In this second installment of the coaching carousel tracker we'll find out if PSU is Crumbling, if JMU can find another destroyer of worlds, and if it is it finally Gruden's year, along with many other twists and turns you'll never see coming.
Go Hokies!
| School | Outgoing Coach | Incoming Coach | Previous Job |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stanford | Troy Taylor | Tavita Pritchard | Commanders QB Coach |
| UCLA | DeShaun Foster | Bob Chesney | JMU |
| Virginia Tech | Brent Pry | James Franklin | Penn State |
| Oklahoma State | Mike Gundy | Eric Morris | North Texas |
| Arkansas | Sam Pittman | Ryan Silverfield | Memphis |
| UAB | Trent Dilfer | Alex Mortensen | Interim HC |
| Oregon State | Trent Bray | JaMarcus Shephard | Alabama Co-OC |
| Penn State | James Franklin | Matt Campbell | Iowa State |
| Colorado State | Jay Norvell | Jim Mora | UCONN |
| Florida | Billy Napier | Jon Sumrall | Tulane |
| LSU | Brian Kelly | Lane Kiffin | Ole Miss |
| Auburn | Hugh Freeze | Alex Golesh | USF |
| Cal | Justin Wilcox | Tosh Lupoi | Oregon DC |
| North Texas | Eric Morris | Neal Brown | Texas Assistant to the |
| UCONN | Jim Mora | Jason Candle | Toledo |
| Memphis | Ryan Silverfield | Charles Huff | Southern Miss |
| USF | Alex Golesh | Brian Hartline | anOSU OC |
| Tulane | Jon Sumrall | Will Hall | Tulane Pass Game Coordinator |
| Ole Miss | Lane Kiffin | Pete Golding | Ole Miss DC |
| Coastal Carolina | Tim Beck | Ryan Beard | Missouri State |
| Michigan State | Jonathan Smith | Pat Fitzgerald | Litigation |
| Kentucky | Mark Stoops | Will Stein | Oregon OC |
| JMU | Bob Chesney | Billy Napier | Florida |
| K State | Chris Klieman | Collin Klein | aTm OC |
| Iowa State | Matt Campbell | Jimmy Rogers | Washington State |
| Washington State | Jimmy Rogers | Kirby Moore | Missouri OC |
| Toledo | Jason Candle | Mike Jacobs | Mercer |
| Southern Miss | Charles Huff | Blake Anderson | Southern Miss OC |
| Michigan | Sherrone Moore | Kyle Whittingham | Utah |
| Missouri State | Ryan Beard | ||
| Utah | Kyle Whittingham | Morgan Scalley | Utah DC |
| Ohio | Brian Smith |
Forums:
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Comments
Is that Penn State because we got off this ride a couple weeks ago?
Still no word from Sitake about BYU or PSU, but the best comment from the most recent reddit thread reads thusly:
I also appreciated this post:
I love that Ped State is now competing with UAB, Cal, North Texas, UCONN, Memphis, USF, Tulane, Coastal Carolina, and JMU for coaching candidates. They've been open about the longest and they're the last "big" job left on the board and I imagine they won't be the first to fill their opening. I genuinely hope PSU ends up with John Rudzinski or something epic like that.
What's Brian Ferentz up to these days (and yes, I do not mean Kirk)
Iowa is my "Team B." And that in no way informs my sentiment that hiring Brian Ferentz would be a great idea for Penn State
I'm guessing they'll fill it the monday after the Playoff is announced. If it's not announced then, something has gone very much awry.
I am oddly invested in penn state missing on coaches
No Kidding, its becoming quite comical and theatrical.
Reddit "We Are Penn State" is half-full of truthers who are crucifying Kraft and half-full of "we are fine, this is all part of the plan."
The most recent rumor is that Sitake is going to Fly to PSU tonight to be announced at the MBB game because Tickets have now apparently been made free to Students---which I guess is not entirely impossible but requires a leap of logic for sure.
Schadenfreude off the charts over here
This, on repeat.
This is great. Sitake is staying at BYU according to Pete Thamel
Sekrah seems to be hinting that its the BYU dude, they've been on point about a lot
That's also a really good Mormon polygamy dig
Doesn't look like they were right on this one. Multiple reports that Sitake will be staying in Provo.
The school that thought they were too good for James Franklin is now desperate to close the deal with the coach from BYU
Love it
I just hope it falls through
I genuinely hope it falls thru
*Narrator*: it did, in fact, fall through
This is brilliant.
I read that PSU AD Kraft got a box from BYU fans, as well
He got one from a VT Twitter user too.
And failing!
You, know... If the BYU coach doesn't work out for PSU they could always hire Brent Pry. I hear he is available these days.
PSU gonna end up with Brian Kelly. And they're going to like it.
This is the timeline I hope for.
Think bigger... Bill Belichick /s
Honestly I think it'll be the interim or Manny Diaz at this point.
It's never too late for them to poach Art Briles from Directional New Mexico
That hire would be pretty on brand in the worst way.
I am hoping we soon hear about the VT position coach signings. Seems like they should be happening soon, maybe right after the early NSD.
Definitely interesting to see ODU QB Colton Joseph declare for the portal this early. And how does that affect Rahne or his OC Kevin Decker?
Plan CC for PSU
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Bahahahahahahaha
At this point, my money would be on the interim or Brian Daboll
Either way, sucks to suck!
He just had to let it soak for a bit to decide
LOOOOOL IYKYK
Neal Brown to HC North Texas
Holy Shit, I did not expect that.
There's a part of me that prefers a west coast based coach, someone without ties to the local high schools in the Mid-Atlantic area. Franklin has a great rapport with local coaches, and I want him to build upon that. I'm a little bummed Kalani wasn't hired.
When you say it like that, yeah we may be short sighted in enjoying PSU not landing Sitake. It is fun for the moment to watch them struggle but long term I agree a PSU coach without any ties to the area would be best for VT.
I hear Justin Fuente is available. No ties to VT and shows no ability to recruit in Virginia.
Tosh.1 ?
Penn State needs to try and flip Chesney. If they can't do that, then yikes
What are the chances they go for Tony Elliott? That would be delicious!
Seeing murmurs
Getting clowned on by most here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/WeArePennState/comments/1ogs64w/had_to_laugh_to...
Still an amusing scroll seeing desperate PSU fans clown on Wahoowa in their agony
Man if they gave us a coach (and a bunch of recruits) and took one of the few UVA coaches who has managed to beat us we might have to send them Christmas cookies
(Probably from Crumbl)
With all the money being thrown at that UVA program right now, I don't want them looking for a new coach just yet. Let Tony Elliot be just good enough....
Hope I'm wrong, but at some point the bulb is gonna light and PSU will go after Ricky Rahne and his ODU QB.
So uhh, Penn St, I hear Justin Fuente isn't up to anything, maybe he'll take the job if offered. Could probably already have most of his staff assembled, too
I say this with an absolute straight face. Brian Kelly wouldn't be a bad option to penn state. He fits there a hell of a lot better than he did at LSU. Would be able to recruit like he did at ND and would be comparable record wise to JMFF in my opinion.
Kelly ain't coaching anywhere. He's got LSU by the balls; if he were to take a job somewhere he'd essentially be letting the tigers off the hook. He's too petty of a human to do that
Has to at least attempt to find work or LSU will sue to void based on the offset
He ia going to go to so many interviews smelling of cheese wiz and sweat while bombing every NIL question.
He's already suing LSU for tarnishing him and making him unable to find another job. He's saying LSU has made him unhirable. .
edit: also, i think he would be really successful at ped state and fit in with the culture there. i don't want him near state college. The biggest win-win for everybody is if he stays out of coaching and LSU pays him to make sure he stays out.
I have it on good authority that he also killed a kid
Unfortunately, Peen State doesn't have a history of concerning themselves with the problems of kids.
Sounds like a match made in
heavenhell!I think the LSU label is too good to leave unless you don't want to win CFP unless you want the reputation of being able to build.
No no it would be better if Kelly led them on for a day or two only to reject them and add to the long list of rejections just for the laughs.
My favorite part of this Carousel and Recruiting season is watching Franklin and VT dish out the recruiting death penalty to Penn St that the NCAA should have dished out 15 years ago. Very good chance they end signing day with 0 signings.
