Franklin is doing just fine. But he has an incredible long way to go to match Joe. Joe was at the tail end of an incredible run during the start of his Big10 tenure....but has a great run - including one of tbe Greatest Football Teams in College Football history in 1994... a team brimming with NFL level talent....and won like 7 bowls out of 8 appearances... Nothing remotely like that on Franklin’s resume...yet. And remember, Joe closed the end of the dark years with 2 Big10 Championships in 4 years.James Franklin has had them ranked in the end of year top ten 3 of the last 4 seasons, matching the best run Paterno had while coaching in the Big 10. That run occurred in Penn State’s first 4 years in the Big 10. If Joe was an elite coach in the 90s then Franklin is right now.
That said, CJF was handicapped by sanctions and he has done great job getting Penn State back to a very high level. But things seem to be plateauing and regressing a bit. He will have to win a few games where PSU has lesser talent perhaps to start getting the level of recruits needs to be in the upper echelon. Can he do it? The jury is out...