New coach

Psu00

All-Conference
Oct 12, 2021
1,550
2,267
113
View attachment 1047665
Not sure if Kraft is flying out to beg Hartline tomorrow or if a private flight company is making the most inconvenient stop at State College's airport before returning to NetJets' headquarters in Columbus 🤷‍♂️
There’s a flight from Philly to State College as well. Start the speculation now whether PSU is interviewing the Villanova, Temple, Penn, or Delaware coaches. ;)
 

LB99

Heisman
Oct 27, 2021
9,103
12,750
113
This is how I feel.

Hire Smith, fire Kraft. Line up the new AD in 2026 and let he/she evaluate the program at that point and make a decision on a big name hire in a year or two. Or who knows, maybe Terry takes off?
Yes, it may be a “cut your losses” kind of decision now. Terry could probably retain most of the current roster and get some guys in the portal and do ok. Kraft has to be let go for massive failure. If he can’t deal with Sexton in any way, then PSU has to remove him and install someone who can in the future. If you watch the video I posted from McShay (who hates Franklin and agreed with the firing FYI) he alludes to some fighting behind the scenes between Kraft/Franklin/Sexton. I get the impression Kraft acted a little too big for himself and we are all paying the price now. He has been ineffective at his responsibilities.
 
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psu83

Sophomore
May 29, 2001
101
130
43
W
Yes, it may be a “cut your losses” kind of decision now. Terry could probably retain most of the current roster and get some guys in the portal and do ok. Kraft has to be let go for massive failure. If he can’t deal with Sexton in any way, then osu has to remove him and install someone who can in the future. If you watch the video I posted from McShay (who hates Franklin and agreed with the firing FYI) he alludes to some fighting behind the scenes between Kraft/Franklin/Sexton. I get the impression Kraft acted a little too big for himself and we are all paying the price now. He has been ineffective at his responsibilities.
Why is osu getting involved?
 

doctornick

All-Conference
Sep 4, 2007
641
1,007
93
If you fire the last Coach because winning a National Championship is the only perceived acceptable outcome, then I think you are in a position of having to hit a home run.

As soon as PSU moved on from Franklin the recruiting class was going to be messy. PSU could have hired a Coach 3 weeks ago and the class could look no different.
They fired Franklin because he lost to UCLA and Northwestern after assembling "his best roster ever". They wouldn't have canned him if he kept doing his 10-2 jig and losing to any top team he played.
 

fastlax16

Senior
Jan 1, 2014
420
514
93
This is how I feel.

Hire Smith, fire Kraft. Line up the new AD in 2026 and let he/she evaluate the program at that point and make a decision on a big name hire in a year or two. Or who knows, maybe Terry takes off?

Terry takes off with hopes and dreams? He's a lame duck from day 1 with no recruiting class and massive holes to fill on the roster. He going to pull in the best portal class in history?
 

LB99

Heisman
Oct 27, 2021
9,103
12,750
113
Terry takes off with hopes and dreams? He's a lame duck from day 1 with no recruiting class and massive holes to fill on the roster. He going to pull in the best portal class in history?
What are the other options at this point………
 

LB99

Heisman
Oct 27, 2021
9,103
12,750
113
They fired Franklin because he lost to UCLA and Northwestern after assembling "his best roster ever". They wouldn't have canned him if he kept doing his 10-2 jig and losing to any top team he played.
It’s feeling more like Kraft fired Franklin because of their inability to get along.
 
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Nits1989

All-Conference
Oct 29, 2021
1,166
1,642
113
This is how I feel.

Hire Smith, fire Kraft. Line up the new AD in 2026 and let he/she evaluate the program at that point and make a decision on a big name hire in a year or two. Or who knows, maybe Terry takes off?
Sexton needs to be dealt with, but how?
 

leinbacker

All-Conference
May 29, 2001
2,405
3,837
113
What if the next PSU Head Coach is currently coaching OSU's DL?

A highly successful prep coach in the state of Maryland, Johnson was a six-time coach-of-the-year, and architect of one of the most successful football programs in the Maryland public school system. From 1977 to 1991, Johnson's teams at Maurice J. McDonough High School in Pomfret, Maryland were annually ranked among the top squads in the Washington Metropolitan Area. In his final eight years, the Ram dynasty amassed an 82-10 record, made eight consecutive appearances in the state playoffs, were 8–2 in championship games and captured three Division 3A state championships (1983, 1985, and 1990). His overall record as head coach was 139–36.

He's 73 years old.
 

Nits1989

All-Conference
Oct 29, 2021
1,166
1,642
113
So McShay is suggesting that Sexton told Chesney no to PSU? That doesn’t sound right.
 

LB99

Heisman
Oct 27, 2021
9,103
12,750
113
That’s not acceptable. PSU capitulate to that fat slob?
Yeah, how’s it working out for PSU right now? PSU has an ineffective AD right now because he’s been blackballed by the most influential agent in college football. I wonder if Kraft acted alone in much of the firing and coaching search? If so, not too impressive on his end.
 

