Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541990
5 2 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 6 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M E D I T O R I A L MATT HERB MATT.HERB@ON3.COM VARSITY VIEWS A mong the treats served up by Virginia Tech at its Signing Day ceremony in early December were boxes of cookies from Crumbl, the bak- ery chain whose CEO had just been in the news for helping persuade Kalani Sitake to stay at BYU after he had reportedly agreed to become James Franklin's suc- cessor at Penn State. It was a darkly amusing bit of trol- lery by the Hokies. They had hired the recently deposed Franklin in November and then set about recreating their pro- gram in PSU's image, hiring several of its staffers and poaching 11 prospects on signing day who had previously been committed to the Nittany Lions. We'll find out over the coming years whether Virginia Tech was wise to build its program around Franklin, but it cer- tainly got the better of Penn State on signing day. While the scene in Blacks- burg was celebratory, the mood in State College was bleak, the Lions having landed just two players on the first day of the December signing period, while athletics director Patrick Kraft was scrambling to restart his search following Sitake's change of heart. There are plenty of lessons to be found in the contrast between these two very different coaching searches. Perhaps the biggest is that perfectionism can some- times be more of a hindrance than a help. The Hokies were not looking for per- fection, and they didn't find it. Anyone who's been following Franklin's career even casually knows there are some sig- nificant holes in his résumé. His record against highly ranked opponents was abysmal at Penn State, with the Lions going 4-21 against top-10 foes in his dozen seasons at the helm. Following a 27-26 loss to Ohio State in 2018, Franklin famously vowed to do whatever was necessary to take the pro- gram from great to elite. He never did bridge that gap, though, and after guid- ing Penn State to a 3-3 record to open the 2025 season, he was axed. While Franklin's record against top opponents made him a polarizing figure at Penn State, he went 104-45 overall, a record that left him tied with Rip Engle for the second-most wins in program history. That was more than enough success to sway Virginia Tech officials, who have been longing for a return to the glory days of Frank Beamer. In Blacksburg, Franklin is situated in familiar recruiting territory and is poised to do well in the ACC, a conference that lacks the perennial national champion- ship contenders he struggled to beat at Penn State and doesn't have the Big Ten's top-to-bottom depth. It's not hard to imagine the Hokies giving Miami and Clemson some trouble once their new coach gets his roster put together — pre- sumably with the help of additional PSU players after the transfer portal opens. Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions tried to make the splashiest hire they could con- ceive. Their original hot board included the likes of Indiana's Curt Cignetti, Texas A&M's Mike Elko, Mississippi's Lane Kiffin, Notre Dame's Marcus Free- man and Alabama's Kalen DeBoer, all of whom had their teams fighting for Col- lege Football Playoff spots in November, and most of whom ended up parlaying Penn State's interest into lucrative con- tract extensions. Sitake had BYU in the mix, too, and his hiring would have been one of the more intriguing storylines of the offseason, given his success with the Cougars and the simple fact that no one had foreseen him leaving for Penn State until it seemed imminent. Now, though, it's a moot point. Sitake's last-minute change of heart was not an unforeseeable outcome. Once his interest in the Penn State job became known, it was only a matter of time be- fore the Crumbl cookie guy and the rest of the BYU community mobilized to keep him in Provo. Sitake deserves some criticism if he backtracked on assurances to Kraft that he was fully on board, but Penn State deserves criticism, too, for not having a viable backup plan in place. PSU had dismissed its less-splashy can- didates as somehow unworthy of the big chair at the Lasch Building, leaving the program unprepared to quickly pivot when its blockbuster deal fell through. Despite all the drama, this could still work out nicely in the end. An unex- pected U-turn doesn't guarantee failure, and Penn State need look no further than Rec Hall for proof. Iowa State's Cael Sanderson was a surprise late entry into the search for a new wrestling coach in 2009. Twelve national championships later, his appointment is looking like one of the greatest hires in NCAA history. And now, the Nittany Lions have brought another Cyclone to State Col- lege. Matt Campbell boasts an impres- sive résumé, and with all the institu- tional-support machinery at Penn State starting to click into place, the program's future is beginning to look quite a bit brighter than it did just a few weeks earlier. The search process that brought Campbell to State College may have left a bad taste, but the good vibes that every- one at PSU have been feeling lately could be more than just a sugar high. ■ That's How The Cookie Crumbls After compiling a 104-45 record in 12 seasons at Penn State, James Franklin was hired as head coach at Virginia Tech on Nov. 17. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL