These morons are busy trying to convince us that Brian f'ing Hartline is a homerun hire??? LMFAO. These are the same douches that want to lecture about being naive when they think elite recruits and Portal X-Fers are going to be flocking to someone with ZERO HC experience at any level, let alone P4 HC experience! Whose claim to fame is 1 year experience as "Co-OC"???? Hartline would be in so far over his head with the pitiful roster and recruiting class he'd be handed, it wouldn't even be funny. Yeah, a guy whose P4 coaching record would likely be 0-12 after 2026 is just going to knock it out of the park in recruiting (both HS and X-Fer Portal) for the 2027 Season???? But they're not the naive ones??? Just LMFAO at the board FDS (Franklin Derangement Syndrom) loudmouths. Krafty The Clown has totally screwed the pooch.
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These morons are busy trying to convince us that Brian f'ing Hartline is a homerun hire??? LMFAO. These are the same douches that want to lecture about being naive when they think elite recruits and Portal X-Fers are going to be flocking to someone with ZERO HC experience at any level, let alone P4 HC experience! Whose claim to fame is 1 year experience as "Co-OC"???? Hartline would be in so far over his head with the pitiful roster and recruiting class he'd be handed, it wouldn't even be funny. Yeah, a guy whose P4 coaching record would likely be 0-12 after 2026 is just going to knock it out of the park in recruiting (both HS and X-Fer Portal) for the 2027 Season???? But they're not the naive ones??? Just LMFAO at the board FDS (Franklin Derangement Syndrom) loudmouths. Krafty The Clown has totally screwed the pooch.
You should stop posting on the PSU board and move onto VT, like the rest of your family. BGJ had his chance and repeatedly ****** it up. It was time for PSU to move on.
The new coach may not be the answer, but he might be. BGJ was not going to get it done!
Florida is probably the most transient state in the country. ~35% of residents were born there. Born Ohioans are the 5th highest percentage of Florida residents.
Utah is mid 60s and PA is over 70% for comparison.
His success at BYU indicates he has the ability to be great
Why does the failures of other apply to others?
Our last two hires were O'Brien and a Vandy HC..before that we promoted an assistant. We went all in on Elko and he decided to stay...not sure who people want at this point. People seem mad if it's Sitake over Chesney when Sitake has accomplished more.
Most of the best players who planned on entering the portal probably had their people working with potential schools the moment their games ended on Saturday. If hitting the portal was the thought, we'll largely miss that boat by the end of the week.
If you don't think Hartline is a good hire you should stop posting. Kraft didn't screw the pooch but my guess is you've been screwing some sheep!
you give him more credit than I do. He's burned the whole '26 recruiting class because he didn't have the patience to wait before firing his HC.
I don't think the timing of the fire had much impact on the class. Those following him would have regardless.
maybe, maybe not
a credible head coach in place could at least have tried to hold onto some
Four-star QB Troy Huhn commits to Virginia Tech, breaks down his decision
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If we hire Sitake we should have kept Franklin - what a disaster that hire would be. He has zero connection to this area or fan base - not a step back but a 2 mile step back. Hartline would be a much better hire - Kraft should go back to making mac and cheese.
The only program who had made a homerun hire (understanding we have no idea what the future holds) in this cycle is LSU. And let’s be honest Kiffin comes with tremendous baggage and has been fired 3x in his career USC, Alabama and the Raiders. Florida and Auburn both hired lower level coaches. There just weren’t many available big time guys out there. Schools that have coaches are wiling to extend and overpay whereas 20 years ago they would have said we aren’t paying that much see you.
In the NIL era no one is 10 years away from anything.
If Penn State had won those games, BGJ would have put the program through the wringer angling for another raise and extension, or actually taking one of the open SEC jobs this year. It would have been similar drama to what Kiffen did to Ole Miss. Good riddance to him.
He might, MIGHT, be able to attract Samoan players. Not a guarantee of course, especially given that the majority are Mormon and wind up at West coast schools, especially those with Mormon communities.
That being said, there are over 30 Samoans on BYU's roster. I'm thinking that some might join him as transfers, and high schoolers willing to be recruited to the East on an ongoing basis.
It's just a thought.
The NFL has a bunch of Polynesian players past and present. They are good people and good football players.
