STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (WHTM) – Just in time for Thanksgiving, Head Coach James Franklin participated in a tradition many of us will take part in this Thursday and listed what he is grateful for as the head coach of Penn State football.

“I think the people,” said Franklin. “I love the players that I’ve been able to get to know, and their families, on a significant level over the last 10 years.”

Franklin also revealed what he believes makes college football special.

“That’s what so great about college football, is the locker room is full of people from totally, I mean totally, different backgrounds,” Franklin said. “I think our world can learn a lot from a college football locker room because literally, you got people that could not be any more different, from the way they were raised, educational experience, ethnic backgrounds, religious diversity. It’s as good as it gets in my opinion.”

Franklin noted that the connection with players and staff continues despite all of the movement that takes place in college programs.

“You see players coming back to games here or on the road, the relationships with the players and the ups and downs and twists and turns of what healthy relationships go through with the staff, all the people that work in the Lasch Building, all the different roles,” Franklin said.

Franklin called the people he works with at Penn State his “extended family”.

“I think at the end of the day, that’s really what it is, right,” Franklin said. “It’s about relationships and people. You got your family and then you have your extended family. So that’s probably the thing I am most thankful for, is all the wonderful, different people that I’ve gotten to know.”