New coach

Connorpozlee

All-American
Aug 29, 2013
3,145
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The losses to ucla and northwestern were embarrassing, and Franklin had no answers after both games. He offered no resolve, nothing meaningful to fix it. He appeared lost. What else could Kraft do?

(The above ignores the rumor that there already was tension between Franklin and Kraft over the former’s handling of a request for an extension during the previous offseason.)
This is exactly where I am. This stuff about his winning percentage and making the playoffs last year is irrelevant when you saw that he wasn’t doing the job now. He had to go.
 

BCS PSU

All-Conference
Jun 2, 2001
530
1,014
93
This is exactly where I am. This stuff about his winning percentage and making the playoffs last year is irrelevant when you saw that he wasn’t doing the job now. He had to go.
It’s probably a moot issue anyway because I really believe that he was going to leave on his own at the end of the season after how everything devolved and look for a new opportunity. So, PSU probably was going to have to hire a new coach anyway.
 

84lion

All-Conference
Oct 7, 2021
797
1,368
93
Bendapudi is firmly in the Terry Smith to HC camp.
Sounds to me like the kind of decision that a manager focused on budgets would make. Not that it's an especially bad decision, mind you, just that I can see the reasoning (especially if you're not a football fanatic).
 
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Nitt1300

Heisman
Nov 2, 2008
6,718
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It’s probably a moot issue anyway because I really believe that he was going to leave on his own at the end of the season after how everything devolved and look for a new opportunity. So, PSU probably was going to have to hire a new coach anyway.
I think you're probably right, but. I also think that once he tested the waters with his new AD and Prez and saw that their support was thin, he knew his days were numbered.

In hindsight, they should have parted ways in the off-season, crazy as that would have seemed.
 
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Nits1989

All-Conference
Oct 29, 2021
1,204
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The reality is PSU fans would not care about this guy if he was born in a different state and coached somewhere other than JMU. There are other G5 candidates out there for this position that are much more qualified than Chesney. Golesh and Sumrall immediately come to mind, but most PSU fans do not even mention them because there’s no emotional connection. This hire needs to be based on logic rather than emotion. There is nothing on Chesney’s résumé that should give anyone reasonable confidence that he will succeed at PSU. His other head coaching experience was at schools at or smaller than the student population size of my own high school. I hope the guy succeeds, but I don’t want him at PSU. Heck, I would take Terry Smith way before I would take Chesney.
I don’t think it’s just geographic bias. I don’t know anything about Golesh. Read his name on this board. Looked him up and saw his records as a head coach in 2023 and 2024 were barely over .500, and he’s 7-3 so far this year. Sumrall has a better head coaching record. Chesney has the best head coaching record of the 4 and has been a head coach longest. I know the level of schools he’s coached is an issue for some. Chesney has a history of beating his competition at a better clip than the other 3.
 
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Nits1989

All-Conference
Oct 29, 2021
1,204
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There was no need to create complete and total instability months before he could even legitimately move quickly on any top targets (i.e., immediately after the season ended). Tell me, precisely what has Krafty The Clown gained by firing Franklin so early in the season? Because he most definitely is responsible for creating the very bad, and unnecessary, situation where Franklin is at his new home within weeks of his firing and will have a long head-start on whoever the new PSU Coach is at bringing PSU's players and recruits to VaTech.
I’m good with it. Kraft wanted to try something new.
 
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Nits1989

All-Conference
Oct 29, 2021
1,204
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Great player, one of my favorites, but this reeks of desperation. Over a month into the process and interviewing a position coach. If he isn’t a Penn Stater, he doesn’t get the call.

😞
Maybe Kraft is thinking possible offensive coordinator?
 
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Ludd

All-Conference
Oct 12, 2021
3,717
4,068
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Terry Smith won't let anything implode. Also, Bendapudi is firmly in the Terry Smith to HC camp. That is some special support. It most likely won't be Smith but Kraft could do a lot worse, or you could have Franklin.

If Kraft made a mistake, it was not having his HC on board before Franklin landed at VT.
It’s imploding all around Terry Smith as we speak, so I’m not sure how you can say he won’t let anything implode (nothing to see here, everything is fine).
 
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Ludd

All-Conference
Oct 12, 2021
3,717
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He may or may not have done severe damage to the program, but he does have one of the worst records against top 10 programs in history, and that is a fact.
And one of the best overall records, so hardly severe damage.
 
