Penn State moving on from James Franklin was the right choice.
Yes, it sucks to be on a losing streak, and yes, it sucks not to be ranked. It sucks that we can all look at the remaining schedule and picture 3, 4, 5 more losses.
But Penn State had hit a very firm ceiling with James Franklin and it was never going to move past it. The best chance they had was going up by 10 against Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff semifinal. Win that game, and they’re one win away from a national championship.
The second best chance was entering the game against Oregon last year (or when they tied it up and went to OT, if you like), but again couldn’t hack it.
From there, the culture that Franklin had instilled was evident when the team fell apart. And after more than 10 years, if that was their pinnacle, then it was pretty high indeed – but short of what Penn State wants.
So yes, moving on from Franklin was the right choice.
Bungling the coaching search, getting publicly turned down by multiple coaches, and having to fall ass backward into Matt Campbell? That was not the right choice.
That’s not to say I don’t think Matt Campbell can be a good coach at Penn State. I think he can, given enough time.
How much time?
Well, how about more time than coming in after national signing day, and having no real choice other than to bring almost all of a mid-to-good Big 12 team with him and some last minute portal additions to even field a roster.
No, I’m not excusing the loss to Wisconsin. And getting blown out by Northwestern is certainly up there as well. But I’m willing to give him the grace to actually start to build this program the way he wants, instead of just a single mad dash off-season.
Don’t get me wrong, I think there are things he can improve upon right now that can help. For one, I think he needs to take a long look at bringing Alex Manske in. Whether that’s to try to jump start Rocco Becht’s competitive nature for a game, or as a more permanent change, I’m not sure. But Rocco has been off for the last 6 quarters of football at least, and at this point in his career, I don’t see very much changing in the last 7 or 8 games in college.
I’m also leery of next year’s (and the year after’s) schedule – they get very tough, very quickly. It would be nice to at least have 4 wins by now, only needing a couple more for bowl eligibility. But alas.
As I said, moving on from Franklin was the right choice. Campbell, while maybe not the first choice, was a good one. He needs time, as all coaches do, to get things going, a few years at least.
In the mean time, we just need to keep some of these things in mind, and hopefully have at least a little fun along the way.
