(This column was guest-written by former BSD Deputy Editor Clay Sauertieg)
For just the third time in the last 59 years, the Penn State football program is without a full-time head coach.
Just over two weeks
ago, the Nittany Lions parted ways with James Franklin after what was, admittedly, a largely successful 12-year run with the program. But it was time, and the move was met with cheers from an overwhelming portion of the fan base.
However, 18 days later, Penn State is still (shockingly!) without an answer as to who its next head coach will be. The Urban Meyer rumors seem to have passed. Both Curt Cignetti and Matt Rhule (for better or worse, depending on who you ask), have parlayed speculation into big, fat pay raises, and every national pundit you can find is now saying how Penn State made a hasty decision that it will live to regret.
That alone would be frustrating. After all, who are they to say how Penn State and its fans should feel. But what I’m beginning to find more frustrating is a growing portion of the Penn State fan base — many of whom let out a sigh of relief when Franklin was relieved of his duties on Oct. 12 — is beginning to echo those sentiments.
With Cignetti remaining at Indiana, a move that was always the most likely outcome, Meyer remaining out of coaching, again, the most likely outcome, and Lane Kiffin seemingly staying at Ole Miss or heading to Florida, Penn State fans are beginning to hit the panic button.
What I ask from those fans is simple: It’s time to show a little bravery.
Penn State’s decision to fire James Franklin was not, on the whole, a referendum on Franklin, or a statement that he was not a good football coach. In fact, I, and many others, believe that James Franklin is a well-above-average college football coach and could well succeed elsewhere.
But that point is irrelevant to the move. Because Penn State, and specifically athletic director Pat Kraft, fired James Franklin in the pursuit of greatness. Specifically, in the pursuit of championships.
Pat Kraft, and many fans (myself included), believe that the ultimate goal of athletics, and in this case, college football, is to win championships. James Franklin showed time and again, for all his successes, that he was unable to do so at Penn State.
And so Kraft and Penn State set off in search of someone who can.
Does that mean that they will find that someone? Of course not. The numbers, in fact, suggest that they will not do so. As is true for every coaching search in the history of team sports. Statistically speaking, more athletic seasons will end in disappointment.
And barring a world where Penn State hires Kirby Smart away from Georgia, or Ryan Day away from Ohio State, there is no such thing as a sure thing.
Remember four years ago when Penn State went 7-6 and Luke Fickell led Cincinnati to a 13-1 record and the College Football Playoff? Damn near the entire fan base wanted to fire Franklin and hire Fickell.
How’s that working out for Fickell now in Wisconsin?
Or what about Tom Herman, the former genius Ohio State offensive coordinator who led Houston to a 13-1 record before taking over at Texas. Surely that worked out!
On the flip side. Did anybody think Curt Cignetti would back up his big talk at Indiana? Or that Mike Elko (who is now the hot new name for Penn State, although I wouldn’t get too excited there) would have Texas A&M at 8-0 and ranked No. 3 in the country in his second season back in College Station? Of course not.
All of that is to say that nobody knows how this is going to work out for Penn State. Even the “experts.”
There is every chance that Penn State hires a name nobody has discussed yet, and he leads the program to greatness. There is just as much of a chance that Penn State makes a splash hire and it ends in disaster.
But what matters is that Penn State, and Kraft, are daring to have the audacity to want something better. And that, in and of itself, is bravery and worthy of praise.
If Penn State is back here in four years after the new head coach goes 5-7, so be it. It won’t be fun. People will take victory laps. But that in and of itself does not make the decision to move on from Franklin incorrect.
Bad results do not necessarily indicate a bad process.
And while I certainly can’t guarantee you that Penn State didn’t just plunge itself into mediocrity for all eternity, I feel pretty damn confident that won’t be the case. Because the fans and the people in charge have the nerve to demand and seek out something better, and so long as that is the case, there is the hope and possibility of finding that result.
So again, all I ask from Penn State fans as we wade through what will likely be a months-long process is to show a little bit of bravery. Don’t be afraid of the possibility of failure in search of greater success. Because if you let that fear keep you from wanting more, the odds of actually achieving your greatest goals are near impossible.