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Ludd

All-Conference
Oct 12, 2021
3,717
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Grunk is a Franklin recruited player. I would be shocked if he is the starter next year. The new coach will more than likely upgrade the QB position and get a couple real WRs for the 2026 season.
And don’t forget the countless all Americans he’ll bring in along with the top notch coordinators.
 

Bvillebaron

All-Conference
Feb 4, 2004
2,693
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The reality is PSU fans would not care about this guy if he was born in a different state and coached somewhere other than JMU. There are other G5 candidates out there for this position that are much more qualified than Chesney. Golesh and Sumrall immediately come to mind, but most PSU fans do not even mention them because there’s no emotional connection. This hire needs to be based on logic rather than emotion. There is nothing on Chesney’s résumé that should give anyone reasonable confidence that he will succeed at PSU. His other head coaching experience was at schools at or smaller than the student population size of my own high school. I hope the guy succeeds, but I don’t want him at PSU. Heck, I would take Terry Smith way before I would take Chesney.
The posters who want Cheney have an “emotional” attachment to him? Interesting; very interesting.
 

Ludd

All-Conference
Oct 12, 2021
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Ok…rattle off all of his big game wins? Or better yet, a big road win? After 11 GD years. Severe damage. Lose to a high school team like a rudderless, coachles UCLA.

This is Penn State. Not Rutgers.
Again, if you just sit there and downgrade every team anyone ever beat, then you’ll never be happy with the results. Not beating OSU and Michigan is not severely damaging the program or pretty much every program in the country is severely damaged.
 
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Bvillebaron

All-Conference
Feb 4, 2004
2,693
2,701
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Let's see who he hires. Then we can decide whether the program has "imploded" or has a future.

If he is able to get someone like DeBoer, then everything will be OK. If he gets Chesney, I'd say jury's out until we see what he can do. If it's someone like Rhule or fallback to Smith, then we can talk about "implosion."
The jury will still be out even if Kraft hires DeBoer.
 

Nits1989

All-Conference
Oct 29, 2021
1,204
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Again, if you just sit there and downgrade every team anyone ever beat, then you’ll never be happy with the results. Not beating OSU and Michigan is not severely damaging the program or pretty much every program in the country is severely damaged.
It didn’t severely damage the program, but it was talked about by media.
 

Ludd

All-Conference
Oct 12, 2021
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The losses to ucla and northwestern were embarrassing, and Franklin had no answers after both games. He offered no resolve, nothing meaningful to fix it. He appeared lost. What else could Kraft do?

(The above ignores the rumor that there already was tension between Franklin and Kraft over the former’s handling of a request for an extension during the previous offseason.)
He could have waited until the end of the year. Maybe Franklin would have fixed things, maybe not, but firing him when he did served no purpose.
 
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Midnighter

Heisman
Jan 22, 2021
11,490
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Half the people act like we should just fold the program now and you’re blaming Kraft for firing the guy who is responsible for the mess that someone needs to clean up. If we made it out of 2012 this is nothing. If Drink or Chesney are fall back options we’ve got it pretty damn good. Relax!

The former Franklin Defense Force has settled nicely into their PSU agitator/foil roles before we’ve even hired anyone. Maybe they can start a few more threads about Franklin and VT?
 
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TheWizardofCamelot

All-Conference
Oct 12, 2015
1,041
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Yes, I understand that we cannot truly judge the hire until we see the results on the field. But as far as the actual search is concerned, it’s been epically bad. I really do think Kraft isn’t going to make it long enough to even see the new hire’s full PSU career. How has his basketball hire played out? Completely different circumstances, but has he hired a bunch of winners? Or just won with what the AD already had in place? He really has nuked the program - if you think the decommits are bad, just watch what happens to the active roster. This became a true rebuild.

At this point, I’d hire Hartline and give him time and resources. His age and recruiting alone will jolt some life into the program.

Or give it to Smith with the caveat the search just continues into the next season.

I just can’t trust a hire like Chesney. Nobody even knew his name until like two weeks ago. No experience at all at a program of this magnitude let alone recruiting at the P4 level. Trying to replicate Cignetti is fool’s gold. Cig at least coached with Saban.
 

Nits1989

All-Conference
Oct 29, 2021
1,204
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The posters who want Cheney have an “emotional” attachment to him? Interesting; very interesting.
I supported Franklin when he was the coach. Franklin upgraded aspects of PSU football, but gave the impression he was all about the payday. Hard to get emotional about him when it seems to be a dollars thing. He moved on pretty fast too. He’s not the coach anymore.
 
