Coaching Carousel (Football)
- Status
Would be a strange lateral move if not just for increased $. And with the Big Ten media deal being so much bigger than ACC's, I'd imagine Penn St. would have the ability to match whatever Clemson could offer, right?
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
Agree it's a head-tilter. Grasping for something here, Tom and his wife are pretty religious. Could be better life alignment with Dabo and his staff? Penn State is going to lose some important pieces off the defense, maybe Allen saw the defense stepping back next season?
Slightly more nervous that Illinois' defense staff could get sucked into this musical chairs than I was when Clemson had an opening.
Slightly more nervous that Illinois' defense staff could get sucked into this musical chairs than I was when Clemson had an opening.
I guess the positive way of looking at it is that if you have to replace staff, maybe you'd rather do it this offseason than next offseason. With the season we had and so many returning players, I'd imagine we would be a pretty attractive job so more likely to get the candidates we want.
my guess is he didn’t exactly think working for Franklin was good for his current day to day mental health , and , long term it was an issue as well with Franklin’s ability to lead properly to win the big game .
I don’t think working for Franklin is easy
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
Maybe. I would argue that Franklin's greatest strength is his ability to hire coaches and keep replenishing after they are poached. In an industry that's very protective of hiring people they have worked with before, to the point of blatant cronyism, Franklin is one of the coaches most willing to hire who's perceived as best-in-the-business regardless of their history.
Last edited:
Not sure I get all the Franklin hate, other than just general Penn St. hate (which I completely get). The guy took a program that was not in a good place (yes, as a result of the all-time most despicable self-inflicted reasons in college sports history) and turned it into a playoff semi-finalist. He was one bone-headed throw from his QB away from having a chance to play for the championship. He's finished in the top 10 of the AP poll 4 (and soon to be 5) times.
Penn St. deserves all the hate. But I think Franklin has had a pretty good tenure, notwithstanding his poor records against top-5 teams (which is not a surprise - top 5 teams are usually better than everyone they face!).
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
@mhuml32: Love your new profile pic!
Illinicpa14
- Chicago
I think that’s why AHen would stay, makes way more sense to him to run it back with all these guys, have a great year and parlay that to something bigger when after next year he’d be rebuilding a lot of the pieces.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Agree. It would be ideal for Henry if he could finish 2025 as a Top 15 defense in the nation, earn another New Year's Day bowl bid (or CFP if we're fortunate) -- and then parlay that into a big job in Florida or somewhere in the South with a big pay raise.
Vandy had won 2 of the 4 bowl games they'd been to in the entirety of their football program's history when James Franklin arrived. He proceeded to win 2 bowls in 3 bowl appearances in the 3 years he was there. Dude is a winner but can't get over that hump at Penn State.
I think it might be the good Lord won't let that University fully succeed
Yeah, for sure, but to be fair when "the hump" is a national championship, almost everyone can't get over it. Last time Penn St. got over that particular hump was almost 40 years ago. And it's possible he's just never going to be the guy that gets them there. At the same time, people used to say pretty much the same about Andy Reid.Vandy had won 2 of the 4 bowl games they'd been to in the entirety of their football program's history when James Franklin arrived. He proceeded to win 2 bowls in 3 bowl appearances in the 3 years he was there. Dude is a winner but can't get over that hump at Penn State.
I think it might be the good Lord won't let that University fully succeed
His situation is similar to Underwood's in a way....Franklin is clearly a very good coach; he brings in good talent and you can count on PSU to win 10 games a year like clockwork. However, there is something missing that keeps him from taking the next step to being a championship coach. While that can be frustrating, he's too good of a coach to replace; odds are his replacement would be a step back
There's no sugarcoating it: As Penn State's coach, James Franklin owns an abysmal 4-19 record against opponents ranked in the Associated Press top 10 -- and is just 3-10 in such games when his team is also in the top 10.
it’s not the losses in the CFP or BCS , it’s losses in all the games against other good teams
I agree he is a pretty good coach but Penn State wasn't in that bad a shape when he got there. Obrien had 8 wins the year before.
Has more to do with off the field issues. Vanderbilt was bad.
7 wins in 2013. He had 8 the year before that. And more importantly the program hadn't really navigated past the scandal yet at that point. It was not a foregone conclusion that they would ever attain their previous relevance (though it did already seem obvious the NCAA's "worse than the death penalty" punishment was way overhyped). Within three seasons Franklin had them at 11 wins and a top-10 finish. I'd say that's a pretty good result.
Yeah, I get that that's a bad record against top opponents. A lot of good coaches have bad records in these games. Going into the 2023 season, Jim Harbaugh had a bad record vs. top-10 opponents too. Then in 2023 he won the whole thing. So guess he was able to figure that out, two decades into his coaching career. Bielema also does not have a stellar record against top 10 competition. Even if you look at his best seasons at Wisconsin, he wasn't doing well against top 10 competition. I still think he's a pretty good coach.
And I also don't think Penn St. is a program along the lines of OSU or Alabama or Notre Dame. It certainly wasn't when he took over. They pull in top 20 recruiting classes, not top 5. Those top-10 matchups are the ones where you really see who has the stronger, faster players, and Penn St. has been a program that recruits really well, but still falls short of the most elite recruiters. Maybe that's Franklin's fault, but I also just don't think Penn St. has the allure of some of those programs you typically see pulling in top 10 classes.
Illinicpa14
- Chicago
Penn state is a case study of “you just gotta get to the playoffs (in any sport) and play in enough big ones and one time you’ll punch through”
- Status