Penn St fires James Franklin

That white out is pretty sweet though. I know Cignetti is up there in age but I can see PSU throwing everything they have at him. Matt Rhule is more likely though.

Cignetti appears to have some integrity, and the commitment that IU made to him and the Cuban connection is likely to keep him at IU, especially at his age. And at this point in time, is PSU really a better spot to be in than IU?

The answers to those questions much more often than not simply come down to $$$$$$ at the end of the day. "Integrity" is way too often bought off these days.
 
Penn St realizes anyone with a pulse can take a program like theirs in the Big 10 and get 10 wins every year. There are a couple teams at the top of the conference that are elite and everyone else kind of sucks. And Franklin couldn’t beat any of those non-sucky teams

Truth. And that is really the crux of the whole thing - Penn State went all in this year, giving Franklin everything he wanted, with the expectation being to finally win those few big games they have in that joke conference. So he loses his first 'big' game, then craps the bed against awful teams, and it's game over.

The reality is that anything short of beating the big boys and at least getting back to the semis would be deemed unsatisfactory. Everyone with a clue knows that last year's "playoff run" was a joke, and selling them as a title contender and giving them the #2 rank based on returning kids who couldn't win big games was almost a disaster waiting to happen. At least I felt that way.
 
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Matt Rhule will probably be a strong candidate. Especially if Nebraska ends up 10-2/9-3, which at this point looks very possible.
You're probably right, but Rhule has the same problem winning big games that Franklin did. He had a nice final year at Baylor, but they really only played 2 good teams all year and lost to them both (OU twice and UGA). I know he's doing a rebuild at Nebraska, but he's gone 0-7 against ranked teams.
 
We’ve seen several twitter posts now about what somebody’s record is against the top 10. I am wondering just what the yardstick is here. If you are 1-10 in championship games you’re Nick Saban. If you’re 1-10 against the top 5 you’re hall of fame. 1-10 against the top 10 you are merely good, I guess.

Penn State has never seemed better than “good” to me (I’m 60) but if you go back far enough, of course Joe P was better than hall of fame.
 
I tend to agree with you, and the fact that they pulled the trigger on this now instead of waiting, makes me think that they already have a coach in mind. They might already have some back room negotiations in progress.
I have heard this 100 times. Every time it turns like greased pig wrestling. I’ll be so glad to see it in real life someday.
 
We’ve seen several twitter posts now about what somebody’s record is against the top 10. I am wondering just what the yardstick is here. If you are 1-10 in championship games you’re Nick Saban. If you’re 1-10 against the top 5 you’re hall of fame. 1-10 against the top 10 you are merely good, I guess.

Penn State has never seemed better than “good” to me (I’m 60) but if you go back far enough, of course Joe P was better than hall of fame.
You have to be better than 4-21 against top 10 teams at a job like Penn St. I don't think people are demanding he be like Saban or Kirby in those games. I also agree that Penn St is one of those programs where the fanbase probably thinks they have achieved more historically than they actually have; they aren't as accomplished as a program like Ohio St, Alabama, or Oklahoma but they think that they are.

By comparison, Heupel has already won 3 games against top 10 teams at Tennessee (3-5 overall).
 
You're probably right, but Rhule has the same problem winning big games that Franklin did. He had a nice final year at Baylor, but they really only played 2 good teams all year and lost to them both (OU twice and UGA). I know he's doing a rebuild at Nebraska, but he's gone 0-7 against ranked teams.
I feel like Rhule would be an underwhelming hire for Penn St. The guy I think would be a new/ good fit for them would not be a popular choice on this board or within this fan base.
 
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Fair - you have to think Penn St will shoot for a guy who has proven he can win some notable games though.

Right. But who are those coaches? Like you don't fire Franklin at that number to go out hire a G5 coach or P4 coordinator. And really, you're sticking to the Big Ten and SEC pool for who you really go after. The two exceptions I have would be Dan Mullen (if an only if they go 12-0) and Matt Campbell. He's topped out at Iowa State. The 12 team playoff makes it easier for them to contend, but he's maxxed it out there.

So for coaches that would be on Franklin's level or better are who exactly that would be willing to move?
 