Yeah - I am sure the Samoans will love the snow and sleet in State College - no way any of them come here - he knows no one East of the Mississippi - we are screwed if that dope hires this guy. He coaches in a sh&t conference - yeah they are they best of the worst there big deal.
The class wouldn't have signed if Franklin was fired Sunday either. On top of that when there was no one at the IU game except those chanting Fire Franklin the class would have been lost as well.
you're speaking out of both sides of your mouth. When did you think the coach would have been in place to save the class? Some were going where ever Franklin went regardless
So where is Kraft going from here? I have supported him but I'm not sure Kraft has an answer at this point.
Josh Pate, pretty spot on...
“The whole purpose of firing James Franklin when they did was to get a head start on the coaching search market,” Pate said. “Well everyone else has come in behind them and filled their spots before Penn State has, so fail on that part. And also, if you end up firing James Franklin early in the season only to wait for a guy to coach in the conference championship game, therefore missing the national signing day window, you also screwed yourself.”
All in all, Pate was quite critical of Penn State’s entire approach. He conceded the right hire could change his outlook, but for now he’s calling it a mess.
“It’s well-documented I thought it was dumb to fire James Franklin. It’s well-documented many Penn State fans disagreed with me, which is fine. Here we are now,” Pate said. “By the way, you just have the added caveat you made Virginia Tech one of the big winners in this whole ordeal, because not only did Virginia Tech massively upgrade their situation, they hired your head coach who was in the national semifinal less than 12 calendar months ago, with no scandal since then that could explain his firing, and they got a head start on recruiting and they’re going to poach your players and they’re going to poach your support staff. They’re good to go. They’re ready for national signing day, or they’re getting ready for it this Wednesday. You have no clue who your head coach is going to be.
“Wednesday is signing day, the class is falling apart. I don’t know. I’m not here to question whether athletic directors are qualified for their job, because 95% of what they do is behind the scenes. But this seems like it’s been a mess. The way to salvage it is prove everyone wrong and hire a great head coach. And I hope they do, because I love the Penn State program. But right now it’s tough for me to see it, candidly.”
“The whole purpose of firing James Franklin when they did was to get a head start on the coaching search market,” Pate said. “Well everyone else has come in behind them and filled their spots before Penn State has, so fail on that part. And also, if you end up firing James Franklin early in the season only to wait for a guy to coach in the conference championship game, therefore missing the national signing day window, you also screwed yourself.”
All in all, Pate was quite critical of Penn State’s entire approach. He conceded the right hire could change his outlook, but for now he’s calling it a mess.
“It’s well-documented I thought it was dumb to fire James Franklin. It’s well-documented many Penn State fans disagreed with me, which is fine. Here we are now,” Pate said. “By the way, you just have the added caveat you made Virginia Tech one of the big winners in this whole ordeal, because not only did Virginia Tech massively upgrade their situation, they hired your head coach who was in the national semifinal less than 12 calendar months ago, with no scandal since then that could explain his firing, and they got a head start on recruiting and they’re going to poach your players and they’re going to poach your support staff. They’re good to go. They’re ready for national signing day, or they’re getting ready for it this Wednesday. You have no clue who your head coach is going to be.
“Wednesday is signing day, the class is falling apart. I don’t know. I’m not here to question whether athletic directors are qualified for their job, because 95% of what they do is behind the scenes. But this seems like it’s been a mess. The way to salvage it is prove everyone wrong and hire a great head coach. And I hope they do, because I love the Penn State program. But right now it’s tough for me to see it, candidly.”
some? yes
we're losing all of them, and not all to VT
Kraft has been playing checkers, not chess
Again how do you know? You are making stupid assumptions. In order to believe what you believe. You have to think Kraft doesn't know the recruiting or portal rules. Which we know is false. You have to think every insider that has posted who Krafts top options were have been right. Yet we know they've all been wrong. And you have to believe Kraft should have settled for someone he didn't want so all the fans could have bitched when the new coach he hired lost the recruiting class anyway. And you also have to not be aware of the fact that there is another signing day and kids can get out of their NIL when coaching changes happen. Which means the new guy can bring people with him. Kraft isn't playing a game but you are probably playing Chutes and Ladders.
