Penn State fired Franklin for an elite coach — now it's 3-2 and a cautionary tale
Penn State is 3-2 under first-year coach Matt Campbell, according to www.cbssports.com. The Nittany Lions opened the season ranked No. 18. They have lost their last two games, to Wisconsin and Northwestern.
Northwestern outgained Penn State 506-291 in its 34-13 win last Friday, per the source. The Nittany Lions are already 12th in the Big Ten.
The fall has been fast. A program that fired James Franklin almost exactly a year ago in pursuit of a national championship now sits below half the conference. The gamble was supposed to produce an elite coach. So far, it has produced a team that cannot stay on the field with the middle of the Big Ten.
THE FIRING AND THE SEARCH
It was almost exactly a year ago that Penn State AD Pat Kraft fired James Franklin. The plug was pulled on Oct. 12, after a loss to Northwestern dropped the program to 3-3, according to www.cbssports.com.
Franklin had guided Penn State to a College Football Playoff semifinal the previous season. But Penn State grew sick of his antics after 12 seasons and believed it could do better, per the source. The exact nature of those "antics" is not detailed in the report. Penn State wanted a coach more capable of winning a national championship, according to the same site.
From the moment of the firing, there was considerable industry skepticism that the school could land the caliber of coach that justified its decision, per www.cbssports.com. Early options like Nebraska's Matt Rhule, Texas A&M's Mike Elko and Indiana's Curt Cignetti quickly took themselves out of consideration. Despite fan speculation, Alabama's Kalen DeBoer was never a serious option, according to the source. The precise caliber of coach Penn State ultimately sought is not confirmed beyond the source's description.
The longer the search dragged on, the worse it looked for Kraft and the program. Firing a head coach midseason can give you a jump on the competition, but it can also invite a lot of cooks into the kitchen. More and more people insert themselves into the process, from current and former players to boosters to trustees. It can make an already fraught process even more unwieldy and ripe for disaster.
THE MESSY PROCESS
The longer it dragged on, the worse it looked for Kraft and Penn State. Firing your head coach midseason can give you a jump on the competition, but it can also invite a lot of cooks into the kitchen, according to www.cbssports.com.
More and more people insert themselves into the process, from current and former players to boosters to trustees, per the source. That can make an already fraught process even more unwieldy and ripe for disaster.
The source describes the entire ordeal as "a messy process." The full outcome of that mess and any specific internal conflicts are not fully detailed in the report. What is clear is that the longer the search stretched, the more public the dysfunction became — and the more it reflected on the athletic director who had made the call to pull the plug on a coach who had reached a College Football Playoff semifinal just a season earlier.
THE GRASS ISN'T GREENER
The obvious lesson is that the grass isn't always greener on the other side, according to www.cbssports.com. There comes a point where a fanbase and/or an administration gets sick enough of what they have that any alternative sounds better, per the source. Penn State reached that point with Franklin, but the alternative it landed on has left the Nittany Lions at 3-2 and 12th in the Big Ten.
For all his faults, Franklin wasn't a bad football coach, according to www.cbssports.com. That is evident in the fact that he already has Virginia Tech at 4-1, a controversial play away from a 5-0 record in his debut season in Blacksburg, per the source. The specific play in question is not described in the report — only that it kept the Hokies from being undefeated.
Even if you believed it was time to move on from Franklin, you still need to land the plane with the right guy to follow him and take over the program, according to www.cbssports.com. From the moment Penn State fired Franklin, there was considerable industry skepticism that the school would be able to land the caliber of coach that justified its decision, per the source. Early options like Nebraska's Matt Rhule, Texas A&M's Mike Elko and Indiana's Curt Cignetti quickly took themselves out of consideration, and Alabama's Kalen DeBoer was never a serious option despite fan speculation.
The warning for other fanbases is simple: getting sick of your coach is not the same as having a better one waiting.
WHAT TO WATCH NEXT
The immediate priority is survival. Penn State has No. 19 USC this weekend, according to www.cbssports.com, followed by a similarly slumping Michigan team the week after.
The Nittany Lions are already 12th in the Big Ten, so these games are critical for their season, per the source. A 3-2 start with losses to Wisconsin and Northwestern leaves no margin for error against the back half of the schedule.
For frustrated fans elsewhere, the source suggests Penn State stands as a cautionary tale before calling for their own coach's firing. The lesson is simple: the grass isn't always greener, and getting sick of your coach is not the same as having a better one waiting.
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