The James Franklin era at Penn State is over.

The university announced on Sunday afternoon that it has “made a change in leadership,” and confirmed that associate head coach Terry Smith will become the interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

Athletic Director Pat Kraft thanked Franklin.

“Penn State owes an enormous amount of gratitude to Coach Franklin, who rebuilt our football program into a national power,” Kraft said. “He won a Big Ten championship, led us to seven New Year’s Six bowl games and a College Football Playoff appearance last year. However, we hold our athletics programs to the highest of standards, and we believe this is the right moment for new leadership at the helm of our football program to advance us toward Big Ten and national championships.”

The move was precipitated after the Nittany Lions lost their third-straight game Saturday, 22-21, to unranked Northwestern, and loud chanting of “Fire Franklin” took place at Beaver Stadium.

Franklin was also verbally harassed by fans leading to the locker room.

After the game, Franklin said he “100%” accepted responsibility for the program’s current struggles and pledged to fix them.

In 2021, Franklin was signed to a 10-year contract extension, through 2031. He makes $8.5 million annually.

Franklin is reportedly owed a buyout of $56 million. Terms were not announced Sunday on whether there will be a negotiated compromise.

Franklin took over the Penn State job in 2014 and compiled a 12-year record of 104-45. His 104 wins are tied with Rip Engle for the most in Penn State history behind Joe Paterno’s 409.

He led the Nittany Lions to the 2016 Big Ten championship.

Franklin struggled against highly-ranked competition, as indicated by his record of 4-21 against Top-10 teams.

Hopes were especially high for this season. The Lions lost to Notre Dame in the semifinals of last year’s College Football Playoff, and with many of their key players returning, they were ranked No. 2 by the Associated Press entering this season.

But after a 3-0 start with lopsided wins over Nevada, Florida International and Villanova, the Lions lost to No. 6 Oregon in the White Out game at Beaver Stadium.

Franklin was loudly booed in that game as well.

The loss to the Ducks was followed by consecutive setbacks at UCLA and Saturday against Northwestern, both unranked and both 20-plus point underdogs.

Smith, a Pittsburgh native, is a former Penn State wide receiver (1987-91) who was one of Franklin’s first hires in 2014. Smith has served as associate head coach for the past five seasons in addition to being defensive recruiting coordinator and cornerbacks coach.

He had a successful run as a high school coach and athletic director at Gateway, his alma mater, before joining Temple’s staff in 2013 under Matt Rhule.

Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi also thanked Franklin, saying she appreciated his tenure.

“I am grateful for all that Coach Franklin has done for Penn State football and the university over the past 11-plus years,” Bendapudi said. “We thank him for his dedication, and we extend our best wishes to him and his family as they move forward into their next chapter.”

Franklin’s PSU tenure produced 18 All-American selections and 59 NFL draft picks.

Kraft will lead the national search for Franklin’s successor.

“Penn State football is an integral part of our university and is an important part of the lives of our millions of fans, community members and alumni around the world,” Kraft said. “We have the best college football fans in America, a rich tradition of excellence, significant investments in our program, compete in the best conference in college sports and have a state-of-the-art renovated stadium on the horizon. I am confident in our future and in our ability to attract elite candidates to lead our program.”