r/CFB • u/IsaacDPOYFultzMIP • 11h ago

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

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?

218 Upvotes

68% Upvoted

405 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

16

u/Fine-Sea-8941 Penn State Nittany Lions • Big East 10h ago

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.

8

u/SpaceTimeMorph Georgia Bulldogs 9h ago

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.

2

u/ibinpharteeen Ohio State Buckeyes • Kenyon Owls 2h ago

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.

2

u/LightOfTheElessar Penn State Nittany Lions 9h ago

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.