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LMTLION

All-Conference
Mar 20, 2008
1,176
2,454
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Yes, I understand that we cannot truly judge the hire until we see the results on the field. But as far as the actual search is concerned, it’s been epically bad. I really do think Kraft isn’t going to make it long enough to even see the new hire’s full PSU career. How has his basketball hire played out? Completely different circumstances, but has he hired a bunch of winners? Or just won with what the AD already had in place? He really has nuked the program - if you think the decommits are bad, just watch what happens to the active roster. This became a true rebuild.

At this point, I’d hire Hartline and give him time and resources. His age and recruiting alone will jolt some life into the program.

Or give it to Smith with the caveat the search just continues into the next season.

I just can’t trust a hire like Chesney. Nobody even knew his name until like two weeks ago. No experience at all at a program of this magnitude let alone recruiting at the P4 level. Trying to replicate Cignetti is fool’s gold. Cig at least coached with Saban.
I understand that it’s easy to get frustrated, but quite frankly, we don’t know any details about the search at all, nor should we.
 

Ludd

All-Conference
Oct 12, 2021
3,717
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The former Franklin Defense Force has settled nicely into their PSU agitator/foil roles before we’ve even hired anyone. Maybe they can start a few more threads about Franklin and VT?
Or we could start trashing the new coach from day one, second guess every decision, and downplay every game they win for the entirety of his career. Oh, and hope they lose every game so we look like we’re right and then call anyone that supports him a fanboy and clueless. Does that sound better?
 
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Bvillebaron

All-Conference
Feb 4, 2004
2,693
2,701
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Ok…rattle off all of his big game wins? Or better yet, a big road win? After 11 GD years. Severe damage. Lose to a high school team like a rudderless, coachles UCLA.

This is Penn State. Not Rutgers.
So being a few plays from playing for the Natty last year caused “severe” damage to the program. Franklin caused such severe damage that he left enough talent to be ahead of Iowa by 11 points in the second half and lost to #2 Indiana on a last minute drive. There is some “severe damage” here but it ain’t what Franklin did to Penn State. Congrats!
 

Ram20

All-Conference
Jul 29, 2013
579
1,173
93
Landon is reporting with 100% certainty that Bobby engrem is interviewing this week. I dont know what to think of this
 
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Ludd

All-Conference
Oct 12, 2021
3,717
4,068
113
Yes, I understand that we cannot truly judge the hire until we see the results on the field. But as far as the actual search is concerned, it’s been epically bad. I really do think Kraft isn’t going to make it long enough to even see the new hire’s full PSU career. How has his basketball hire played out? Completely different circumstances, but has he hired a bunch of winners? Or just won with what the AD already had in place? He really has nuked the program - if you think the decommits are bad, just watch what happens to the active roster. This became a true rebuild.

At this point, I’d hire Hartline and give him time and resources. His age and recruiting alone will jolt some life into the program.

Or give it to Smith with the caveat the search just continues into the next season.

I just can’t trust a hire like Chesney. Nobody even knew his name until like two weeks ago. No experience at all at a program of this magnitude let alone recruiting at the P4 level. Trying to replicate Cignetti is fool’s gold. Cig at least coached with Saban.
Hartline and any other coach worth hiring is still coaching. How is he supposed to have someone in place yet?
 

Bvillebaron

All-Conference
Feb 4, 2004
2,693
2,701
113
I think there was one underappreciated aspect of relieving Franklin early in the year and it has to do with the buyout. If Kraft has planned to fire him at the end of the year, it makes it tough for james to land a new gig and pay down that buyout. If james loses to iowa, osu, and indiana as we did(and would have with him), does VT really come calling? Instead of the fawning coverage about how good of a coach he is and how unfairly treated he was by penn state, he gets these losses tied around his neck and resume. He was so thin skinned, you know there was going to be embarrassing press conferences, fan interactions, just a bad look for him and the program. By cutting bait, Kraft kept Franklin's reputation relatively in tact making him marketable to a program big enough to materially pay down that buyout. In this case, VT. The question is, once Franklin goes 5-7 or 6-6 does anyone want him?
Money money money. MONEY. Time will tell both how Franklin does at VaTech and his replacement does at Penn State.