James Franklin, Penn State ready to embrace the 'new normal' - TribLIVE

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It rained Tuesday in State College.

James Franklin didn’t mind.

In fact, Penn State’s football coach enjoyed it.

“I would actually say it was even positive (Tuesday),” Franklin said via video conference Wednesday. “We had bad weather. We had rain, and we were able to get wet-ball work, which I always love. It drives the players crazy a little bit that we’ve got an indoor facility, but I wanted to be out in the rain. But I thought that was really good for us.”

Just practicing for meaningful games in 2020 is good in Franklin’s eyes.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Big Ten canceled the season Aug. 11. By Sept. 16, the conference reversed course and announced a shortened campaign would be staged beginning Oct. 23. Penn State will open its season Oct. 24 at Indiana. The Nittany Lions’ first home game is scheduled for Oct. 31 against Ohio State.

Franklin said he stayed optimistic.

“I felt like there was a chance,” Franklin said. “I was pretty vocal in the beginning about making sure that me, my players, my players’ parents, my staff kind of understood the decision that was made in the first place, making sure that we were understanding of that and how we got there. From that point on, I felt like there was still hope that we could have a season.

“And obviously, being able to spend some time watching the NFL and watching some of these other conferences and being able to learn from some of the things they experienced I think was helpful. And in terms of our process … that’s why I was vocal is because I felt comfortable with what Penn State was doing, I was comfortable with what the Big Ten was doing.”

Part of that is being uncomfortable. That’s to say a lot of the position meetings, team-building activities or interactions that typically would take place in direct settings can’t happen.

“We are still doing (video) meetings,” Franklin said. “We are still not meeting in person. As we continue to transition and continue to show that we are doing good in each one of these phases, we’ll continue to work back to that.

“I’m a guy who hugs and shows my emotions and things like that. And I’m like, ‘Turn your face that way, I’m turning my face this way.’ No skin. Kind of a strange interaction, but that’s kind of how it is right now. I’d rather go above and beyond to keep everybody safe, and that doesn’t always create for a great environment when you want to have the guys over to the house for a barbecue or you want to take them bowling or you want to do some of those things. That’s one of the sacrifices that we’re going to have to make right now that we’re not going to have a whole lot of that, at least at this stage.”

If the season is to be orchestrated without any further delays, let alone completed, a lot comes down to personal choices in Franklin’s eyes.

“When you start testing every day, that’s not a cure all,” Franklin said. “That doesn’t solve your issues. That’s just another layer of protection. That’s just another layer of protocols. The most important thing that we can do is our behaviors, our choices of social distancing, wearing masks.

“This is the new normal, and we all have to embrace that.”

Seth Rorabaugh is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Seth by email at srorabaugh@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Categories: Penn State | Sports