A month ago, Penn State was having the big talk in college football about becoming a national championship contender. This past Sunday they fired head coach James Franklin after their embarrassing 22-21 loss to Northwestern that ignited Nittany Lions fans into an uproar.
The beginning of the fall for Penn State is the double overtime loss to Oregon that had to define his tenure with the team. What changed the downfall of the program is the loss at UCLA, which was an underdog team that was winless this season, showing the lack of focus from the Nittany Lions.
Last Saturday’s lost against Northwestern at Happy Valley was the final nail in the coffin for Frankin, whom guided the Nittany Lions into the College Football Playoffs to a national semifinal berth in the Orange Bowl (before falling to Notre Dame), which fans and booster clubs were not happy with the team’s performance after being ranked number two in the country in several polls.
Franklin spent 12 seasons with the Nittany Lions with a record of 102-45 overall and a 64-36 record in the Big Ten. He had spent three seasons at Vanderbilt where his record was 24-15 and 11-13 in the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
Franklin’s buyout from his contract with Penn State is $49 million dollars, which is second highest next to Texas A&M of $76 million to part ways with Jimbo Fisher.
“‘Once terminated, Coach is obligated to diligently search for and make a good faith effort to obtain another position appropriate for his skill set (i.e., coaching, scouting and broadcasting only) and to provide the university upon request with evidence that he is seeking such employment,’” the contract Franklin signed in November 2021 states, according to the report.
The question in the offseason will be, “Who will be the next head coach at Penn State and lead them to national prominence in 2026?” Here are a few names that would be considered the heavily favors to get the head coaching job after the off season:
Matt Rhule, Nebraska head coach
Matt Rhule makes a great deal of sense. The Nebraska coach is good friends with athletic director Pat Kraft, and Kraft could make a pretty quick phone call to try to lure Rhule from the Cornhuskers’ job. Additionally, Rhule was a linebacker at Penn State in the 1990s and a return home could be another big pitch for him.
Rhule has turned the Nebraska program around and is 17-14 with the Cornhuskers. Nebraska is 5-1 with a budding star at quarterback, Dylan Raiola. Rhule is able to continue to build yet another program. However, his record against top teams is like Franklin’s, so a different look could be on the table.
The big get with Rhule would be how he’s turned programs around. In his four years at Temple, he had the Owls ranked and played big games. In his final two years, his team had 10-4 and 10-3 records. He flipped the Baylor program’s fortunes before taking an NFL job. That program building success could be a big factor in potentially poaching him from Nebraska.
Terry Smith, Penn State interim head coach
Terry Smith joined the program the same year as Franklin. Smith has quickly become one of the strongest recruiting coaches in the country, consistently dominating the Pittsburgh region. He was a cornerbacks coach for two years with the Nittany Lions before being promoted to associate head coach while remaining the cornerbacks coach. Smith is one of the most respected coaches on the staff.
Smith was named the interim coach following the firing of Franklin, and he has the opportunity to turn the season around. Despite the not-so-favorable first three games (at Iowa, home to Indiana and at Ohio State), Smith can flip things around.
Manny Diaz, Duke head coach
Manny Diaz was the defensive coordinator at Penn State for two seasons before taking the Duke coaching job. He has turned Duke into a bigger football school and has pulled in some big-time transfers. He demonstrated his recruiting chops while at Penn State and had some follow him to Durham, North Carolina.
The former Penn State coach would be back in a big coaching job, as he was at Miami. Even being at Duke, the Blue Devils don’t have the football history the Nittany Lions do.
Diaz has the Blue Devils 4-2 and atop the ACC, albeit in the early phases of the conference schedule. However, he’s a proven coach who had the defense rolling while coaching the Nittany Lions.
Curt Cignetti, Indiana head coach
Cignetti is a coach many fans want. He just wins. It doesn’t matter where he is; he wins. He’s turned Indiana into a football school and may be on his way to a potential championship after the Hoosiers’ road victory over Oregon.
Cignetti has a 36-6 record during his career at James Madison and Indiana. After not winning big games last year, Cignetti led the Hoosiers over the hump with their most recent win, something Franklin hadn’t done in nine years.
The Pittsburgh native would return to his home state and coach an even bigger brand than what Indiana has grown to in the first year and a half. He’d be at the top of the coaching mountain with a team that has consistently contended for championships during its history.
Matt Campbell, Iowa State head coach
Keeping things more realistic, Matt Campbell could make a great deal of sense. After his best season last year, it seems Iowa State has taken a step back with two straight losses.
A big thing Campbell has shown is his ability to develop wide receivers and quarterbacks. Two receivers were drafted in the second-round last year, and Rocco Becht looks to be making his way toward a draft position, even if it is in the later round.
That’s where former Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy went, and he has proven to be a starting NFL quarterback.
The biggest problems Penn State has had is developing the quarterback and developing receivers. Allar didn’t take that same step he took last year in his game, and without a good development of receivers, it wasn’t set up for him. Under Campbell, the future at QB and WR could be in good hands.
Despite these five candidates, there are other big candidates, including Nick Saban and Urban Meyer. However, it would probably take a great deal to lure either away from their TV jobs. Kraft and Penn State have a big decision on their hands for the future of one of the most consistent programs in the country.
Photo source: Noah Riffe, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
