Penn State would have to pay about a $50 million buyout to fire James Franklin, but after a 3-3 start with no wins over Power 4 opponents in his 12th season, does it have a choice? Franklin’s tenure feels like it’s coming to an end after the Nittany Lions’ 22-21 Week 7 loss to Northwestern, and if you have multiview on your TV, the ideal replacement for Franklin couldn’t be more obvious.
While Penn State was losing its third consecutive game and second straight as a three-touchdown favorite, Curt Cignetti was leading Indiana to its first-ever road win over a top 5 opponent. The No. 7 Hoosiers knocked off No. 3 Oregon in Eugene, 30-20, and they look like a bona fide national championship contender.
Penn State should fire James Franklin and hire Curt Cignetti away from Indiana
Last season, Cignetti led the Hoosiers to the College Football Playoff in his first year with the program. However, Indiana lost both of its games against ranked opponents, falling to Ohio State and Notre Dame convincingly, and entered 2025 as a question mark, ranked No. 20 in the country.
Well, that question has been answered. This Indiana team is much better than last year’s, and Cignetti just scored a 10-point road win over an Oregon team that beat Penn State in double overtime at Beaver Stadium. His team also has a 53-point victory over Illinois, ranked 9th coming into that game, and still 17th in Week 7.
Through just two seasons at Indiana, a program that had made a bowl game just five times this century before he arrived, Cignetti already has half of the top 10 wins Franklin has accumulated over 11.5 years in Happy Valley.
At 64 years old, Cignetti is in his fourth year as an FBS head coach. While that’s a small sample size, it’s hard to argue with the results. He went 19-4 in two seasons at James Madison and is now 16-2 through a season and a half in Bloomington, after inheriting a 3-9 team from Tom Allen.
Cignetti and his staff have proven themselves to be some of the best talent identifiers in the transfer portal, and developers, once they get those players on campus. The way they flipped Indiana’s roster was remarkable, and now with transfer quarterback Fernando Mendoza playing like a Heisman Trophy candidate and potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Hoosiers could threaten Ohio State for the Big Ten title.
Cignetti’s age precludes him from being a long-term solution for Penn State, but that shouldn’t scare the decision makers in Happy Valley from making a bold move to win big in the short term.
With Penn State’s resources, in the era of NIL and revenue-sharing, Cignetti could reach another level, if that’s even possible. And the Pittsburgh native would be a dominant recruiter in his home state.