Can Penn State win bigger without James Franklin? Coaching search report card, candidates

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The James Franklin era has come to a stunning end.

Penn State fired Franklin on Sunday after consecutive upset losses to UCLA and Northwestern, opening up a buyout of around $45 million owed. It’s a lot of money. It might’ve been more costly to keep him with the way the fan base turned against him.

Last January, Penn State was on the verge of playing for the national championship. Three weeks ago, the Nittany Lions were in overtime against Oregon with a chance to become the No. 1 team in the country. Now the head coach is out.

So how good is the Penn State job? What names could get in the mix? Based on conversations with industry sources, here is a report card for the job and the potential candidates to watch.

Recent history/tradition: A

Penn State is one of the most tradition-rich programs in college football history. The seventh-most wins in the sport. The second-biggest stadium in the sport. The White Out. It’s quintessential college football.

Franklin won at least nine games seven times, including five top-10 finishes. The only thing keeping this from being an A+ is Franklin’s inability to get over the hump. A 1-10 record against Ohio State. Just one Big Ten championship, in his third season in 2016. Even the Playoff semifinal run last year came because of wins against less-talented SMU and Boise State. All told, the Nittany Lions have won just four Big Ten titles since joining the conference in 1993. But they’ve won a lot and been a regular in the polls for most of the past decade under Franklin.

On-field outlook: B+

There will be a talent drop-off, if only because Penn State had several NFL-quality players choose to come back to school to compete for Big Ten and national championships. Penn State is No. 10 in 247Sports’ Team Talent Composite, which is based on high school recruiting rankings, but quarterback Drew Allar’s college career is done after Saturday’s injury, and players like senior running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen won’t be back either.

New transfer portal rules could help, as players can no longer enter the portal until five days after a new head coach is hired or announced, giving time for the new coach to work to keep players. A new head coach also has the ability to bring players from his old school to a new school.

Penn State should always be among the most talented teams in the Big Ten. But that timeline is key. Some of Penn State’s coaching targets could be in CFP contention. Many coaches have turned down interest from jobs in the past to focus on their current teams. The recruiting early signing period begins on Dec. 3, before conference championship games. How quickly does Penn State want to hire a coach? That could impact how the search plays out.

Money matters: A

Penn State, which is in the middle of a $700 million renovation of Beaver Stadium, will pay a boatload of money to get rid of Franklin because it has even more to replace him. The Nittany Lions are right near the top of the Big Ten, the sport’s richest conference, in funds, with an $246 million athletics endowment, second only to Michigan. The Big Ten is also close to agreeing on an infusion of private capital worth nine figures per school, and Penn State just announced a switch from longtime partner Nike to a 10-year deal with Adidas. The program also got aligned on NIL, leading to so many key players returning this season.

If Penn State was willing to go all-in on getting rid of Franklin at that cost, it will go all-in on doing whatever it takes to get the next head coach.

University stability: A-

When Franklin took over, Penn State was still reeling from the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Bill O’Brien stabilized things, but it was Franklin who got Penn State back to the top of the sport. Throughout his tenure, he pushed and pushed for more facility upgrades, which eventually came. By the end, he had has an athletic director in Pat Kraft who played football and a president in Neeli Bendapudi who gave Franklin a lot of what he wanted. That sets up well for the next coach, as Franklin raised the bar to a level he couldn’t meet.

Coach pool: A

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule: He played linebacker at Penn State in the 1990s and has always loved his alma mater. He also worked under Kraft at Temple, where Rhule went from two wins to 10 wins in three years. Then at Baylor, Rhule turned a one-win team into 11 wins and went to the NFL. Things didn’t go well with the Carolina Panthers, but Rhule appears to be turning the corner at Nebraska too, as he’s 5-1 in his third season. Rhule and Kraft still vacation together. He’s the top name to watch for many obvious reasons.

Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti: He’s a Pittsburgh native who has quickly turned the losingest program in college football history into an annual CFP contender. Last year’s 11 wins were the most in school history, and the current No. 3 ranking is the highest in school history. He has won everywhere he’s been, with a 136-37 record over four head coaching jobs, including IUP in Pennsylvania. Kraft is also an Indiana graduate.

Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell: He turned the Cyclones from a bottom-feeder into a consistent winner, with two Big 12 championship game appearances, including an 11-3 record last year. Campbell has turned down a lot of interest from other jobs, but Penn State is a different level of job, especially for an Ohio native who began his playing career at Pitt. This year’s team has lost two in a row after a 5-0 start, in part because of a bevy of defensive injuries.

LSU head coach Brian Kelly: He’s never quite fully fit at LSU, despite the winning (a 34-12 record, 5-1 and No. 10 ranking this season), so perhaps he takes a look. Like Franklin, it hasn’t been enough to satisfy fans because of national championship expectations. Kelly is a Northeast native who spent most of his career in the Midwest at Notre Dame, Cincinnati and other stops. He has won everywhere he’s been. It would be a splash to take a coach from a top-tier SEC school, too.

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin: He’s looked at plenty of other jobs, including Auburn a few years ago before deciding to stay at Ole Miss. Kiffin has a top-five team right now and has been given the resources to succeed, but Penn State could offer similar resources and an easier path to the CFP. After years of frustrating offensive play, fans might welcome what Kiffin does on that side.

Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz: He’s turned Mizzou into a contender in the loaded SEC, winning at least 10 games in the last two years, and he’s now off to a 5-1 start following a narrow loss to Alabama. Drinkwitz has been at the forefront of the changes in the sport, helping the Tigers get talented players and stay in contention. He doesn’t have the regional or school connections, but he’s shown an ability to adapt to his environment.

SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee: Like Drinkwitz, he doesn’t have regional connection, but Lashlee took SMU to its first conference championship in 40 years in 2023 and then took the Mustangs to the CFP, where they lost at Penn State. The Mustangs are 10-0 in regular-season ACC games since the move up. Lashlee is 33-14 at SMU and has shown an ability to work the money side of a football program well. He did spend a year as UConn’s offensive coordinator, so he’s been up in the Northeast, albeit briefly.

Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall: He’s a lifelong southerner, but Sumrall will be in the mix for a lot of SEC jobs in this cycle and has gotten interest from other Power 4 jobs outside the region. Sumrall has quickly shown himself to be a winning coach, with a 37-10 record and a conference championship game appearance in every year as a head coach. That includes two Sun Belt championships. He also beat Duke and Northwestern with the Green Wave this year. Sumrall’s holistic approach to program-building has impressed several athletic directors.

Duke head coach Manny Diaz: He wouldn’t be the top option, but Diaz impressed as Penn State’s defensive coordinator from 2022-23. He also went 9-4 in his first season at Duke and is off to a 4-2 start this year.

Minnesota head coach PJ Fleck: Again, he wouldn’t be a top option, but Fleck has built a consistent program at Minnesota, with a 62-41 record over nine years and a top-10 finish in 2019.

Syracuse head coach Fran Brown: He’s a New Jersey native who has coached at Temple, Rutgers and now Syracuse, so he knows the area well. Brown took the Orange to 10 wins in his first season and looked primed for another surprise year this season, before starting quarterback Steve Angeli was lost for the year. Brown’s approach to player movement and his connection with those players have made an immediate impact. 

Kansas head coach Lance Leipold: The Wisconsin native took over the worst Power 5 program in Kansas and has turned it into a consistent team and tough out. The Jayhawks won nine games with a Top 25 finish in 2023 and are 4-3 this season. Leipold also won two MAC division championships at Buffalo and six Division III national championships at Wisconsin-Whitewater. He’s done all this without the resources of a place like Penn State.

Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko: Before the Aggies come at me, let me just explain. He’s a New Jersey native who played at Penn, so there are ties to the area. Yes, Texas A&M has plenty of money to throw at anything it wants, but Penn State is the kind of job that almost any coach would at least hear out if the revenue sharing and NIL alignment are in the right place. Every coach wants and needs as much money as he can get for a roster these days, including finding new legal ways around the cap. Penn State is a top three or four job in the Big Ten. Maybe Texas A&M could match anything Penn State could try. I’m just saying it wouldn’t be a surprise if a feeler were sent out.

Overall: A

This is one of the best jobs in college football, in the top 10 or top 15, and it’s the rare opportunity to take over one of these programs coming off recent big-time success. We don’t know how the rest of the season will turn out, especially with Allar’s injury, but Penn State was a drive away from playing for the national championship last season and had high preseason expectations this year before everything unraveled after Oregon. Its resources and history will make this a sought-after job. The expectations will be sky-high, but any coach would welcome that.

This news was originally published on this post .

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