Yes, this year’s football season for Penn State has been la little bit hard to swallow sometimes, especially after the success of last year, and with return of most of its core players, expectations may have been a little high this season. Probably the final opportunity for any type of championship was shattered after the loss to Michigan State. It was a tough game to play, it was a tough game to lose. After the heartbreaking loss, many witnessed a coach who was caught on camera running down the field. That coach was James Franklin, and he was running a 50-yard dash towards the tunnel to track down a player and make sure he turned around, and went back to shake hands with the Michigan State players. Even after this crushing defeat, Coach Franklin’s sterling code of ethics and sportsmanship was evident to everyone who viewed the game, and made him stand out from typical coaches. Anyone who knows Coach Franklin will tell you that they would have expected nothing less.
Even though the 2017 season may be falling short of expectations, there’s no doubt that Penn State football has returned to its winning traditions. Recent events obscured this once-great program, and the resulting scrutiny and convictions jeopardized the very identity of a program historically admired as a standard for football excellence. A program and reputation had lost the trust of the public. Records were erased, heavy fines were paid, scholarships were lost, and legacies were tarnished. It’s no secret that the reputation of the football program wasn’t the only thing tarnished, but Penn State overall, suffered public embarrassment.
Just as a phoenix rises from the ashes, Penn State needed that leader to help bring a program back from it’s lowest point, to meet a former standard of excellence. They needed a leader who was admired, trustworthy, and most of all, they needed a leader who was authentic. “Authentic leadership is about the authenticity of leaders and their leadership” (Northouse, 2016; pg. 195). This is one of the newest areas of leadership research, and the specific methods for conceptualizing, clarifying and testing authentic leadership are still evolving.
Even though there’s not a fully developed definition of who or what an authentic leader is, it can be broken down by three different descriptions it can be viewed through, including intrapersonal, interpersonal, and development. As a basis for understanding what constitutes authentic leadership, these areas can be viewed as the fundamentals of how a leader becomes authentic:
Intrapersonal – This is about who the leader is as an individual, and what knowledge, experience, and the values they bring to the role.
Interpersonal – This is how a follower would view their leader, from each person’s own perspective. This can change and evolve as the relationships between the leader and their followers develop.
Development – This is how a leader develops within his or her own roles. An effective and authentic leader should be able to take on different tasks, develop new skills, and learn from past mistakes and experiences. Such a leader would also set goals for themselves and define how such goals will be achieved.
This is an overview of what authentic leadership is. Within the scope of this type of leadership, one can see that the implementation of authentic leadership can be divided into two types of approaches, practical and theoretical. The practical approach includes learning to become a leader by education, trainings and experience, while the theoretical adopts a more research-based, scientifically-oriented perspective. I would challenge anyone who doesn’t think that Coach Franklin possess these traits.
From a practical approach, authentic leaders demonstrate a purpose, have strong values, build relationships, promote self-discipline, and have passion for what they do. One form of measurement of his sense of purpose can be attributed to player recruitment. Penn State has been consistently in the top ten over the past three years in player recruitment success. This shows that Coach Franklin has a purpose, and players sense that and are willing to follow him. He builds meaningful relationships with his players. That can be seen with our current quarterback, Trace McSorley, who Coach Franklin recruited. McSorley was originally going to go to Vanderbilt, because most division one schools didn’t want to give him an opportunity due to his size. Coach Franklin did give him that chance at Vanderbilt, so, when Coach Franklin left for Penn State, McSorley followed the man who gave him his shot at a big-time school. As a sophomore last year, this 5’10 quarterback stood tall as he led the Lions to their first Big Ten Championship since 2008. Earlier when I mentioned that Coach Franklin chased down a player and made him congratulate the winning team, this is an example of someone who demonstrates clear values and self-discipline. His passion and for the game are clear to the Penn State fans, and to his players. Passionate players want to play for passionate coaches, it’s contagious. He may be the head coach, but he’s also his team’s biggest fan. If you ever watch a game, he’s always the first person out on the field congratulating players as they walk off.
From a theoretical approach, authentic leaders have self-awareness, moral perspectives, a balanced process, and relational transparency. He demonstrates consistently demonstrates self-awareness during interviews, gives fair critiques of what coaches and players did well, and what needs to be improved. An example of his taking moral perspectives would be in his promotion of community service by his team. The Nittany Lions complete service hours for many local nonprofits, such as the Special Olympics, State College Food Bank, and Penn State Children’s Hospital. He demonstrates a balanced process by emphasizing well-rounded development of student athletes, demonstrated by the team’s achievements in academics, athletics, and community service. A good example of Coach Franklin having a good sense of relational transparency can be seen here with one of PSU’s top players. Marcus Allen, a senior captain for the Nittany Lions, who was first skeptical of Coach Franklin when he first came aboard, said that “now that you build this trust, you know his family, you know his background, you know everything. I would give my all for this man,” he said, “Now that we have this type of relationship, it’s truly a family” (Wogenrich, 2017).
As a leader and a coach within my own community, I look for people like Coach James Franklin to learn from; I hope to develop my own character and skills along similar lines, and to be authentic like him. “Authentic leadership is a lifelong developmental process, which is formed and informed by each individual’s life story” (Northouse, 2016; pg. 200). There is no question that James Franklin has been a savor for Penn State, but what is remarkable is that he is consistent day in and day out with his focus and word of positivity. Too often in collegiate athletics players and coaches are caught up in attaining money and fame, but Coach Franklin truly demonstrates a calling for the higher values of college athletics-education, sportsmanship, and personal development. To summarize, Coach Franklin is authentic.
References:
Northouse, Peter. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. 7th Edition. Sage Publications, Inc. Thousand Oaks, CA.
Wogenrich, Mark. (2017). Coach James Franklin Wins Over Penn State Locker Room. The Intelligencer. August 30, 2017. Retrieved from: http://www.theintell.com/16b0c8fc-8dac-11e7-a756-abee212bb718.html