What a whirlwind of a last 12 months it has been for the Penn State Nittany Lions. After playing for a Big Ten Championship, making the College Football Playoff, and winning two games in the expanded 12-team field, Penn State finds itself at 6-6 and without a full-time head coach this late into the cycle. They might have won their final three Big Ten games to go bowling, but things have been better here...
While there is a chance interim head coach Terry Smith may get the tag removed, Penn State is getting lapped on the coaching carousel and in the recruiting department because of it. Even though Clay Travis is one of the most polarizing people in the media today, he does seem to have a point as to where the Penn State program is currently at. There are a lot of factors at hand, but he is so right.
Penn State dragging its feet this long in hiring a head coach has had many disastrous consequences.
James Franklin is taking many of Penn State’s top recruits to Virginia Tech. The Penn State search is a mess. Signing day is Wednesday and they have no coach there to get recruits signed despite firing Franklin two months ago.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) December 1, 2025
As of Tuesday afternoon, some of Penn State's top targets to replace Franklin are off the board. Will Stein is taking over at Kentucky. Bob Chesney is heading to UCLA. Coaches like Eliah Drinkwitz and Clark Lea have new contracts to stay put in the SEC. While Brian Hartline is still technically out there, Penn State is getting into it with the Crumbl founder about them trying to poach BYU's Kalani Sitake.
There are obviously layers to this, but there is a chance it has everything to do with Franklin being out.
Penn State could be regretting moving on from James Franklin big time
Did Franklin have to go? That is debatable. While he did lead the Nittany Lions to the playoff last year, things had gotten a bit stale in Happy Valley. People had grown tired of him never beating a top-five team, or even really showing up vs. a team who might be better than them. The home loss to Oregon in overtime let the air out of the balloon. Falling to UCLA and then to Northwestern felt reactionary.
What this really signifies is mega agent Jimmy Sexton is no longer interested in sending any of his coaching clients to Penn State after how he believes Franklin was mistreated in the situation. That is neither here nor there, but you can see one top-flight recruit after another is flipping from Penn State to Virginia Tech to play for Franklin. National Signing Day is tomorrow and Penn State is up against it.
See, with the Nittany Lions trying to pursue coaches such as Hartline and Sitake, guys who are coaching in Power Four title bouts on Saturday, that was always going to be a tough sell. We know that Sitake is a great head coach, and that Hartline is a promising up-and-comer as a recruiter, but timing is everything. The coaching carousel is full tilt, but Penn State is holding on for dear life here.
Look for Virginia Tech to bounce back quickly, while it may take some time for Penn State to rebound.