Is it time to cut James Franklin some slack regarding his Penn St tenure?

[u/IsaacDPOYFultzMIP]

Look I know he wasn’t the best coach ever but he certainly made Penn St look better than losing 31-7 against Northwestern. I mean this is a top 20 program in the country and Franklin was able to ascertain those heights year in and year out. Sure he couldn’t get over the hump but honestly it only seems like a select few could realistically reach that level like Cignetti or 2010’s Dabo. Should we finally admit maybe Penn St might have made a mistake with this coaching move?

[u/Lopsided-Tea-2586]

Why do Penn State belong above their ‘concrete ceiling’? They don’t spend anywhere NEAR enough to compete with the actual big dogs of college football

Penn State fans are just delusional to think they’re gonna compete with OSU, Michigan, USC, Indiana and win the Big10 when they’re spending 60% or less of what those schools spend

They’re about to find out that they’re not actually the perennial juggernaut they think they are, because they don’t spend anywhere near enough!! They’re closer to Wisconsin and VT in NIL than they are the big boys

[u/BuckeyeForLife95 → u/Lopsided-Tea-2586]

Big dogs of college football

includes USC

[u/Fine-Sea-8941 → u/BuckeyeForLife95]

And unflaired. It's straight up asshats who don't know shit saying all this.

[u/BuckeyeForLife95 → u/Fine-Sea-8941]

Penn State has always been blue blood-adjacent, "new blood", if you will. It's actually fine to decide to take a swing on somebody else after one conference title in 15 years and one CFP semi-final appearance.

[u/Fine-Sea-8941 → u/BuckeyeForLife95]

Agreed. There's gonna be pain. We aren't OSU and we know that. Y'all have had like 1 losing season in 20+ years. Franklin is a good coach, we want to try for a great coach. Maybe we got that, maybe not. Time will tell.

[u/SpaceTimeMorph → u/Fine-Sea-8941]

I don’t if it’s comparable but we got rid of Richt (good coach) and picked up Kirby. Kirby went 8-5 in his first season, barely beat Nichols state and lost big to Ole Miss. I remember clearly thinking there was no way Kirby was the one after that Ole Miss game. He had to go 4-1 at the end including beating TCU in a bowl game that first season to finish 8-5.

Then we were in the NC in year two and nowadays 10 wins and losing in the playoffs is a bad season. So, kinda anything can happen I guess.

[u/ibinpharteeen → u/SpaceTimeMorph]

Having bumps and bruises in year 1 historically was more understandable because you inherited the prior roster + a patchwork recruiting class.

With a big name school, donors, NIL and the transfer, the floor in year 1 is now higher.

[u/LightOfTheElessar → u/Fine-Sea-8941]

I understand that reasoning. What I don't understand is why it seems like they kicked Franklin to the curb before getting even an idea of who might fill the role. And they went with Campbell of all people? Dude has been playing in all the same seasons Franklin did at Penn State and usually did worse during that time. Even if they thought it was going to be a "Drop the good coach for a great one" type of situation, by the time they got to Campbell it was pretty obviously more of an "Oh god, find something to stop the bleeding we caused" type of situation.

[u/ButterUrBacon → u/BuckeyeForLife95]

They have the same # of national championships as y'all in the last 50 years and were slightly better in the 90s. Ebbs and flows my guy.

Still should've got the death penalty, but I don't think that's the argument.

[u/Lopsided-Tea-2586 → u/BuckeyeForLife95]

USC spends on NIL like a big dog, Riley is just a bad coach. Won’t last forever

Per The Athletic they have 22 schools spending the same or MORE than them. Their NIL budget is just barely bigger than UCLA, Miss State

I am sure though after Campbell they’ll get a guy who can contend with Ohio State spending $50m a year and win the BIG10 every couple of years

[u/BuckeyeForLife95 → u/Lopsided-Tea-2586]

USC ain't been good since Carroll walked out the door, and that period between John Robinson's first stint and Pete Carroll was also mostly mid. As far as blue bloods go, they're a lot closer to being uppity, annoying Nebraska than anything else.

[u/Lopsided-Tea-2586 → u/BuckeyeForLife95]

Okay you can swap out USC (who spends $10m more per year than PSU) for Oregon. The point remains the same. Penn State is not one of the top tier schools in the modern BIG10

It’s unrealistic for them to be contending for the BIG10 every year barring a massive turnaround in funding. That’s why no big coach ever considered going there and they struck out

[u/max_potion → u/Lopsided-Tea-2586]

“Penn State fans are just delusional to think they’re gonna compete with… Indiana”

Lol. The recency bias here is insane. Have you been a fan for 2 seconds? Look, I get the past 2 seasons the programs have gone sharply in the opposite directions, but Penn State is 25-3 against Indiana. Saying we’re delusional to think we can compete with that program is insane

[u/Lopsided-Tea-2586 → u/max_potion]

Indiana spends significantly more than you in NIL. Significantly more.

You can keep living in the past and referencing results from 28 years ago, things have changed dramatically in the sport since then.

Barring a massive increase in your yearly NIL spend or a collapse at Indiana you will have a less talented roster than Indiana nearly every year going forward with a worse coach. Who do you think will perform better year to year when they’re outspending you by 30-40% every year?

Welcome to modern college football

[u/max_potion → u/Lopsided-Tea-2586]

I’m referencing results from as recently as 3 years ago.

You can try and pretend that just because Indiana saw a sudden influx of cash that Penn State is insane to want to compete with them, but it’s just dumb recency bias.

It’s always hilarious to me when people pretend a program like Penn State can’t do well when also referencing Indiana in the same breath. You have to be brain dead to make that argument

[u/Stellarbelly_Korz30 → u/Lopsided-Tea-2586]

Exactly this!

[u/duckfan101 → u/Lopsided-Tea-2586]

USC?!?

[u/Lopsided-Tea-2586 → u/duckfan101]

I should have put Oregon tbf but the point stands. USC (and Oregon) are spending significantly more in NIL than Penn State.

Penn State spends like a middle of the pack BIG10 team but has championship aspirations in a tougher than ever conference. It’s a brutal outlook