Sgt. Schultz said:
Juan Lee Pettimore said:
I understand that the big money donors are pissed that they got no ROI on all the money they dumped in to the program, but the Franklin firing reeks of a premature temper tantrum. 99% of the programs in the country would kill for Franklin's success. Yes he was 0-fer in big games, but who is out there that can just come in and plug and play and get them over that hump? We got lucky with Elko (assuming this season continues to go well), but for every Elko, there are ten Napier's, Mullin's, Rich Rodriguez's, Pittman's, etc that flame out and set you back even worse.
Dude, this season is done for Penn State. If you keep Franklin, how do you recruit/buy top talent to come in next year and subsequent years if you keep ****ting the bed? What makes you think its gonna be different next year? The fans are tired of the Outback Bowl or whatever. Its business. Franklin has a track record, a history of always coming up short and was shown the door with a $49M parting gift.
Why do the Ags always changes coaches every 5-6 years? Because we invest heavily and haven't seen results. Texas 8&4 came about for a reason. Why did we ****can Jimbo? The writing was on the wall with him and we had to change the narrative.
You're right about A&M, but Franklin's results are way better than 8-5. As far as coming up short, what coaches have had a better record in those types of games?
Saban? Sure. Replicate that.
Day? Yeah, except he hasn't been able to beat Michigan consistently and allegedly his job is/was on the line after last year's game.
Harbaugh? To some extent, but see Day. Also, we KNOW how he did it and PSU has gotten into enough trouble this millenium.
Lanning and DeBoer? Maybe, but neither have won a title and both have lost games they supposedly should have won.
With these last 4, even their success has been tempered.
Who else?
Picking out weaknesses in coaches is easy. ANYONE can do that. Figuring out how to fix them is the real issue. I have to admit that I've been a little short-sighted in that area myself. But make no mistake: there's a HUGE difference between being stuck in/on an 8-win rut and winning 11+ games without winning a championship. In the former situation, you're on a treadmill going nowhere; in the latter, you're in a position where if a couple of games go right or if a season's schedule is beneficial, suddenly you find yourself playing for a title.
NONE of the people mentioned above are interested in the Penn State job. Thus, they're going to have to get someone who hasn't done what they're wanting him to do and hope for the best. When you look at that
logically and wonder if keeping Franklin would have been the better alternative, you have to wonder -- especially given the $50+ million down the drain.