How long does Penn State coach James Franklin typically take to hire a new assistant?

James Franklin made many things clear during his first Penn State news conference.

One of them is that he would never be left without a plan when it came time to fill a job on his coaching staff.

“I have a list of receiver coaches and tight end coaches and offensive coordinators and defensive coordinators for the right job and the right fit and the right setting making sure that we’re always prepared,” Franklin said back in 2014.

“That’s something you’re going to find from me is we’re going to work very, very hard to be prepared for every situation that may come up.”

The now eighth-year leader of the Nittany Lions also revealed that he is loyal to people he’s worked with in the past. That applied then maybe more than it does now, and yet there is almost always some connection between either him or a current assistant and everyone he’s hired since replacing John Donovan with Joe Moorhead in 2015.

Franklin is again in need of picking a new coach. Brent Pry was hired for the Virginia Tech job earlier this week, which means Penn State must find just its third defensive coordinator of the Franklin era.

If we know anything about how this will play out, it’s that the past will inform the present and also that a choice will probably be made quickly.

Reviewing Franklin’s past Penn State coaching staff changes with internal hires

Here is how things have worked when Franklin has opted to make a promotion from within:

• Bob Shoop left for the defensive coordinator job at Tennessee on Jan. 9, 2016. Brent Pry was promoted to replace him at Penn State on Jan. 11, 2016.

• Joe Moorhead left his offensive coordinator post at Penn State for a head coaching job at Mississippi State on Nov, 29, 2017. Ricky Rahne was promoted to fill his role on Dec. 1, 2017. 

• Phil Galiano was promoted to special teams coordinator on Dec. 1, 2017 when the NCAA added a 10th on-field assistant coach. He left for the NFL on Feb. 15, 2019. Joe Lorig was announced for the role he vacated on Feb. 21, 2019.

• Tyler Bowen was announced as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ new tight ends coach on Feb. 1, 2021. Penn State letterman Ty Howle was promoted from an off-field role to replace him on Feb. 5.

Reviewing James Franklin’s Penn State coaching staff changes with external hires

And here is how things have worked out from a timing perspective when Franklin went outside his staff at the time:

• John Donovan was fired on Nov. 29, 2015. Joe Moorhead was announced on Dec. 12, 2015.

• Herb Hand left Penn State on Jan. 11, 2016. Matt Limegrover was announced as the Lions’ new offensive line coach on Jan. 13, 2016.

• Charles Huff left for Mississippi State on Dec. 1, 2017. David Corley was announced as the new running backs coach on Jan. 12, 2018. He’d move a short while later to the receivers coaches role when Ja’Juan Seider was hired.

• Josh Gattis left for Alabama on Jan. 19, 2018. Seider was announced as the new Penn State running backs coach Jan. 25, 2018.

• Ricky Rahne left for the head job at Old Dominion on Dec. 9, 2019. Kirk Ciarrocca was announced as Franklin’s third Penn State offensive coordinator on Dec. 26, 2019.

• Penn State announced that it wouldn’t renew then offensive line coach Matt Limegrover contract on Dec. 31, 2019. It revealed Phil Trautwein as the new coach of that position group on Jan. 3, 2020.

• PSU moved on from Corley on Jan. 2, 2019.  Gerad Parker was announced as the new receivers coach on Jan. 11, 2019.

• When Parker left on Jan. 10, 2020, Taylor Stubblefield was hired for that job on Jan. 19, 2020

• Sean Spencer left for the New York Giants on Feb.1, 2020. John Scott Jr., was hired on Feb. 8, 2020.

• Kirk Ciarrocca is fired the same day Mike Yurcich is hired: Jan. 8, 2021.

• When safeties coach/co-defensive coordinator Tim Banks left on Feb. 15, 2021, Franklin announced Anthony Poindexter from Purdue as his replacement on Feb. 24.

How long does James Franklin take on average to hire a new coach?

One does not need to be a math major to realize that Penn State assistant coaching searches tend to wrap up pretty quickly.

The above list averages out to roughly 10 days between a departure and a hire. However, if you delete the 43-day gap between Huff and Corley that was almost irrelevant because there was no early signing period at the time, the average drops to about six days.

One takeaway is that internal promotions tend to happen rapidly. That doesn’t mean Franklin will not pick either Poindexter or Terry Smith to replace Pry, but it might suggest that it is unlikely unless it happens in the next 24 hours or so. Poindexter could also be in play for the suddenly open Virginia job.

Above all, if history holds up, Penn State fans can expect to know who the next defensive coordinator is by early-to-mid next week at the latest, and potentially much sooner than that.

Penn State coaches are on the road recruiting while awaiting the program’s bowl game assignment. The Lions finished the 2021 regular season at 7-5.