For someone whose coaching career has been defined by a series of smoke and mirrors — beating the bad teams, hardly ever beating the good ones — James Franklin’s exit left little doubt.

It was time.

Penn State, with football goals a mile wide and unprecedented resources allocated toward this season, had no choice.

On Sunday, a day after Franklin’s team delivered another dose of ignominious history by suffering a 22-21 loss to Northwestern at Beaver Stadium, the university announced associate head coach Terry Smith would serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

The price tag of Franklin’s buyout is believed to be around $50 million, which can’t possibly sit well with Penn State leaders.

At the same time, it’s their fault for believing Franklin was anything more than

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