(OT) Penn State Football - James Franklin no longer

zambonir 2025-10-12 14:26:35 UTC #97

Definitely his ceiling but the possibility of dropping had to be at least a partial factor in coming back (along with the $ and the championship aspiration and the possibility of rising).

Ewers was predicted to go 3rd or 4th round with a ceiling of 2nd round - turns out he actually should have gone into the transfer portal (or you could argue, Texas should have kept him). Allar will probably still get taken, but could be as low as Ewers or McCord.

Probably this whole crew doesn't come back if Allar doesn't, so the what-might-have-been is less could they have done better with Pribula or a transfer as, it was time to start a new era. And now it really is.

flyers19rw 2025-10-12 16:42:56 UTC #98

Some concern about the move from being a Nike school to an Addidas one. How much money and where it’s going.

zambonir 2025-10-12 17:00:35 UTC #99

This is the sort of thing that happens when things are bad. As if the partnership with Nike couldn't have also had the potential for self-dealing. I have not followed this at all but I'm assuming it is just another thing that has its roots in the division that continues to exist on the board, and between the Joe people and non-Joe people, with PSU probably no longer being as important to Nike without Joe as well.

Catching up on these articles now. With the Board it seems they were not consulted (nor do they have to be) and some are mad about that, while others obviously are not.

https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/article311970547.html

bigegypt0417 2025-10-12 18:05:46 UTC #100

Franklin fired...that was not expected!

47 million dollar buyout.

https://x.com/espn/status/1977435235059917055?s=19

MichaelJackSchmidt 2025-10-12 18:16:38 UTC #101

Smart move! I've never been a big fan of keeping a coach or player simply because you owe them a lot of money. By the way, WIP radio is saying he's owed 49 million.

zambonir 2025-10-12 19:25:29 UTC #102

He could have survived the one unacceptable loss if they'd beaten one of OSU or Indiana, but not this last one. Nor what's coming. Can't wait to read the stories about who actually made it happen though. They could have saved themselves money by waiting/trying negotiate a settlement but not in-season.

Question is is there any offset when he gets a new job or does he get it all? What's incredible is he got this deal in the first place at a time when he was not doing that great, but they still needed to keep him from being hired away.

A Penn State coach being fired for football reasons has never happened in my lifetime... or anyone's here, probably (Higgins and Engle both retired).

This could still go pretty badly for the next six to 10 years. Think Nebraska after Pelini, Florida State after Jimbo, Michigan before Harbaugh, Texas after Brown, Wisconsin right now. That would have been the reason not to do this, not the money.

BostonRoss 2025-10-12 19:33:22 UTC #103

Time to rename the thread!

zambonir 2025-10-12 19:36:37 UTC #104

it had a good run

bigegypt0417 2025-10-12 20:43:28 UTC #105

Already the decommittment of the #1 RB in the 27 class.

zambonir 2025-10-12 21:15:10 UTC #106

Saw a tweet from some WV guy saying adidas wanted Franklin out and will pay some of the buyout. I'm sure at the end of the day Kraft was always interested in doing this (he did not hire him or give him that deal) but there had to be a reason, which the losing provided finally. Kraft also was Rhule's AD at Temple. Hard to imagine them going after Cignetti (who is also quite old) or Matt Campbell is they can just get Rhule. Bruce Feldman says they would talk to Manny Diaz too but he, like Golden, had minimal success as a HC, though he's doing very well continuing what Elko started at Duke.

bigegypt0417 2025-10-12 21:31:31 UTC #107

Rhule seems like a logical pick...he may like his gig currently but can he win a national championship there?

Not really.

andyb 2025-10-12 21:37:23 UTC #108

Pro football can be a cruel business.

zambonir 2025-10-12 22:06:13 UTC #109

I feel like the same question can be asked of Penn State, as well as Wisconsin (which is going to have to pay a similarly large buyout). PSU certainly has more $ and natural recruiting turf, but at the end of the day they are all remote, cold-weather schools, and also very white communities. What Nebraska and Penn State did in the '80s and '90s (since PSU was of course robbed in '95) was a different time.