Official:
So they're going from C. Kliem to C. Klein? Autocorrect is going to fight them for years.
but think of the saved wear and tear on the keyboards. If they buy hardware from CDW, that's a significant offset to a coaching contract
11 warriors is chaotic right now. Site crashed. Good for hartline. Wonder who OSU plucks.
I really don't know why PSU didn't have him as an option after the last 10 disasters, unless he said no
I really don't know why PSU is missing on everyone.
Lots of speculation on the PSU boards though.
I mean they fired a coach that was easily meeting realistic expectations and it sounds like Kraft wants to drive the way NIL money is spent and focus it on the portal instead of building something sustainable.
Penn State fans somehow think Franklin underachieved but they're easily in the tier of "hope to make the playoffs and maybe upset someone" not "perennial playoff team, biannual natty winner"
Jimmy Sexton.
When you piss off the most influential agent working for pretty much all of the top coaches, there will be repercussions.
https://thespun.com/college-football/super-agent-accused-of-messing-arou...
Todd McShay agrees
This is objectively hilarious (because Penn State) but also total BS that one dude has this much power over the coaching carousel.
ehhh, He does too well to not work in his client's best interests. Look at the raises/extensions they are getting to stay. He may be telling them only the bad things he has to say about about PSU, but the coaches are deciding where they want to be, and Sexton is busting his butt, getting his clients millions more for what they were already doing, and making bank for it. He may be telling coaches they are better off not at PSU, but he is not going to lie or refuse to present an offer, he is going to look after their best interests - his reputation requires it, and try to get the best offer from every interested party he can. It just so happens that every time PSU gets outbid for a coach, they are raising the bar for the next coach they want to sign, and Sexton has the complete details to drive it.
Eventually, they are going to have to overpay for an underqualified candidate and it will most likely be one of his.
I do not think that Sexton needs to do anything to cause PSU difficulty and keeping coaches from going to PSU will cost the agent money, in the long run. I think this is all of PSU's doing because they pitched a fit prematurely, like a tantrum heavy 5-year-old.
They should have run the season out while preparing the coaching search. We knew this was a serious error when they did it and the experience has born that out.
maybe tyler bowen??
Bowen promotion?
Edit:
Damn
penn state now onto coach plan R
Yea... Hartline was a top choice amongst my PSU friends (behind Cig). They're Really upset to see him at USF.
On to Plan 9 from Outer Space
Edit: drinking again, I guess. I'm struggling this morning
I'm no doctor, but it's probably because of all that Wednesday morning drinking.
Unsurprising news, Brent Key isn't going anywhere
Like you say, this surprises nobody.
Maybe Pat Kraft
PSU is gonna end up with Matt Lintal at this rate
They're gonna end up with a reverse Ted Lasso at this point.
British soccer coach with a gruff, off-putting manner who is completely detached from his players and would rather be anywhere else.
So a British Justin Fuente
The whole Led Tasso bit was one of my favorite parts of the show. Sometimes people need tough love to wake the f up.
The Centre Daily Times in State College is reporting that BYU fans have contributed $4,862.32 to the State College Food Bank after a BYU podcast urged them to do so. I enjoy the petty for sure, but this is cool.
Saw that earlier. It was the Give em Hell podcast and they were encouraging donations of like 30.17 which was the score BYU beat them by the last time they played
Penn State: Oops, all whiffs
I am really struggling to figure out who is still a Penn St Target at this point. Mullen still out there, but unless they have talks with a coach on a playoff team that will shock the college football world (which based on who is currently turning them down, they don't), it's looking bleak.
Terry Smith, but not sure he wants to stay at that dumpster fire. He just lost an entire recruiting class and knows he will lose active players come portal season.
Smith signs for 6 mil a year with a 25 million buyout. They will fire him at the end of the year. I would put up with a lot of crap for that.
so they are going to James Johnson this thing. I hope it works for them as well as it did for us.
Maybe Gruden but would you really want to walk into what is likely a tire fire at this point and not wait for another cycle?
I am so thankful we got our search done early and didnt wait around like they have.
At this point it doesn't matter.
They have exactly 1 signee (maybe 2) and will likely lose players to the portal. Whoever takes over will only be there for a short time to kind of try to keep the ship from fully sinking.
I think it makes sense for them to promote Smith, no matter the cost, to try and salvage something.
This has become as close to the SMU death penalty as a school can get without suffering any actual NCAA infractions (if those even exist anymore). Speaking more figuratively vs literally, but damn!!!!!
This is what I was hoping would happen to Penn State via NCAA sanctions. Bill O'Brien got them through the sanctions, that didn't last long enough, and then James Franklin comes in and has them winning the B1G as soon as they're off sanctions. Sometimes karma is instant, and sometimes it comes in cold, like revenge.
I see Deboer and Daboll a lot. While I think the former is unlikely, I also recognize that more-saban, it was not unheard of for a coach to leave bama after a good run.
If Daboll is the hire... wtf are you waiting for?
The Athletic had an article yesterday titled Penn State Emergency Coaching Search Committee: 6 solutions for the Nittany Lions where their suggestions were still just as fanciful as Kraft's opinion of the job. (Commentary, unless quoted, is mine.)
- Terry Smith, Penn State interim coach: The text started, "Just do it."
- Matt Campbell, Iowa State head coach: I'm sure everybody else has tried to pry him away from Iowa State, why would Penn State succeed here?
- Kalen DeBoer, Alabama head coach: Text: First wave is over, why not wait for DeBoer?
- Jeff Brohm, Louisville head coach: I'd considered this more an expansion candidate for his alma mater rather than a Penn State target, and history has proven me right.
- Bob Chesney, James Madison → UCLA head coach: Text: "Chesney knows damn well how much better of a job Penn State is than UCLA. Has he signed? Has he not signed? Even if Penn State has to compensate UCLA, do it. It will be worth it." lawl
- Jeff Monken, Army head coach: Yeah, they could probably get him, but should they really want him? Severe downgrade from Franklin, but then again, any realistic target by now would be.
Their latest football coaching carousel article from today doesn't have much more:
Enjoy your crumbl cookies, Pat. lawl
Meanwhile, Penn State fans await the announcement of their new coach....
This picture does not do the story justice. This little trash panda broke into a liquor store and got absolutely blasted before passing out in the bathroom.
Wiped out about $800 in liquor. That aisle shot was fabulous.
I mean.....who hasn't.
Not the breaking into, but the getting plastered before passing out in the bathroom part.
Ah, freshman year.
"This little trashed panda"
FTFY
Not to be pedantic but it's a trashed RACCOON not a panda...
My man's never heard the term "Trash Panda"?
Saying Trash Panda is my favorite for referring to these animals I see routinely in life.
So common there's even a Double-A baseball team named Trash Pandas
That's much better than the crap the team in Salem just rebranded too...
It was so bad that I thought it was one of those promotions where the team renames itself to something ridiculous for a weekend series.
I had to look this up because I wasn't aware. RidgeYaks? LOL Did they really just combine 2 words to create a new word that doesn't even roll off the tongue well?
Too bad they didn't get picked by John Oliver for the rebrand. The Erie Moon Mammoths is hilariously awesome.
OMG, I had no idea. That's really strange.
Cut me some slack-I'm 60 nearly 61 and not involved with social media much at all nor am
I around young folks that are very often, lol.
Never been more proud of my hometown than seeing this story go national its epic. The bars in town were selling trashed panda cocktails since this in Ashland for those who want to celebrate.
If anyone is interested apparently the shelter is selling shirts. Link to the shirt is at the bottom.
https://www.richmonder.org/hanover-animal-control-will-sell-drunk-raccoon-t-shirts-after-story-goes-viral/
VA ABC getting in on the fun:
man that lil fella really partied hard lol
I couldn't believe that headline when I saw it come across my feed - I sent it to a buddy saying that I thought it belonged on the Onion or something. Hysterical!
kinda disappointed he didn't recommended any rums
2025 recommendations:
Vida Caña
Holmes Cay Belize 2006 (or other Holmes Cay)
Sofia Golden
Pipa de Gao
Shakara 12 year
Privateer The Queens Share
Small Countries GDP?...nope...football coaches benefitting from insane supply and demand.
And the black cloud hanging over the program for the hasty firing of a successful coach and everyone seeing them for the unrealistic group that they are.
ESPN's Coaching Tilt-A-Whirl
The best part of this whole thing is watching Penn St fans cling desperately to the notion that they didn't massively fuck up in forcing Franklin out.
