Fired a coach that was 1 play away from the title game last year and has a waaaaaaay better record than the 2 coaches you mentioned at their last institution.
Coaching Carousel (Football)
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TentakilRex
- Land O Insects between Quincy-Macomb-Jacksonville
Since college teams have GMs now, how Penn State hiring alum Matt Millen as their GM.
Like the Randy Newman lyrics from a song that I can’t remember but probably off the “Good Old Boys” album: "LSU, went in dumb, came out dumb, too."
fine by me - he's just terrible in the booth
For one, I am pretty sure Brian Kelly is not represented by Jimmy Sexton or CAA, he's repped by Trace Armstrong at Athletes First.
If you buy the McShay theory on Sexton, which I'm honestly not 100% sold on (I think an equally likely, or even more likely, theory is that PSU is bungling the search and a lot of his clients like other options more than PSU, and the PSU opening is allowing him to get them great deals from those programs), I think the difference between Napier and Franklin would be that with Napier, it wasn't just one slow start, the UF AD and Sexton had talked about expectations etc. at some point over the last few years, while with PSU, Franklin had them in the Playoff Semis last season, and to go from that to mid-season firing is bad. If the Sexton theory is true, I think the way to justify it re: fiduciary duty to clients is that all of his clients benefit, in the long run, from a program that does that kind of thing being punished for it.
mattcoldagelli
- Script Illinois Enthusiast
I mean, Billy Napier was only over .500 once. He would have been on the hot seat if he were coaching in the Sun Belt.
Kelly is a better comparison, in that he was getting good-but-not-good-enough results. It's just more legitimate for LSU to take that stance when they've won multiple titles in the last 25 years. Penn State is coming up on the 40th anniversary of their last championship and Franklin had them at their most relevant just last year.
There's a reason we (and the rest of CFB) all instantly thought they were risking becoming Nebraska East when they fired him this year. Those were bad losses, sure (although they look much better at the end of the season!), but who did they think they were going to get?
How is that drastically different than UF?
Should of happened years ago
I still think Brian Kelly to Penn State is the only play that makes sense for either of them. For Penn State, Kelly is the only available coach with the pedigree they want. For Kelly, Penn State is the only job open that isn’t a huge drop off in program prestige. I think Kelly would do very well in that part of the country at a program like Penn State’s.
Otherwise, if Kelly doesn’t work out for whatever reason, I think Penn State would be smart to slap an interim tag on somebody and make a run at the big fish again next year with the hindsight of the price and timing of the carousel from this year. Wisconsin keeping Fickell looks better every day, even if their decision was kinda forced upon them by some combination of funds and circumstances.
Otherwise, if Kelly doesn’t work out for whatever reason, I think Penn State would be smart to slap an interim tag on somebody and make a run at the big fish again next year with the hindsight of the price and timing of the carousel from this year. Wisconsin keeping Fickell looks better every day, even if their decision was kinda forced upon them by some combination of funds and circumstances.
Cignetti. They were all in on him. I don't think they were expecting to miss and they had no real backup plan in place when they did. Seems like a Bears level fumbling that ended in them needing to hire Jauron.
doesn't an AD have a short list of 3-5 names, with at least 2-3 of those being guys who he has every reason to believe would be interested if it became available?
mattcoldagelli
- Script Illinois Enthusiast
But in all seriousness, if that was their plan - you can't start the wheels in motion unless you know it's a certainty. Josh would never.
Ha, fair. AI didn't tell me Armstrong moved to AF. I totally believe in PSU institutional incompetence, but it's got to be wild at PSU if they're considered more functional than LSU...so Sexton influence could make sense.
Franklin recently followed up an 11 win season with 4-5 and 7-6 showings, so this wasn't the first time his team spiraled in the last 5 years. It's also not like he could point to the future...his most successful teams were built on top 10 recruiting classes ('18 & '22) whereas his generational QB was flaming out and he was bringing in the 19th in 25 and 17th in 26 (when he was fired) classes. This was supposed to be THE team and he failed.
Illini in Italy
- Illini HQ, Florida Panhandle
They had to borrow them from UNC (brand new, never used).
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Did he have Bret locked up when he fired the last guy? (asking don't know the answer)
K State is smart … Get Klein while you can …
Miles Smith to Penn State …
Few teams still very early in the process …
However - As of today, I think Lunney returns …
I dont think we really need to be overly concerned until UTSA or Ark St has an opening. And there might be a couple other schools down that way that fit well.
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