James Franklin is an African-American by ethnicity. His parents are James Oliver and Jocelyn "Josie" Franklin. He has an English mother and an African-American father, as per State College.

Among the headline speakers in the series of Zoom meetings that summer was James Franklin, coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions. The Franklin who spoke on one particular call I listened to was ...

How Freeman or Franklin will make history Nicole Auerbach and Joshua Perry discuss the significance of a Black head coach -- either Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman or Penn State's James Franklin ...