Franklin had been there for 12 years and had slow built them into a powerhouse that was slowly approaching the top of the mountain. A perennial Top 5 team that just made it to the Final Four and was a last second FG away from the NCG. He cleaned up in recruiting, dominated regions outside of the state and was being held back because the school refused to fund him on an equal footing that the peers at the top of the mountain were doing.
A couple losses into the next season when they had some Portal misses and they fire him before the season was halfway over and now they can't get anyone to return their calls. Because every coach in the world out there knows that the expectations at Penn St do not align with what they are reasonably capable of doing. You want to beat Ohio St and Michigan more times than not, fund your program at the same rate. Give your coach a blank check to do whatever he needs to match them. When Franklin asked for this there he was met with pushback and ridicule, and everyone saw it, and nobody else wants to put their career in those hands.
And the more I think of it the more I get a feeling that Franklin might be here for the long haul. If he gets us to where he had Penn St, the only step up will be to a program where the expectations are Natty or bust every year and I wouldn't blame him if he wants no part of that after what happened in Happy Valley. And by being here he has a unique chance to permanently fuck over the two schools that screwed him the most in Maryland and Penn St.
Someone else pointed out that PSU massively fucked up when they pissed off Jimmy Sexton. Love him or hate him, he does hold a ton of sway with top coaches...psu may be hurting for a long time lol
Local paper has an article this morning that quotes Ben Rothlesberger as saying it's time for the Steelers and Tomlin to mutually agree to move on; and Pedo State would be a good landing spot for Tomlin.
Tomlin would have no shortage of NFL suitors if he left the Steelers, college probably would be a distant backup plan
As a long-suffering Falcons fan if Tomlin was available I hope we'd interview him within 30 seconds of the announcement
I use the same terminology to describe myself.
While they haven't been winning the playoffs lately they have also never had a losing season under Tomlin. I am not sure ANY other NFL coach can say that especially for as long as he has been coach.
I dont know how the GM role works for the steelers, but its not like they have provided Tomlin with a good qb since Roethlisberger. He has had Fields, washed up Russell Wilson, tiny hands, the Mason Rudolph experience X 2, and old man Rogers. Im probably forgetting one or two, but I think that makes the lack of losing seasons remarkably impressive.
The feeling around Pittsburgh is that Tomlin is getting the players he wants. He's just making bad choices.
He has a lot of control on personnel. So yes, he shares some of the blame for drafting Kenny Pickett, the QB that every single person on this message board knew would suck.
Not to mention, there is no confidence among fans (myself included) that he would know what to do with a good QB if he had one. They last had an above average offense in 2017 with Todd Haley and that was 3 OCs and 6 QBs ago. Arthur Smith was at least an external hire; because usually when he fires an OC or DC, he just promotes an internal assistant who studied under the guy he just fired.
That's Super Bowl Champion Kenny Pickett to you #gobirds
He already has a hard enough time beating teams from Ohio
This 100%. It's amazing how vitriolic their fan base is in defending the decision. At some point you have to acknowledge that if everyone is saying the same thing, maybe it's you!
People have a really hard time admitting they were wrong. It is one of the reasons people double down on bad decisions and continue to fall for scams even when they've been shown its a scam.
like Amway - I lost a good friend to Amway after college. They scammed him so hard that they basically got him to ditch all of his old friends for his new "friends". It's pretty sickening
The people who got in on Amway early did alright...
This is true for most pyramid schemes.
Exactly...
I unfortunately must admit that I was once a Quixtar IBO back in 2003. Great life lesson.
Good ol' Quixtar. I went to the pitch dinner in around 2000-2001 timeframe. Got a nice meal out of it and some drinks. Even back then being that young I knew that was not a proper business plan. Told the presenters thanks but I'm out.
A fellow alum got me started in that but quickly became clear it made no sense unless you had a family of 12 or had a ton of time to recruit a layer of the pyramid under you. Fortunately a deployment gave me the ticket out quickly.
To be fair, I know many Penn State fans who have lobbied to fire Franklin even before this year. So, I don't think they regret firing him; they just really screwed up the replacement hiring.
The more I see this drag on the more I think that Franklin was winning at Penn St despite the ineptitude of the program
I don't necessarily think firing Franklin was wrong. I just think they botched the replacing of him
Very unlikely IMO. Franklin wears on people. And at some point VT won't be able to keep up with Sec/B10 schools.
That's what my PSU friends say: we're going to have stressful off-seasons.
But... whatever. If we eventually can't meet whatever demands he's putting on us and he bolts for wealthier pastures, at least (hopefully!) he'll have been around long enough to drag us into the modern era and built a nice attractive seat for the next head coach to occupy.
And also, if his exits from Vandy and PSU are any indication, when/if he does bolt, we can look forward to losing a lot of recruits/portal transfers!
I think this is going to be the norm for most coaching changes now
I think it will be 3 years max, unless we move into a P2, or fall into Oregon money. Maybe as soon as 1 year. I don't think he'll leave before the season, but I wouldn't be completely shocked (just a little shocked) if PSU poaches Deboer/Lincoln, and the dominos fall, and Franklin leaves.
But, I do think that even just one good season proves that you can win at VT in this era, and makes us more attractive in the future.
But, I could be very wrong and overly pessimistic!
Both Correct takes.
There are a small but active group of PSU fans who can reconcile that it was probably time to move on from Franklin but the way it was handled and the lack of a clear successor was completely bungled and has now become a laughingstock. Pat Kraft will likely never work at a P4 again after this shitshow.
Also, hate to be "that guy" but Franklin's 5 year contract is on the short-end for what seems to be the norm now. He loves VT now, but lets say he turns the Program around quickly---he's gonna have lots of other options. Someone previously described him as like Buzz Williams and I think that is pretty apt. Hopefully he is very sucessful here but I would be shocked if he is a long-termer here. Those guys are few and far between. I don't think we have found the second coming of Frank Beamer.
nor should we expect to find the second coming of Frank. That was extremely rare when we found it and is increasingly more rare now.
If Franklin drags us into the modern era of college football and wins a bunch of games on the way to getting a different job elsewhere I'll take it. At the very least, I hope he at least elevates our station enough that the next guy who comes in is better than what we've had for the last decade. And I think that's the case. The excitement around the Franklin hire, to me, isn't as much about Franklin himself as it is about VT being serious about football. When Franklin inevitably moves on VT will be prepared to make the next hire to keep the machine rolling. That's the part that is exciting. We're not resting on our laurels anymore. Gone are the days of the "let's do it like Beamer did it" good-'ol-boys. We're entering into a new era where VT is taking football seriously and willing to put in the legwork to get resources and coaches aligned and that is the exciting part of this hire. The best part of this whole off-season so far has been the revelation that VT was the most prepared and proactive job that approached Franklin. That tells me that VT understands what it will take to win and wants to do that. That is good news, regardless of how long we have Franklin. This isn't about catching a big fish and keeping him in the pond. This is about attracting big fish every time we need one.
Totally agree.
Franklin's ultimate goal here is to leave this program in a much better place than when he took over.
VT also needs to do their part as far as sustaining investment into the program and also being ready for the possibility of needing to find the next guy.
Ultimately if Franklin gets this team rapidly turned around and competing for the ACC, the P2 is going to be calling. If he doesn't turn us around significantly (i.e. still 6-7 wins), his personality certainly may wear thin quickly.
The (very) early returns so far have been quite promising, but none of us can guarantee how this is going to go.
I am very interested in seeing the coaching staff. I will say, I was a more than a bit concerned in Bitter noting that a lot of Pry's staff was still hanging around on Signing Day.
He wants a natty, if he doesn't think he can do that at Tech then he's probably looking elsewhere in year 4 or 5. I think a lot also hinges on how realignment and VT's funding shakes out over the course of the contract.
This one is eyes open at least...saying alot of the things I have pointed out here.
Looks like they want to hang all of the recruiting failures on Franklin.
I want to see an analysis of Why An OSU recruited better.
That's an easy analysis.
Yeah, that immediately comes to mind but, I don't want to assume, I'd rather see data.
This year: NIL budget Big 10 (not including revenue share)
Ohio State - $35M
Michigan - $28.5M
Oregon- $24.8M
Indiana - $17.4M
Nebraska - $16.2M
USC - $15.6M
UCLA rumored to be $13.9M but doesn't appear reliable.
