Penn State Nittany Lions football coach James Franklin is responsible for one of the sport’s greatest failures this season – that being a team that had every right to become the Big Ten’s championship successor to the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines, and for the “small game James” to dissipate.
After a 42-37 loss to a previously winless UCLA Bruins, Franklin and Penn State are being urged to do some soul-searching. Perhaps there are better fits out there for both parties. Frankly, Nittany Lion fans don’t care where the Pennsylvania native ends up, as long as it’s not University Park.
NBC Sports’ Nicole Auerbach urged the 53-year-old to move on from his dream job and explore the market.
“As I wrote on Saturday night, I’m not entirely sure where Penn State goes from here. It’s one thing to lose to the best teams on your schedule and another thing entirely to become the first top-10 team in four decades to lose to an opponent that was 0-4 or worse. I do wonder if it would be best for both parties if James Franklin takes a serious look at the Power 4 jobs that open this cycle; his buyout to leave State College is small, and he’d get a clean slate somewhere else. Franklin is a really good program-builder, and a lot of schools will be looking for that (and perhaps be willing to pay something similar to what he makes now). He doesn’t have to live under a magnifying glass and coach in front of fans who chant how much they want him gone. He could decide to start anew, if he wants, at the end of the season,” Auerbach wrote.
Virginia Tech, UCLA, Arkansas have open jobs James Franklin can explore
Currently, there are three major coaching searches going on at the moment. The Virginia Tech Hokies, after firing Bent Pry, UCLA, who fired DeShaun Foster three weeks before playing Penn State, and the Arkansas Razorbacks, who just dismissed Sam Pittman last week.
Franklin parlayed successful years with the Vanderbilt Commodores into nabbing the Nittany Lions' job. That makes the Hogs an idea, but it’s a far-out one. The culture shift from Vanderbilt and Penn State to Arkansas is a dramatic one. Too dramatic.
Speaking of dramatic, Franklin taking the Bruins job would be quite the story. UCLA interim football coach Tim Skipper and newly promoted offensive coordinator Jerry Neuheisel may win themselves into full-time roles.
That makes Virginia Tech the likeliest opening of the ones currently available. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be other jobs opening up this hiring cycle. Things could, and should, get hectic.
If the Nittany Lions create a vacancy, packaged as the two “parting ways,” Franklin will undoubtedly be a hot name. His program made the College Football Playoff’s semifinal round in the first-ever 12-team field.
Any AD can convince the university’s administration to spend big on Franklin.