I think even if Rhule was at Texas Tech or Oklahoma he'd probably leave for Kraft and Penn State. This really seems like one of those moves where you don't fire the guy before you know who you want next, even if there still has to be a shortlist/back-ups.

phillychuck 2025-10-12 22:29:21 UTC #110

Rhule’s record in “big games” is just as bad as Franklin’s. He’s probably willing to come, but I’m not sure PSU is willing to hire him.

zambonir 2025-10-12 22:35:31 UTC #111

He and Kraft still vacation together. He's won everywhere (in college). He played there. And, he played for Joe. The Joe people have been waiting forever for this, and the other options (Schiano, Golden) not as good.

Even being a failed NFL coach isn't necessarily a demerit.

He played for one Big 12 championship at Baylor, lost to the SEC runner-up in the Sugar Bowl, and then left for the NFL before he could really do anything more. Hasn't really done much in Lincoln yet, though the post-Briles Bears were probably an easier rebuild than Nebraska.

Purduke 2025-10-12 22:55:15 UTC #112

Rhule is reported to have almost an identical buyout $$ in his contract as Franklin had -- and presumably PSU would have to pony it up if they wanted him (which I'm mixed on). Give me Joe Brady -- anybody that could turn a 3rd string Ohio State QB into a record-setting, national champion and #1 overall draft pick could have turned Aller into ... well, better than he was.

bigegypt0417 2025-10-12 23:04:40 UTC #113

How is the weather different for any of the Midwest schools?

Penn state has the money and the recruiting pedigree to certainly win a national championship.

zambonir 2025-10-12 23:36:24 UTC #114

It's not but Ohio State and Michigan are both more urban schools. Penn State is certainly more like them than Nebraska and Wisconsin, but still not enough like them.

No question they could, maybe even should, but the sport has been Ohio State and Michigan and the SEC and two ACC outliers for decades, plus Pete Carroll. Penn State hasn't won a title in 40 years. They've only won four Big 10 titles, same as Northwestern in that time frame. And now it's even harder with the West Coast schools. Not saying the expectation shouldn't be there, but until 14 days ago Franklin really was as good as it has ever gotten for Happy Valley since the '80s. What he did last season is about all you can expect for sure, much like you can't expect/plan for the Phllies to not get eliminated early after a great regular season.

Not saying it can't be done, and with the portal and NIL it should be able to be done faster (though the new rules will blunt the impact of NIL, every school has the same revenue-share to play with). But it could also go badly for several years and multiple new coaches, just like it did at Michigan and Texas and Oregon and Florida State.

And, much as a baseball team is only as good as its owner, I don't believe the PSU board/President/AD is actually elite/aligned like you have to be (and has never been during Franklin's entire tenure, clearly).

zambonir 2025-10-12 23:41:38 UTC #115

I guess Cignetti would be cheap. But this is all tied to the private equity and adidas deals I reckon. They don't do this if they weren't ready to deal with not only Franklin's buyout, but to pay someone else's.

I'd go get K.C. Keeler personally but he's even older than Cignetti. Who would actually be the next great FCS to FBS coach? Dan Rocco is another pretty good one who is also already legal retirement age.

zambonir 2025-10-13 00:19:51 UTC #116

I guess the number is $45 million, allowing for what he already made this year. His base salary is $7 million plus $1 million annually for life insurance.

But also, Rhule's buyout is for getting fired. The number for him to leave is just $5 million. Just as it would have been a lot less for PSU if Franklin had quit. It goes down to $4 million in December too.

According to USA Today’s coaching salary database, Georgia coach Kirby Smart currently has the largest buyout in the country at $105.1 million, followed by Ohio State’s Ryan Day ($70.9 million), Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer ($60.8 million), Texas’ Steve Sarkisian ($60.3 million) and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney ($60 million). Because Riley is at USC, a private school, the institution is not required to disclose contract terms via open records laws. Other currently employed coaches with buyouts above $40 million include Florida State’s Mike Norvell, Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, Kelly, Nebraska’s Matt Rhule and Illinois’ Bret Bielema.