Penn State - $13.7M
The Top 3 have been that way above/below the table consistently. USC has been up and down. Indiana Nebraska and UCLA is recent and tied to Cignetti and Rhule for those two. UCLA mostly to try to keep pace with the Joneses (USC)
Oh, so OSU was ~3x the NIL of PSU and
Michigan was 2x the NIL of PSU.
And PSU wants to complain about the recruiting comparison?
Yeah but dont tell their fanbase that. You will either be told that you are wrong because they are funding a $700M stadium upgrade so clearly they have the money....or they will say it was available but they didnt want to give it to Franklin because Big Game James yadayada. Very few are looking at their AD on how underfunded the program has been but at least they are starting to see the 🤡 in this hiring process
My understanding is that these numbers are not just football - they're all sports. I've also heard that PSU isn't sharing their rev share or NIL money across as many sports as OSU/Michigan is; it's not like Michigan's football players are collectively making 2x what PSU's are.
Regardless of money, the roster talent is there - PSU had a top 10 roster in the sport this year. Oregon has 58 bluechip players (6 of which were 5-stars), PSU had 62 bluechip players (4 of which were 5-stars). For the last three consecutive years, PSU has been ranked above Michigan in the 247 talent composite. Yet, in that time, Michigan won a title and had three playoff appearances.
I think all three of these things are/can be true:
Ohio State Revenue share was $13M for football
Michigan Revenue Share was $15.75M
Penn State was $16M
Pete Nakos from On3 estimates
Texas 1st $35M
Texas Tech $28M
Ohio St football was ranked 3rd at $22M-$24M in NIL.
Oregon was 4th with same numbers.
Michigan was 7th with $17-$18M
Indiana was 12th at $12M
Nebraska was 13th at $10-$11M
Penn State was 17th at $9M
Charlie Weiss Jr. to coach Ole Miss in CFP (if they make it)
Posting this here because its tied to the carousel. This is just the coaching variant of what happened to FSU 3 years ago when Travis got injured. Ole Miss keeping Weiss Jr. around to minimize the damage caused by the Kiffin departure in the hopes that the committee doesn't view the current Ole Miss team as being significantly different that the team that just beat up on Mississippi last weekend.
If only the CPB relied on something like conference championships and W/L records to determine playoff seeding....weird concept, i know.
Not sure if it's been posted here, but someone on X mentioned Brent Pry to JMU as parody but I'd be happy for him, and who knows, maybe it would be a good fit. Plus, JMU wouldn't have to worry about a P4 school poaching their coach anytime soon.
And we could just turn them into our farm team.
i want nothing to do with whatever Brent Pry is developing.
That begs the question: how many more coaches does penn state have to whiff on before they call Pry?
I think the interim HC would have to turn them down before they called Pry
Just saw something about Napier being a guy to watch out for with the JMU opening
I just saw for real that Billy Napier is a legit candidate.
I can't see anyone hiring Brent Pry. Amazing human being. Great DC. Awesome with the fans and media. Objectively very bad head football coach.
could be he just needed to get experience and work his way up. if Pry took a job at a small school first, learned what he obviously didnt know yet then he might have become a great HC. He was in over his skiis on his first outing and couldn't figure it out. I think he would do great at a UCONN or Marshall where he would have the time to learn and less pressure making mistakes.
Unfortunately for Pry the Nick Saban School for Coaches Who Can't Coach Good is permanently closed.
I know we all laughed initially at the NDA's signed during the hiring process, but after hearing about PSU's disaster with BYU's coach it probably was a good idea.
That's the way the cookie crumbls, I guess. ;^)
https://www.on3.com/teams/alabama-crimson-tide/news/kalen-deboer-shuts-d...
--Kalen Deboer on the Penn State question
PSU rumors now seem to be moving on to Matt Campbell.
Seems like it would be an odd marriage from both directions.
Campbell hasn't really had to live in the Blue Chip recruiting world nor had insane expectations. Seems like it would be a big change to go from a fan base happy with seven wins to one who will fire you for 10.
I'm not totally sure Campbell's developmental program would really work the same at Penn State as Iowa State either.
I do not see how this is a step up from Franklin.
Agree.
But I'm also not really sure that Penn State is in the"step up" phase anymore as much as they are in the " just find someone to take the job and prevent a fan revolt" phase..lol.
This is the type of hire I was hoping PSU would make, a Midwest to west coast guy, who doesn't have a lot of recruiting history in the mid-Atlantic area. CJF can maintain a strangle hold on the local talent with someone like Campbell. If Billy moves down 81 though, that might be a thorn in the backside, granted I'm hearing that he wasn't big on recruiting either.
I think Campbell would be a fantastic hire for PSU. I don't think he's a better program builder than Franklin, but he's absolutely a better pure ball coach.
But PSU doesn't need a program builder right now; their NIL, facilities, staffing, etc are in a great place. I think Campbell is a coach who could thrive with the right GM and NIL funding. And he can get that at PSU.
Napier finalizing a 5 year deal with JMU this evening
Don't know what I think on that. He knows what big boy football looks like but didnt really succeed.
I didnt follow florida heavily but seemed like recruiting wasnt his favorite activity?
He has to be somewhere in the next 12 coaches they try to make head coach, but this would be the funniest thing if he chooses elsewhere
That would be amazing fun to watch play out.
I might run out of popcorn watching this PSU saga play out, lol!
What's everyone's favorite brand of schadenfreude popcorn?
Ugh after last two months of sitting with my son selling popcorn for Cub Scouts ....
Give me Nachos
But kudos to my kid. He sold almost $3,200 in popcorn in about 12 hours of selling. Got himself $150 in Amazon gift card. Selling that popcorn is way harder than my daughter selling Girl Scout Cookies. People buy that crack by the case.
It's too bad people don't know about the cinnamon roll scout popcorn. That stuff is crack, that tin was gone way faster than I'm proud to admit
Nobody is selling tins of popcorn around me. Its like the perfect bowl season snack and I haven't seen any
Our pack didnt have that as an option to sell. No tins anymore either. That would have been way easier. Big seller this year was Chocolate Pretzels.
Tagalongs = Herione. I can eat a sleeve in no time. My wife will put one box of Tagalong's in the pantry for me to see and hide the others so she and my kids can have some. No lie. True story.
Samoas (Caramel deLights) are not safe around me.
Also, I got a sample of next years new cookie (rocky road flavor). It isn't bad, but it isn't "eat the box in one sitting"-good like a samoa.
Thin Mints with milk are my go to when the Tags go bye bye.
We put ours in the freezer. Frozen thin mints are perfection in a box.
My better 3/4's does that from time to time. Brilliant move. Soooooo good.
Agree with this take. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), a box of Samoas only has like 12 cookies in it!
Yeah, I can't control the Samoas. They just disappear.
My wife used to think I was so generous letting her eat most of the box of Samoas. Little did she know I had three more boxes at my desk at work I bought from a colleague 😀
If Anyone needs to feed their addiction my daughter will have her page next Friday. Feels more like online drug dealer than cookies but. IYKYK.
Online drug sales are open:
https://www.gsdigitalcookie.com/cookie/landing/0/3444eacb-868c-475a-b687...
Spoiled for choice with https://www.poppa-corns.com 2 miles from my house.
Does Matt Campbell get the the PSU pay bump or do the lions finally get a coach?
So they fired a coach with a .681 winning percentage as a P4 coach to hire one that's a .567 winning percentage.
They fired a master recruiter to go with a guy who only ever cracked the top 50 once, and that was #49. Pry had a better recruiting class every year than Campbell had.
Let's be adults here - we all know that Iowa State is one of the 5 or so hardest jobs in P4. Matt Campbell is the winningest coach in Iowa State history. Johnny Fucking Majors coached there for a half decade and had just one winning season. There's only one other coach in the school's history to win more than half his games there (Earle Bruce, who was good enough for OSU to hire).
Yep have to go back to Charles Mayser from 1915-1919 to find a coach at Iowa St with a higher winning % at 64.7% than Campbells 56.4%. Only 3 coaches in last 100 years had at least a 50% or higher.
(Yes I am bored waiting to put out the stupid f-ing Elf for my kids to find since they wont go to sleep now that Loudoun put us on a 2 hour delay)
Tonight is coconut flake "snow angels" since its supposed to snow tonight.
Top 3 Best Decision as a parent was saying "No" to the Elf on the Shelf.
Hear fucking hear, my guy.
Last night my daughter was saying she could just buy an Elf on the Shelf and read the book and sprinkle it with cinnamon and it would start working. My wife said if she somehow does ends up with one of those things, she's gonna learn a hard truth real fast.
