Botched strategy, unrealistic pursuits and a failed big-name gamble have left the Nittany Lions leaderless on signing day
When Penn State fired James Franklin in mid-October, the move was justified. A home loss to Northwestern — the third straight defeat to open Big Ten play — made it clear the program had stalled, and Franklin’s decade-long tenure had run its course. The timing, as messy as it was, still gave athletic director Patrick Kraft a unique opportunity. By acting early, Penn State could have stabilized itself, set expectations, and used the extended runway to line up its next head coach before the carousel spun out of control.
But instead of leveraging that head start, Kraft botched nearly every part of the process.
Now, with national signing day here, Penn State — a job with historic stature, strong resources and a national following — still has no head coach. That isn’t misfortune. That’s managerial malpractice.
The root of Kraft’s failure is simple: he gambled everything on landing a “big name.” Rather than constructing a broad, disciplined search that cast a wide net across rising stars, proven developers and modern schemers, he narrowed the focus to splash hires and headline-chasing. He pursued optics instead of structure, prestige instead of fit.
That’s how a mid-season firing turned into a mid-winter crisis.
Penn State never meaningfully explored some of the sharpest young head coaches in the Group of Five ranks — leaders who rebuilt struggling programs, developed talent, energized their fan bases and showed they could elevate rosters with far fewer resources. Nor did Kraft properly vet top coordinators at elite Power Five programs, coaches widely projected as future head coaches who bring innovative offense, aggressive defense and modern recruiting blueprints. Those are the smart hires, the ones bold athletic directors lock in early and quietly before the rest of the market wakes up.
Instead, Kraft swung for home runs he had no realistic chance of hitting.
His rumored waiting game around Alabama — apparently holding out faint hope that Kalen DeBoer might somehow be in play — was wishful thinking masquerading as strategy. DeBoer has Alabama winning again, stabilizing the post-Saban era, and has given no indication he intends to leave. Banking the entire search on a fantasy scenario only cost Penn State time, leverage and momentum.
When those dreams predictably blew up, Kraft shifted into scramble mode. His late push for BYU head coach Kalani Sitake was the coaching-search version of a desperation Hail Mary. Sitake is respected, but he was never a clean or logical fit for Penn State’s profile, identity or recruiting landscape. The idea that he’d walk away from BYU — especially at the last minute — was unrealistic from the start. Kraft’s push looked like throwing darts at a board and hoping something, anything, would stick. It wasn’t calculated. It wasn’t targeted. It was pure panic.
And as all this played out, the man Penn State pushed out has landed in an enviable position. Franklin, now at Virginia Tech, remains one of the sport’s strongest recruiters. He built deep relationships with Penn State’s commits, assembled classes that consistently ranked among the nation’s best, and sold a vision players believed in. With Penn State coaching-less entering signing day, Franklin is in prime position to flip players he once recruited — a double blow Penn State created for itself.
This didn’t have to happen. Penn State had time. It had options. It had a chance to be methodical and forward-thinking in rebuilding its football identity. Instead, Kraft turned urgency into chaos, ambition into delusion and opportunity into paralysis.
A program of Penn State’s stature should never be approaching signing day without a head coach. Yet here they are — leaderless, directionless, and paying for an athletic director’s unwillingness to conduct a modern, smart, wide-ranging coaching search.
Penn State needed clarity. Instead, Kraft delivered confusion. And the fallout is only beginning.
Check Out All EasySportz College Football Content Here!
College Football Viewing Guide, Week 15