Harping on Sitake's nonexistent regional ties and how this will impact recruiting does not account for the accomplishments of many coaches who have been very successful after moving to a region in which they had no ties. Meyer was successful at Utah (2004 12 and0). Pete Carrol, though from San Fransisco originally coached all but a couple of years in the East before hopping to USC where he was successful, Nick Saban went from the mid-west to LSU and then after his stint in Miami to Alabama where his accomplishments are well known, there are many more. This is not to conflate any of these people with Sitake but if the guy can coach ball he can coach ball anywhere, This would be an easy fix for him, Identify good, young regional recruiters and let them have at it.
That he is successful is indubitable. If he can run a program, recruit the #20 class in the country, and be successful within the constraints of the Church of LDS he will do just fine in a transition, especially given his ties to Cael.
That he is successful is indubitable. If he can run a program, recruit the #20 class in the country, and be successful within the constraints of the Church of LDS he will do just fine in a transition, especially given his ties to Cael.
I don't "know" and neither do you. We are both stating our opinions.
How "stupid" each of our assumptions are will be seen in due time.
OBrien came in hot off the Sandusky scandal and Franklin was at an SEC school (and he’s from Pennsylvania).
You seem to take issue with the pushback that Sitake is getting and you want to make it about religion or race. Maybe I’m naive to think that PennState should be competing for a coach who has experience coaching and recruiting in the region with a top program (Ohio State, Notre Dame, SEC schools).
If Sitake is so good, why hasn’t his name been mentioned with UCLA, LSU, Florida?
Exactly - and money knows no regional boundaries. Kids are going to go where they get paid.
I'm not stating an opinion, I'm stating facts. But you are spewing opinions based on internet rumors. Here are the facts...no coach was being hired before last Sunday. Based on the FACT no coach was hired then, the new coach is still coaching his team this week. The other facts are Kraft knows how the whole system works and he would build his plan around it.
Sure, but then look at Kelly/LSU. There are examples both ways. Why risk it?
Kraft wasn't ready for this - he made an emotionally driven (semi-panicked) decision and had no plan in place other than to attempt to steal all the top programs' coaches. They all used him to get a better personal financial commitment from their universities. The coach he fired immediately went to a regional school, and has poached all of our recruits. The recruiting class has been nuked, and I think we can all agree the roster will be nuked come next month. And now here we are asking a west coast lifer and current BYU alumni/parishioner to leave his post as HC - who has ZERO ties to PA. Every other school had a plan in place and PSU's dumpster fire of a search is mainstream media.
And we'll all hold our hat on "look what Cignetti did at Indiana!" - yeah, let's look at one of the biggest outliers of the past decade. While you're banking on a Cignetti/Indiana situation, take a peek at the portal and roster failures at FSU, Auburn, Florida, Michigan State, Nebraska, etc.
First of all, Franklin was already fired well before the IU game ever kicked off brainiac. Secondly, PSU is not the first program to have fans boo and chant such things (reference Dabo Swinney whose team started the season #4 in the Preseason Poll and FAILED to make the Playoffs last year). If you're AD is going to let the fanbase make these types of decisions, he truly is a far bigger empty-suit clown then he's proven to date. ADs get paid to remain calm in these types of situations and make the best decision - patience would have provided way more information and put PSU in a better position.... See how PSU goes forward.... see if Franklin can hold things together (including the roster and recruiting classes).... while you're collecting additional information as to how things develop with Franklin, you can begin doing your research regarding potential replacements (put out feelers of potential interest without entering into immediate negotiations..... try to get your ducks in a row as to who might be potentially interested and gettable BEFORE making a snap decision like this.). There is no way that waiting would have caused more damage than Krafty The Clown has done - especially setting up VaTech as an in-region competitor for our entire team and recruits - and an extremely good chance that you do significantly less damage up to, and including, keeping Franklin into 2026.... see how things go and reset your change of regime plans if things have not improve (your research, planning and ground-work would put you in a much better position to change regimes while keeping the basis of your team intact in 2026).
Yeah it balmy and warm in a Utah winter.
If only the grounds crew had mowed the grass a little lower, we would've gotten the fumble.
Umm since you weren't smart enough to comprehend my post you replied to I'm going to ignore yours.
How do we know he didn't interview with them? Maybe he already had a deal cut with Kraft and passed on their inquiries. We won't know if those schools were interested or not.