Son, a couple of years ago: Why don't we have an Elf like [friend]?
Me: Are you a good kid?
Son: Yeah...
Me: Are Mommy and I honest?
Son: Yeah...
Me: Then why would we need an Elf to tell Santa whether you're naughty or nice? He should believe us, right?
Son: ohhhhhhh...
is elf on the shelf still a thing? I remember my brother doing that with his kids and hating it. My kid is turning 4 in February and this is probably the most magical Christmas he's going to have to date. I have no interest in doing the elf on the shelf nonsense and I don't think any of his friends are doing it either (which is why I'm surprised to still be hearing about it)
Yes. They've even expanded the product line with pets and other elf friends, apparently.
My decorations aren't up until this weekend. I'm definitely not signing up for 24 nights of trying to remember if I moved the dang thing, or worse, making messes for the elf to be "caught" in that I get to clean up.
lol yeah, no thanks
Yeah, my kids are five and (almost) three, and I'm very excited for Christmas this year and there is not one part of it that would be improved by having an elf.
Me: Why would you want to buy a thing that tattles to Santa about your bad behavior? Especially with *your* behavior.
Daughter: I don't know. *walks away shaking head*
This is my christmas party shirt:
Had that quick convo with my wife the other day and we were both on the "nahhhhh, no thanks" committee
Was that the Fourth or Fifth Earl of Bruce?
Bruuuuuuuce
Oh God, please no! I so love what he has done at Iowa State. Don't tarnish your legacy (and let ISU fall back into it's pre-Campbell joke status) to go to my most despised team in the world. God, I'd rather see him at UVa than Penn State.
I wouldn't lose sleep over it yet.
Campbell has been a candidate for jobs pretty much every Offseason for at least 5 years....He has consistently turned them down to stay at ISU.
While PSU is a "name" job ---its also objectively a Shitshow right now. Literally almost no 2026 class, likely to lose quite a few more to the Transfer Portal, and an AD who is increasingly a complete, unlikeable Asshole who is gonna be fired in very short order.
In fact, if the leaked audio of him in a "Players meeting" is real---there is a 36 minute YouTube video but this is a summary of the proceeedings:
https://x.com/mason_zehr/status/1996830611085185493
He might not make it to next season at all.
For a guy in Campbell who clearly isn't simply looking for a paycheck and feels very comfortable at ISU, going to PSU at this point would seem like an odd decision.
PSU is a "top job" when things are going well---but by any measure they aren't at this point. You're talking a complete Roster rebuild, AD who is on the ropes, and insane expectations (PSU:OSU seems like it is becoming the Auburn:Alabama of the B1G at least in fans eyes). Maybe Campbell sees all that as an intriguing challenge, but I am understanding more completely why PSU struggling to find someone.
There is a more in depth transcript of that meeting on r/CFB and boy is it a doozy.
I cannot imagine anyone walking in there with any kind of long term expectations right now.
Also, I have been in meetings with Australians in the mining industry who swore less. Super professional environment.
I have listened to the the Youtube version but it is admittedly cut up and likely edited very creatively.
But if nothing else, he clearly criticizes and blames his Outgoing Coach (Franklin) in front of his former players.
If if were a potential Head Coach candidate, that would be a giant Red Flag to me.
Just listened to it.
The guy wreaks of desperation. He knows he screwed up. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a group of PSU existing portal to VT.
Listening to the players talk....geesh.
PSU may have set themselves back a few years. What a dumpster fire.
IMO, The best PSU can do now is hope and pray they land Matt C and then pour lots more money into their programs to get as level set to OSU and M.
Hiring Matt C will help calm things down. He's an excellent field coach. He is not a splashy or a sexy hire. Short term pain as he is not a good recruiting HC, but if they land him and give him the money, he can build up the field product better than Franklin. Thats one of Matt's strengths that Bar pointed out in his HC Candidate review.
I'm not saying you're wrong, but you have to recognize that it is a different era. While NIL brings its own set of headaches. It also makes the recruiting process a lot more transparent.
Campbell has a ton of people in his network in the NFL and has had NFL interest over the years. In this new era at a place like Penn State he might be able to focus more on football and less on impressing recruits.
All that to say, I obviously don't think it is a given that Campbell goes to Penn State, but I would not find it to be an odd decision and I wouldn't be that surprised.
Kraft slipped out an apology today with everyone focused on the Notre Lame/ACC back and forth.
https://247sports.com/college/penn-state/article/penn-state-ad-pat-kraft...
Oh, you are just now getting around to being embarrassed? Pretty convenient.
And it was a bullshit apology, too.
I'm curious what their analysis ranking of head coaches looks like. Because if i was PSU, he would've been higher on my list than Sitake.
If I struck out on Elko and Cignetti, Cambell's probably in that next tier of calls. At this point, I definitely wouldn't have turned my nose up at Chesney either.
FACTS!
Tomorrows news: Matt Campbell gets a pay raise and extension
Is Campbell a Sexton guy? If so, you're probably right
He had no agent until the last year or so. Not sure who his current one is
Gemini tells me his agent is Clint Dowdle of WME Sports (who also represents Drinkwitz)
PSU should hire Keegan Michael Key as HC (secretly) and claim that he is JF, has been there the whole time, and they have no clue what the hell is going on at VT, but last they checked it was his good friend BP. This is clearly the best option.
I'm just hoping we can pickup KMK in the portal.
And I would've accompanied the above statement with one of several KMK gifs I now have saved on imgur, but getting the direct link from there in mobile is just such a fucking nightmare.
Penn State got their (9th) guy.
Glad it took them this long. Campbell is a good fit if you think Penn State can recruit itself and you just need a better "coach", but the process definitely puts them behind the curve and should help Franklin get VT up and running in the portal after already getting PSUs recruiting class.
I'm kind of sad that they might be over so soon.
But it's funny seeing PSU fans thinking that the length of the search meant they must be getting a coach from a playoff team. The stack of Crumbl cookies says otherwise.
Still holding out hope that Iowa St throws some crazy offer and it falls through at the 11th hour lol
PSU is a good program overall, but I am curious what it was about their pitch that got Campbell to make the move -- he's certainly been linked with quite a few other openings in the past.
I hope this means a full staff turnover + lots of portal entries that Franklin can benefit from.
Time to get crackin on PSU transfer targets then, I guess?
And staff members
Bout to see all the loud PSU twitter accounts saying "I've been high on Campbell since day one!"
Correct me if I'm wrong, but can the existing psu players hit the portal ASAP when Campbell is officially announced? Or do they have to wait until the portal opens?
Top notch question.
Define "hit the portal." You can announce your intention to leave whenever you want, regardless of whether it's actually open.
Edit: I doubt anyone really would right away, they'd probably rather play in their bowl game or opt out to get ready for the draft. They'd likely announce for the portal after their bowl game.
why though? Don't most players want to bounce before the bowl game anyway?
Depends on when it is and their goals. They get free swag for going. If it's to opt out for the draft, yeah, to avoid injury. As far as transferring - I think it depends. A lot of guys you see opt out before the bowl might be from their coach being canned late in the season. Some may want to up their potential NIL stock, it probably depends on a lot.
My wife and I were just talking about this.
The days of players opting to play bowl games for the bowl swag are gone now with NIL, etc.
They all need nil bonuses associated with them and the calendar needs an overhaul
"Bowl" matchups should be in the pre season. Make week 1 "bowl" week when the weather's nice and people are more likely to travel given it's not holiday season.
Until your team has demonstrated some level of competence (or not), a week 1 "bowl" is just a preseason game essentially. It means nothing against some out-of-conference opponent.
Plus, people would rather travel to a warm destination bowl game when it's cold out.
Everything you said only strengthens my argument. They rank teams without any demonstration of competence (or not) and the viewers eat that shit up. Week 1 games vs out of conference opponents never mean anything anyway now that the Playoffs exist, that's why treating it similar to "bowl week" would work.
Recognizable team vs recognizable team at a neutral field on Week 1 (when people have waited 8 months for football) would draw the fans out more than a game at the end of the year when money's tight and your team hasn't shown any level of excitement all season, with the exception that you happened to win 6 or 7 games with 3 or 4 of those against garbage teams.
At least Week 1 quasi bowl set up at least guarantee the full rosters play because no ones going to opt out of a Week 1 game.