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Right. But who are those coaches? Like you don't fire Franklin at that number to go out hire a G5 coach or P4 coordinator. And really, you're sticking to the Big Ten and SEC pool for who you really go after. The two exceptions I have would be Dan Mullen (if an only if they go 12-0) and Matt Campbell. He's topped out at Iowa State. The 12 team playoff makes it easier for them to contend, but he's maxxed it out there.

So for coaches that would be on Franklin's level or better are who exactly that would be willing to move?
If I’m looking at the SEC coaches, you have to look at Lane and Drink. Penn St needs to become dynamic, they’re boring and they’ve had the same guy at quarterback forever. Every guy for the past 25 years + is basically the same guy. Kiffin would bring them energy and the ability to recruit and develop quarterbacks instantly. They might not win it all with Kiffin, but they damn sure wouldn’t play an entire Final 4 game and not complete a pass to wide receiver. If I were Penn St, Kiffin is my first call. They need something to wake up their boring ass brand, someone that would go in guns blazing against Ryan Day. He’s that guy IMO. I’m sure this won’t be a popular post, but that’s the way I see it.
 
Right. But who are those coaches? Like you don't fire Franklin at that number to go out hire a G5 coach or P4 coordinator. And really, you're sticking to the Big Ten and SEC pool for who you really go after. The two exceptions I have would be Dan Mullen (if an only if they go 12-0) and Matt Campbell. He's topped out at Iowa State. The 12 team playoff makes it easier for them to contend, but he's maxxed it out there.

So for coaches that would be on Franklin's level or better are who exactly that would be willing to move?
If I were them I'd go hard after Cignetti. He benefitted from a soft schedule last year but regardless what he's doing at Indiana of all places is super impressive.

They also have to call Campbell, Leipold, and Lea. I don't think either of those guys are leaving their current jobs though, especially Campbell and Lea.
 
I'm listening to Stephen A Smith talking about this black head coach and I'm wondering who he's talking about..then I figure out he's talking about Franklin. I never realized he was part black. I honestly didn't know that. Not that it matters but he brought it up as a big deal. I couldn't care less what his ethnicity is but Smith was talking like it was a big deal.
 
I just don't understand why you would fire Franklin after a bad couple of games. In these years were there is a HUGE coaching carousel, very rarely do any teams end up better off than they were. Outside of Cristobal, he is out performing all of the coaches in his salary range. Fire him because he is a jerk and a poor role model, not for performance. There aren't going to be enough good coaches on the market to fill all the vacancies and most of these teams are going to end up spending millions to be in a less desirable position. That being said...Jim Knowles would make an intriguing candidate to replace Tim Banks.
 
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Cignetti appears to have some integrity, and the commitment that IU made to him and the Cuban connection is likely to keep him at IU, especially at his age. And at this point in time, is PSU really a better spot to be in than IU?

The answers to those questions much more often than not simply come down to $$$$$$ at the end of the day. "Integrity" is way too often bought off these days.
If he has another year or 2 like the current year and last year, they will erect a statue of him when he retires.
 
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That being said...Jim Knowles would make an intriguing candidate to replace Tim Banks.
Had not thought about all these coaching changes and potential of OCs and DCs becoming available.
Not sure Knowles is an upgrade from Banks though...especially with the way that traditionally great defense has been playing this year.

IMO - if Heupel was going to replace Banks, he should have done it last year when Tom Allen left PSU to go to Clemson.
Who knows, the way Clemson has fallen off, maybe you can make that move this year ??
 
If I were them I'd go hard after Cignetti. He benefitted from a soft schedule last year but regardless what he's doing at Indiana of all places is super impressive.

They also have to call Campbell, Leipold, and Lea. I don't think either of those guys are leaving their current jobs though, especially Campbell and Lea.

Cignetti would be a splash homerun hire but I really don’t think he will go because they offer him nothing he can’t get at Indiana right now. The monetary investments they are making in his short time there are insane. Sure it’s easier to recruit in Happy Valley but portal can negate that.

I also think Cignetti is psycho enough at 65 to be loyal to Indiana since they were the ones who gave him a shot.
 
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