Former PSU Doctor Awarded $5.25M in Lawsuit Alleging James Franklin Interference | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

A former physician for the Penn State football team was awarded $5.25 million in court Wednesday as part of a wrongful termination lawsuit.

According to ESPN's Paula Lavigne, Dr. Scott Lynch filed the suit in 2019, roughly six months after he was fired from his positions as director of athletic medicine at Penn State and orthopedic physician for the Nittany Lions football team.

Scott alleged the decision to fire him was made due in large part to his pushing back against Penn State head football coach James Franklin's interfering in medical decisions involving players.

Franklin and Penn State University were dismissed as defendants in 2020, but the case moved forward with Penn State Health's Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and supervisor Dr. Kevin Black as the defendants.

Multiple alleged instances of Franklin getting involved with medical decisions were mentioned in Lynch's lawsuit.

Dr. Peter Seidenberg, who worked with Lynch at Penn State, discussed an alleged instance of Franklin pushing for a player to play despite not being cleared from a high ankle sprain. Seidenberg said the doctors "were being pressured to release the athlete."

Also, former Penn State athletic trainer Tim Bream alleged that Franklin pushed back against doctors' recommendations that a player undergo shoulder surgery in 2017, saying: "He had a strong opinion of what he wanted to have done, and he tried to insert that into making us see his way, which was not in the best interest of the athlete."

Rob Windsor, who played defensive tackle at Penn State from 2015 to 2019 and was a sixth-round draft pick of the Indianapolis Colts in 2020, testified that he felt pressured to return to play after suffering a knee injury.

Philadelphia Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley, who played at Penn State from 2015 to 2017, testified in support of Franklin, saying he never felt pressured or influenced by the coach regarding injury treatment.

When Lynch was fired, he said he was told by supervisors that the decision was made because the university wanted someone in his position who worked closer to campus in State College, Pennsylvania. Lynch commuted from Hershey, Pennsylvania, when he worked at Penn State.

Lynch challenged that notion, insisting that his firing was instead a result of reporting Franklin's alleged involvement in medical decisions to Black.

Franklin, 52, has been the head coach at Penn State since taking the job in 2014 following a three-year stint as Vanderbilt's head coach.

The Nittany Lions have gone 88-39 with nine bowl appearances during Franklin's tenure, including a 10-3 record last season.