I initially thought along the lines of Doug, but your explanation has merit. Also networks should love it - they can market more "big" games because everyone is undefeated coming in and fan optimism is through the roof!
So you're not REALLY talking about bowl season, getting rid of all the teams that barely qualified. You're talking about a top-25 (24 or 26 to make the numbers work) teams playing against each other. But the top 12 or so wouldn't want to do it, because it still doesn't mean anything, and they'd want to wait for the playoffs, which means you have teams 12-24 play each other? So 6 games?
Yeah, people eat up early season rankings, but some of them know it's bullshit, and, let's be honest, I'm sure lots of them LOVE seeing their team paste some no-name team 63-3.
Which leaves you with "when money's not tight" - so yeah, but will people really want to shell out to go see their team play someone if they think the ranking is inflated/wrong and they think they might lose? Plus, like I said, maybe the FANS would love to see some of these games, but the top 10-12 schools aren't going to want to play someone too challenging in a meaningless game and risk injuring their players. It's literally WHY they schedule easy teams early in the season.
Hence why we like the Spring "Game" so much.
Much better than I would have expected them to do at this point.
Still not 100% convinced this is a great fit for either side. PSU wants a guy that is going to beat top 10 teams-- Campbell has clearly established himself as someone who can build a program, but building vs. maximizing aren't really the same skill sets and not everybody has both.
You have to also wonder why he was clearly Penn State's 5th or 6th choice??
From a VT standpoint, I like the matchup of Franklin versus Campbell in recruiting battles. And if Terry Smith now ends up in Blacksburg, we could potentially decimate their Roster in the Portal.
So maybe it's really a better fit than I am giving credit for...PSU could be practically a ground-up rebuild (at least Roster wise) by February.
So what does terry smith do actually? I've seen his name everywhere but all I know is he was the interim head coach? Does he coach a position or is he like the team chaplin?
According to wikipedia, he was the cornerbacks coach prior to being made interim.
But does he have a special wing flavor? Pre-req for a db coach.
Do we know what his favorite animal print is?
He was the only choice because he is one of the few coaches out there, good one's anyway, who don't have Jimmy Sexton as an agent...
AD Kraft be all like 'new strategy: get me a list of all the coaches that DONT have Sexton as their agent, pronto!'
Me hearing this news:
Campbell to Penn St and they significantly increased their budget in the process
Iowa State didn't wait long in announcing his replacement
The poor pac2, they can't keep a coach to save their lives.
If I were Penn St, I would be after the Iowa St AD too. That's impressive work.
More fuel on the fire for JMFF. They found all that money for Campbell but not for him? Crazy
Maybe they had a bake sale.
Franklin was ridiculed for asking to have the things they just gave Campbell
He's got to be pissed the fuck off right now
Their "fans" still claiming Franklin had everything he asked for on one side of their mouth yet accused Franklin of going around Kraft for more at least twice from the other side.
Here is one.
I mean they literally went out and bought the defensive coordinator for the national champions. He had a whole hell of a lot!
From VT perspective I'm curious how the recruiting battles will go. Campbell has been more of a developer/game coach than a recruiter, I believe i read his best class at Iowa State was rank 50th. CJMFF obviously ate our lunch while at PSU, will Campbell go after and win any battles against VT in the mid Atlantic region will be a fascinating thing to watch.
It's also going to be interesting to see where Campbell chooses to recruit. He recruits the Midwest heavy but hasn't gone into the DMV or the Northeast (historically). I'm hopeful that he spends most of his time recruiting the Midwest and Northeast and VT can lay claim to the DMV.
Right now, UNC, NC State, South Carolina, Clemson, Penn State, and Maryland are all on their heels. This is a great opportunity for VT capitalize on.
This may slow/reduce the passengers on the train from Happy Valley to Blacksburg... Did not think he'd stick around like Bud did especially after such a long search and not hiring him.
Read - Penn St. throwing wads of cash at Terry Smith because he's the only hope they have of retaining current players and recruiting more.
Yeah, unfortunate. Maybe some might leave because of how he still wasn't the head whistle, but I'd imagine those 90% stay now. So to the portal we go.
Smith was immediately beating the 'JoePa did nothing wrong' drum the second he got the head whistle
I am ok with him not coming here
I was hoping he'd leave Happy Valley not necessarily come to Blacksburg.
Yeah Alum, I had no desire for him to come to Blacksburg, just was hoping his departure would initiate the assembly line from Happy Valley to Lane.
Yeah... the rumors seem to have been that had he not gotten hired as head coach, Smith would come to Blacksburg.
But after listening to the Kraft recording from this morning, I'm not sure Franklin and Smith are ever going to be sending each other Christmas cards again.
It takes a certain kind of guy to sit there and knod his head while the AD trashes the guy that hired him in front of his former players.
You know, the same kind of guy who wears pins celebrating somebody who turned a blind eye to sexual abuse. All an attempt to Pander for a job that they were never going to give him in the first place.
Fuck Terry and Fuck Penn State.
I'm just glad it took them this long to get it together.
Helped Franklin solidify his escape and retain the recruiting class he put together.
Looks like Jason Candle might be finally leaving Toledo in a big move to...UConn?
He was their second choice but Terry staying at PSU was their top choice. Memphis was sad at that news too
I really thought Smith would jump at the Memphis job.
This is comical....8th choice or something..
Was it their 8th choice? i thought it was like their 2nd/3rd and they tried to get him early on but the deals fell through. And then they came aallll the way back to him once their other options failed and now they're throwing more money at it. Which is still funny ngl
Something tells me this guy has a few more late at the bar, goes home with a 10 and wakes up with a lot of 4s.
Lol the best coach of the cycle was either Kiffin or the guy they fired, but they did end up with someone much better than they should have.
Their Athletic Department is an utter shitshow, and will absolutely destroy them from within going forward
Can we get Kraft to implode their wrestling program next? That would benefit us so much.
The PSU fans on Reddit have gone from "fire Kraft now" to "Kraft is a total genius that was planning this all along."
The general consensus is that Terry Smith will recruit anyone they need and then Campbell & Co. will Coach them up.
The really fringe fans are essentially saying that Terry was always the recruiting genius and Franklin was just an accessory...lol.
Here's the logical fallacy there... if Terry Smith was the recruiting genius, why did Penn State lose 90% of their class... with a vast majority going to VT??
I think the interplay between Campbell and the expectation of signing and retaining Blue Chip prospects there will be interesting.
Yeah sure, great plan until Smith takes a head coaching job next year, or maybe still this year.
The knock on Franklin is that he doesn't win many ranked games.
Starting with the 2021 season, Franklin is 7-14 against ranked opponents, having beaten 7 different ranked schools, losing to 8. Of those 14 losses, 4 were to Ohio State, 3 were to Michigan, and 2 were to Oregon.
Campbell is 5-11 against ranked opponents during that same window, having beaten 3 different schools, also losing to 8. Three of the five wins were against Kansas State. He has lost to six teams, with Oklahoma and Texas beating him twice, each.
It appears, whereas Franklin couldn't beat Ohio State, Michigan, or Oregon, Campbell could only beat Kansas State.
Over the same time frame, Virginia Tech went 1-11 against ranked foes, only beating UNC, and losing to ten different ranked opponents, with the lone duplicate being Miami.
And just to show how big a grain of salt those numbers require -- that "top 10" UNC team rode that preseason ranking to a 6-6 finish.
Here's a good breakdown of coaches and their all-time record against ranked teams from summer 2025.
But I'd love to see a breakdown based on a team's final ranking, instead of whatever they were ranked at the time of the game.
As to the stepping stones to getting a Natty, I'll accept going 7-14 against top 25, especially if most of those losses come against top 5.
I will accept 10 of those 14 losses to Michigan and anOSU.
I think I have the table up to date now. Please let me know if I've missed anyone or if there are any errors.
Looks like Huff might end up at Memphis
Not part of the coaching carousel, but Adam Lechtenberg seems to be doing okay for himself. Maybe he moves up a division soon.
As compared to Pry, Fuente brought in a decent number of good Staffers...
Wiggins now at A&M, Vice and Shibest were both good coaches, Lechty seemed decent. Mitchell has continued as NCSU.
If the guy could have cut ties with his buddy at O.C. and found an experienced coordinator post-Foster...maybe Scott was that guy but he nuked himself..we might have had something.
Well, that and he needed to buy himself a personality.
But as far as hires go, Pry was a much, much worse hire than Fuente.
