James Franklin Apologizes For Stepping Away From Mic When Pressed About Former Players’ Rape Charges

Last week, Penn State head coach James Franklin stepped away from a press conference when reporters pressed him about a couple of former players who were charged with rape. Now, he’s acknowledging that he probably could have handled that better.

Former Nittany Lions players Jameial Lyons and Kaveion Keys, both 19 years old, have been charged with multiple sex crimes, including sexual assault and rape. On Wednesday, reporters tried to get a statement from Franklin on the matter. Each time they asked, he walked away from the microphone while a staffer stepped in to refer them to a statement put out by the university.

Following Saturday’s win over Wisconsin, though, Franklin took a moment to address what happened.

“I’d like to end this thing by covering Wednesday,” he said in the post-game press conference. “First thing I’d like to say is I want to apologize. I didn’t do a great job of handling Wednesday. Difficult, difficult, situation and I gotta own that I did not do a good job of that.

“I understand you guys got a job to do. You gotta ask those questions, and I respect that. The university put out a statement. And the reality is, I think, there’s not a whole lot more I can say, other than that statement. It’s an ongoing legal situation and it’s challenging. It’s challenging on everybody.

“At the end of the day, I did not do a good job of handling that situation and representing this program the right way. So I wanted to take a minute and apologize for that. And understand you guys got a job to do. So I didn’t do a good job there. I’m trying to get better, like everybody else. In a difficult situation. And I think that is a big reason for all of this, right? It’s a difficult situation. A challenging situation. So, I apologize.”

Lyons and Keys were dismissed from the Penn State football program before the season began. But the alleged crimes reportedly took place while they were still on the team.