Nits1989

All-Conference
Oct 29, 2021
1,166
1,642
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All of his clients that PSU was rumored to be targeting got massive raises and extensions. That’s money, right?
Then they really didn’t want to leave their schools. Somebody posted that Kraft chose the toughest list of candidates to go after: coaches at good schools already paid well and comfortable there. Oregon took a coordinator for its head coach. So did Georgia. So did OSU. Kraft went after the toughest possible candidates, and there’s no indication any of them really wanted to leave.
 
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Nits1989

All-Conference
Oct 29, 2021
1,166
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Yeah, how’s it working out for PSU right now? PSU has an ineffective AD right now because he’s been blackballed by the most influential agent in college football. I wonder if Kraft acted alone in much of the firing and coaching search? If so, not too impressive on his end.
A lot of what you say is because you don’t like that Franklin got fired.
 

BocaBob

Redshirt
Dec 2, 2025
13
20
0
There’s a flight from Philly to State College as well. Start the speculation now whether PSU is interviewing the Villanova, Temple, Penn, or Delaware coaches. ;)
No one's going to see it coming when Pat Kraft's 10000 IQ master plan finally pays off in the hiring of championship-winning Nick Sirianni tomorrow! All I can do is laugh at this point - clearly this cycle has gone sideways and hopefully the administration can see the Athletic Department was unprepared in handling negotiations and that Kraft isn't going to win championships for us, he's going to prevent us from doing so.

Kraft fired Franklin after expectations were built all offseason that we had a playoff-caliber roster returning but the performance on the field did not match those expectations in the slightest.

Now, 50 days ago, Kraft said, "That said, at Penn State, we hold all our programs to the highest standards in our shared pursuit of excellence. My job is to evaluate everything and make hard decisions for what is in the best interest of our athletes, our program and our department. Football is our backbone. We have invested at the highest level. With that, comes high expectations. Ultimately, I believe a new leader can help us win a national championship, and now is the right time for this change."

Kraft failed in landing the new leader who matched that vision, he instead has reached candidate No. 4. and there's no guarantee it's a yes. Kraft set his own high expectations in this search, and it's unfortunate, but he's whiffed.

There's no way he's fired before we hire a HC, but an exit and replacement plan should be put in place for a new AD that's a bit more expedient and tidy than how Kraft is handling this search.
 
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Nitanee1234

Sophomore
Dec 1, 2025
69
125
33
All of his clients that PSU was rumored to be targeting got massive raises and extensions. That’s money, right?
Then he would have leveraged Chesney for a big pay raise. Per McShay, Sexton didn’t like how Franklin was treated (even if warranted). That’s about more than $$.
 

SRURock24

Senior
Jul 25, 2017
549
801
93
Then they really didn’t want to leave their schools. Somebody posted that Kraft chose the toughest list of candidates to go after: coaches at good schools already paid well and comfortable there. Oregon took a coordinator for its head coach. So did Georgia. So did OSU. Kraft went after the toughest possible candidates, and there’s no indication any of them really wanted to leave.
Exactly. This was his major misstep. Too much $ Power 4 in this era for schools not to match to keep there coach. Sounds like he could have had Stein weeks ago. Too chickenshit to take a chance on a coordinator.
 

LB99

Heisman
Oct 27, 2021
9,103
12,750
113
Then they really didn’t want to leave their schools. Somebody posted that Kraft chose the toughest list of candidates to go after: coaches at good schools already paid well and comfortable there. Oregon took a coordinator for its head coach. So did Georgia. So did OSU. Kraft went after the toughest possible candidates, and there’s no indication any of them really wanted to leave.
Then that’s on Kraft, nobody else. And he should have abandoned that strategy a week or two ago and grabbed a guy like Chesney or Stein.
 

Nits1989

All-Conference
Oct 29, 2021
1,166
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I

I’m sure Chesney is cool with his agent making decisions for him. Easier to believe the several other “insiders” who said Chesney was very interested but was turned down by Kraft.
Agree, and that might have been a very bad decision. Wait and see who Kraft hires. As for the coaches who got raises, did Sexton use his “power” to prevent a coach who wanted to come to PSU from doing it? Or did those coaches decide like Franklin, a Sexton client, to parlay it into a raise? Sounds from McShay that Sexton is running his mouth about being upset, and probably trying to suggest he’s screwing PSU, but is it true? Likely not. Sexton and Franklin are the same, both out for themselves and very thin skinned egomaniacs.
 

LB99

Heisman
Oct 27, 2021
9,103
12,750
113
A lot of what you say is because you don’t like that Franklin got fired.
But am I wrong? Some of us were reluctant for him to be fired for the very reasons we are seeing now. To be fair, I didn’t think Kraft was an incompetent idiot, so that made it far worse.