Makes you wonder what Fuente might have done with less old admin/more resources....
But, it worked out.
Pry as DC???
Terry Smith was probably his first choice.
Sorry love Pry as a guy representing VT but more Coach Kill type role than as DC since he never held our defense accountable the last few years.
Coach Kill isn't just in a consultant role at Vandy. It feels like he's 'head coach of the offense.' I've seen him call timeouts and argue with refs. Not sure if he's a playcaller, but he's clearly integral to their gameday decision making.
Well, if Pry does become the DC we won't have to worry about him knowing when to call timeouts.
It is hard to imagine how I could detest Penn State more than I already do. But they managed to find a way.
Huff takes over Memphis
Will Hall promoted internally to take over Tulane
What's the longest domino effect we have going on? Where a string of schools needs to find a new head coach because the previous one got hired away elsewhere?
So far, I see a couple sets of three:
Colorado State took UCONN who took Toledo
PSU took Iowa State who took Washington State
Arkansas took Memphis who took Southern Miss
In all cases, that last job is still vacant.
Shane hiring briles is fucking gross
I'm ok with it namely because it prevents him from winding up here.
Yeah tbh it is inexcusable and disqualifying
Jesus I read this and thought he hired art briles at first. He hired his son, Kendall.
To be fair, we hired Phillip Montgomery, who was probably equally involved/aware of the scandal as Kendall was.
There is a big difference between father and son.
Kendall was named on multiple lawsuits settled outside of court and very clearly was a part of it. He is not legally allowed to set foot on Baylor campus.
I would disagree with the "very clearly a part of it" thing. He made some crude comments to recruits about the women on campus, but I think (1) there's an enormous gap between making vulgar comments and enabling rapists, and (2) Kendall made a comment that many, many, college football coaches make (one Charlie Wiles famously made a comment that was not that dissimilar, for example)
Now, I don't say that to excuse Kendall's behavior or comments. Rather, I want to remind everyone that we hired Phillip Montgomery and there was not one ounce of outrage here about it. And I think it typically ends poorly when we hold others to a level of virtue that we are unable or unwilling to hold ourselves to.
TL;DR - careful throwing stones in a glass house.
TIL that Montgomery was involved in the Baylor scandal.
To be clear - The first perpetrator joined the baylor football team in 2008. Arrests started in 2012. Baylor launches an investigation in 2015. Outside the Lines and Bruce Feldman both breaking parts of the scandal in 2016.
Montgomery was employed by Baylor from 2008 through 2014. As far as I can tell, there is no evidence that he was any more or less 'involved' in the scandal than Kendall was.
Bennett and Lebby are arguably the worst of the assistants (based on what is known publicly), but neither of them have faced many headwinds as they continued their career after Baylor (Lebby did invite his former coach/father-in-law on the field at OU which led to him conveniently landing at Miss State). Kendall, Montgomery, Dino Babers, a few other names are also on that coaching tree.
Michigan fires Sherron Moore. Pretty late to the party. Have to suspect they have their new coach lined up to do this now.
You're burying the lede lol, WITH CAUSE
Pretty late to fire him with cause now. He did a lot of his cheating before ever being named head coach.
Different cause. Inappropriate relations with staff.
Well, that they knew he had a history of cheating when they hired him. Now just a different type of cheating.
I figured it must be rough, if losing to anOSU is considered for cause now.
I guess we found the one kind of cheating that Mich is not ok with
They had to wait until after signing day. ;^)
Franklin and Co. about to get to work on a few more flips I bet!!
Would be awesome if their new class goes in the portal now.
SAVION!!!
Pls!
Future Hokie Bryce Underwood
This one may end up being something interesting to watch. Current sources are saying was caught with an inappropriate relationship with another U-M staff member, which leads to the for cause firing
For cause over having relations with a staff member
Biff Poggi is named interim again lol.
Between Mel Tucker (very bad situation) and Sherrone Moore (tbd but could be very bad as well), people hired to be a head coach in the state of Michigan might be required to wear a chastity belt
(Editing lightly based on Moore involving arrest with unsubstantiated claims as to why)
So.....
Does this mean that all Michigan players have a transfer portal open up now that he has been fired?
Wonder if someone like Hiter might be interested in coming here now
Oh baby, I am sure Franklin has made the call already.
I'm picturing him dialing his number before Thamel even dropped the news
UM really cleaned up in VA this year.
Savion Hiter (2)
Travis Johnson (4)
Andre Clarke Jr (8)
Markel Dabney (36)
Bring them home!
Also signed Carter Meadows out of DC, #23 overall in the Class
Defensive End
Franklin had Penn St in his final 4 before he committed to Michigan
From what I've read, early NSD signees can't enter the portal but can request to be released from their letter of intent.
Unfortunately no. Now thst the regular season is over they have to wait until 5 days after the announcement of a new head coach. Still not clear if naming an interim coach counts in that new wrinkle to the portal. All of them including the new class should be able to enter portal January 2nd barring NIL ramifications.
Shamari Earls, and Kainoa Winston, come on down....
I hope Michigan steals Rich Rod from West Virginia.... again.
Former Penn St. DC Jim Knowles is headed to the same time at Tennessee.
Chip Kelly has interviewed for the GT OC job...
That'd be annoying. Where did their OC go?
Buster Faulkner is now the OC at Florida.
We need the ACC to get better all the way around. This is a good thing.
Mercer head whistle Mike Jacobs take over Toledo
I find the michigan job interesting this late in the cycle. Who do they realistically look at? Is Brian Kelly interested, do they look to the NFL even or make everyones day and steal a new coach somewhere smaller that would jump at the money?
Maybe Justin Fuente is interested
Tomlin maybe? Does Deboer feel the heat if he doesn't make the championship? Would Dabo go north? I don't think there is another G5 coach they would hire. Also don't see any coordinators that Michigan would be comfortable to hire. They have to at least talk to Brian Kelly I think, but he may be done now.
Tomlin wouldnt fall to the CFB level he would have multiple NFL teams on his tail if pittsburgh was foolish enough to move off him this fall so I dont think hes an option. I'd wager Gruden has to be an option though.
Dabo would be interesting but I'd be worried they might find someone whos more in tune with current CFB landscape and revive Clemson to nation title level again.
The early list from ESPN is
1. Deboer, Alabama HC
2. Chargers DC Jesse Minter
3. Jedd Fisch, UW HC
4. Manny Diaz, Duke HC
5. Browns OC Tommy Rees
I feel like the obvious choice is Minter with previous ties to Michigan for a first time HC gig. Fisch as well but Deboer makes no sense to me. Minter might be up for an NFL HC though with how hes done so far so maybe he would say no on that note.
Minter may still be a hard sell though given the show-cause he has from everything, so I would project Fisch over Minter for that reason
I completely forgot Minter got a show clause as well but isnt that up at the end of this season maybe? Seems like his track record of upholding the high standards of UM would make him a perfect fit then.
It was a one year show cause so should have been over last year but not sure when they actually started the clock from
I'm with whomever said "take Matt Campbell, just to Temple PSU."
Dream Scenario
Michigan gets Lane Kiffin
LSU hires Campbell
PSU hires Daboll
I think it's more likely (but still a miniscule chance) that Michigan gets DeBoer, Bama hires Lane, and LSU has to scramble, but I don't see them going for Matt Campbell, nor do I see him Diaz-ing someone.
Preach!!
Wasn't exactly sure which TKP article this belongs in, but an interesting article comparing the coaching blueprints used by Matt Campbell versus James Franklin.
Matt Campbell vs. James Franklin: Same job, different blueprint
direct link here: https://atozsports.com/college-football/penn-state-nittany-lions-news/ma...
eh, a lot of doublespeak in that article. many of the things he credits Campbell with are things that Franklin has handled so proficiently that his recruiting prowess is what stands out. Article credits Campbell for 'hiring a personnel guy right away - bringing his GM from Iowa st along... guess what? Franklin did the same thing when he was hired by VT, except he brought his GM and a half-dozen others. And I'm certain that any any quality coach is going to get his personnel people in place ASAP at a new job.
It'll be interesting to see how Campbell does with the budget that Penn St refused to give Franklin.
One aspect of that budget that will be interesting to monitor is how well does PSU recruit? Campbell has never been a good recruiter (rankings generally in the 50s). Maybe that's due to an "inherent ceiling" at ISU, but more than likely its that he isn't a great recruiter. At a minimum, he lacks experience recruiting at the highest level. If Campbell is not good at recruiting, does PSU's recruiting and NIL budget get wasted?
