorious and become the first Black head coach to compete for a national title. However, they’ve both already made history as the first Black head coaches to lead teams in the College Football Playoff, and they’ll continue to shatter one of college football’s last remaining barriers in a sport where, remarkably, only 16 of 134 FBS schools currently employ Black head coaches.

The rallying cry of “We are Penn State” was born in 1946, when the Nittany Lions refused to bend to Miami’s segregation demands. That stand for equality sparked what would become one of college football’s most famous chants. Now, Franklin adds new meaning to those four powerful words.

“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 on the 24/7 College Football podcast in 2019, his voice carrying the weight of history. “That’s something that’s very historic.”

Franklin’s 11-year journey at Penn State mirrors the grinding persistence required to change the sport itself. Rising from NCAA sanctions that crippled the program, he’s built a 101-41 record through relationships as much as results. His players don’t just see a coach — they see possibility.

“These are different times in college football,” Franklin told Jarrod Prugar of Nittany Sports Now in 2023. “And we’ve worked really hard to create a relationship with our players that there can be open and honest dialogue and discussions.”

Across the field, Freeman’s meteoric rise at Notre Dame reads like a Hollywood script. The son of an Air Force veteran stumbled early, losing his first three games — unprecedented for a Fighting Irish coach. 

But after this season’s stunning loss to Northern Illinois, Freeman didn’t just rally his team. He transformed it, ripping off 10 straight wins while building the kind of loyalty that turns teams into families.

“Marcus has a really, really good pulse of what the team needs to hear and what direction he wants to take the team,” defensive coordinator Al Golden told Bryan Fischer of Sports Illustrated. “He’s a guy that everyone wants to work for and play for, and that’s a powerful thing,” defensive coordinator Al Golden says. “He’s created a culture here. What is culture? Culture is your collective capacity to create value, and that’s what he’s done here. He’s created a system, an organization, where ideas matter and your contribution is heard. It’s awesome to be a part of.”

The numbers tell the story: Freeman’s 32-9 record, Franklin’s 101-41 record at Penn State, and their combined dominance during this playoff run. But in locker rooms and living rooms, they’re writing another. In a sport where only 12% of head coaches are Black, Franklin and Freeman aren’t just winning games — they’re kicking down doors.

“The resources you have when you’re in this position are humbling,” Freeman reflected to Fisher, before adding the kind of truth that resonates beyond football: “But at the end of the day, you’ve still got to be yourself. I can’t be anybody other than Marcus Freeman.”

Freeman cut even deeper after Notre Dame’s Sugar Bowl triumph, telling Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde: “Your color shouldn’t matter. Your evidence of your work should.”

On Jan. 9, as Miami’s lights shine brightest, that evidence will speak volumes. Somewhere in America, young coaches will watch Franklin and Freeman pace those sidelines and see their own dreams made flesh. 

By the final whistle, one will lift the bowl trophy and prepare for the ultimate challenge. Yet together, they’ve already redefined the sport forever.