I know a lot of coaches want their own GM and be in control of player personnel, but coaches like Campbell are probably better off "outsourcing" that role to the best GM/recruiting staff that PSU can hire. Make recruiting an institutional process that works with the coaching staff, and not the traditional paradigm in which the recruiting process is ultimately controlled by the HC. Does PSU go this route? Their AD seems to want to have a hand in player recruitment (as indicated by the leaked audio).
Ultimately, recruiting is a combination of money, relationships, institutional support and facilities, and scheme fit, with the emphasis heaviest on money and relationships with coaches. Can a place like PSU rely on compensation and institutional factors to make up for deficiencies in relationship development?
(Side Bar Thoughts: Campbell has no relationships with the Mid-Atlantic coaching staff. It's looking like UM is about to take a hit recruiting wise, especially within the Mid-Atlantic where they haven't traditionally recruited hard but obviously did really well in 2025. Deboer hasn't really been recruiting within the Mid-Atlantic. Belichick is hurting UNC recruiting. Clemson and Dabo are losing their momentum. All of these factors result in a Mid-Atlantic recruiting vacuum right now. VT, S. Car., and UGA, should greatly benefit. VT was right to hire the best Mid-Atlantic recruiter.)
Terry Smith staying at PSU will likely counter alot of Campbell's shortfalls as a recruiter especially in the MidAtlantic. That was another reason I was hoping he would take the UConn or Memphid job as HC
Yeah, but Terry Smith basically also let their recruiting class fall apart.
I think this was mostly the fact that they didn't have a coach and he was not in a position to promise one or to even know if he'd be there next year. They really undercut any sales pitch he may have been able to make.
Penn State fans may be pretending that getting Campbell was the plan all long, but the apparent bouncing from candidate to candidate gave them no foundation on which to build anything.
Well about half of Iowa States class were released today from their Grant of Financial Aid so expect a bunch of PSU commitments the next few days.
Yeah, that foundation really crumbl'd.
Maybe. Two counter points: 1) T. Smith recruits western PA (more Midwest than MidAtlantic), 2) B. Pry was the primary recruiter in VA for PSU, and despite coming to VT, Franklin still dominated VA and the rest of mid-Atlantic.
PSU doesn't have anyone with relationships established in Eastern PA and the DMV. Maybe they hire some coaches that do, but not yet.
So between the RB performance, success in finding portal talent, and DMV connections, we really should keep Brooks.
💯
Retaining Brooks, Mines, and Moore keeps elite Mid-Atlantic recruiters at VT. Add in Franklin, Pry, Dex, S. Spencer, and Howle, and that's probably 8 of the top 15 mid-Atlantic recruiters.
VT recruiting could get pretty, pretty good.
The ACC is such a mess that Jimmy's and Joe's can win the league with very little X's and Ops so might as well just outrecruit everyone and win some games.
Southern Miss promoting Blake Anderson, which is an interesting choice after how he got fired by Utah State at his last head coaching gig
Kyle Whittingham stepping down after 21 years at Utah per Thamel
I was waiting for this one. I imagine someone is already lined up with it being so late in the cycle and since he was supposedly going to retire last year.
He's apparently not retiring, which makes it even more curious
Their DC was head coach in waiting for awhile. It's been the plan according to Thamel
I'm a little surprised there haven't been more rumors about Coach Prime taking a step back for health reasons.
Wazzu getting their guy from Mizzou
Wow bad hire. There's Brent Vigen, Jason Eck, their old guy Rolovich and even Jonathan Smith available. I assume a couple of those guys must have said no
Ohio has fired Brian Smith for "engaging in serious professional misconduct and participating in activities that reflect unfavorably on the University."
A lot of disappointed fans upon finding out it's Ohio University. ;^)
Edit: Rumors on reddit are that it was a nursing student.
Edit2: Interesting stuff from reddit two weeks ago, AD kicking staff members out of a meeting then walking Smith out, and divorce petitions put under seal.
Perhaps a man of high character like this could find work up the road on the new Michigan staff.
I was gonna say, that sounds like a Michigan Man
First reaction hiring rankings:
1. Florida
2. UCLA
3. Iowa State
4. LSU
5. Penn State
6. Toledo
7. Auburn
8. Kansas State
9. Virginia Tech
10. Oklahoma State
11. Coastal Carolina
12. Cal
13. Memphis
14. Kentucky
15. Colorado State
16. North Texas
17. Washington State
18. Ole Miss
19. Southern Miss
20. Arkansas
21. JMU
22. UAB
23. Michigan State
24. USF
25. Tulane
26. Stanford
27. Uconn
28. Oregon State
Can you elaborate on the evaluation criteria for this list?
Who I think has the skills do the best job relative to that school's recent success and expectations. Take fit into account a bit too
USF is way too low. They are almost fully funding their house money (aka their team will pull $15m+). Most G5 schools are under $10m for the entire Athletic Dept. Hartline will thrive there bc he will have such an advantage over 80% of the schools they play.
Okay I semi lied about it being a first reaction. Hiring Tim Beck as offensive coordinator has killed any positivity I had about Hartline
He's a loser, baby.
Swish. Take your leg.
Spicy! Tell us how you arrived at this so we can debate.
Giving my 30,000 view and I place Lane Kiffin as the best hire. Maybe not the best destination, but he's the best hire.
Franklin is next. VT absolutely Big Dawg'd the coaching hire bananza .
Matt Campbell is #3
I'm not going to give the HC's moving up from G5 to P4 until after next season. Thinking they will go the way of Napier or Cignetti. Out of the guys like Huff, Chesney, Sumrall, etc, I give Huff the best chance to have the highest degree of success transitioning to P4. Gut feel and influenced by Bar's write ups.
Campbell is so interesting to me. In the modern, but Pre-NIL era (say 2004-2021), we would frequently see these schematic geniuses who were mediocre recruiters, and they always seem to hit some sort of a ceiling. It's going to be fascinating to see if you can pair these "pure ball coaches" with a solid front office and get elite results.
Well, I thought Napier was a good hire at Florida so maybe don't listen to me (in my defense, I underestimated how much the college football landscape would change in just 1 year).
I also think every school is graded on their own curve/has their own issues. Like, I think Auburn is a great job, and I think Golesh is a great coach, but I think Auburn needs someone who can whip their boosters/admin into shape. The fact that Golesh was forced to keep the DC on staff (and willing to do so) is just a red flag for that situation imo. I think Sumerall is the guy who can do it anywhere. He won at an underfunded G5, and he went to the top G5 and embraced NIL/portal. I just think he's such a chameleon. I have no idea what to think of Chesney. People much smarter than me seem to really like him, but I don't see why he couldn't find a better job than UCLA.
Alas, time will tell.
All the coach hires brings me back to many a comment, including myself, saying it may take two hires to get us to the Promise Land. I look at Franklin and his staff's Vandy/PSU body of work, and I am fully confident we will see a large progressive improvement in years 1-2. He and his staff will either get us there in years 3 and beyond or we will be in a position to hire the next Cignetti, which may well be Sumrall down the road.
Bottom line, we are now in the best position to take the next critical step allowing us to regain relevancy in P4 and garner P2 respect. From this standpoint, we hit the HC hire Power Ball.
Franklin is absolutely rated too low for an initial opinion. He absolutely big dawged Penn State.
But everyone is entitled to an opinion.
ESPN put the Franklin hire #2 in the cycle behind Kiffin to LSU.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/47380536/2025-college-f...
Remember when we won the coaching search by hiring Fuente?
No
I could be mis-remembering, but I thought ESPN lauded the hire for VT saying that Fuente was the big up-and-comer of the season. And we all saw how that went.
I'm not saying that's going to happen again. I personally believe that Franklin will do well here. But let's not go anointing him before he even coaches a game for us.
Yes, we've already been there and done that.
I think Franklin is a good hire, but performance is measured by results, not surveys.
No, I don't remember that at all. Last coach I remember is Frank.
Now we have a new coach that is Frank - lin.
/s
Downvoting this is actually crazy. You know this is a college football board, if you disagree you can simply reply with why
Chris Marve to Colorado as Linebackers coach
with their defense you'll never notice him there
So I guess Bobby Petrino is Belichick's new OC...
Drink!
Didn't realize we were on part 3
Locking this as we have a pt 3 up