{"id":447579,"date":"2025-10-15T05:25:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T05:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/447579\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T05:25:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T05:25:10","slug":"david-pollack-believes-penn-state-fired-james-franklin-too-early-faces-difficult-task","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/447579\/","title":{"rendered":"David Pollack believes Penn State fired James Franklin too early, faces difficult task"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 12 seasons in Happy Valley, half of which ended with double-digit winning seasons, Penn State<\/a> head coach James Franklin<\/a> was fired Sunday in the midst of a disappointing three-game losing streak. The decision came down less than 24 hours after an embarrassing 22-21 home loss to Northwestern<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, despite the recent setbacks, it was an especially jarring midseason move for a blueblood football program like the Nittany Lions that entered the 2025 season with legit national championship aspirations.<\/p>\n

College football pundits everywhere have reacted to Franklin\u2019s surprising ouster, including several that believe it was more than a little hasty on the part of the Penn State brass. Count former Georgia<\/a> star and ex-ESPN analyst David Pollack<\/a> in that particular camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cShould (Franklin) have been fired? I don\u2019t think so. I don\u2019t agree with it,\u201d Pollack said in Monday\u2019s episode of his See Ball Get Ball podcast<\/a>. \u201cDid he perform to the level that you want him to perform? Absolutely not. Like no. Especially this year, super disappointing. But, I\u2019m going to give you a list of guys real quick: Kirby Smart<\/a>, Ryan Day<\/a>, Kalen DeBoer<\/a>, Dan Lanning<\/a> \u2013 that\u2019s the list since 2022 (of head coaches) that have won more games than James Franklin. It\u2019s not a big list, man. <\/p>\n

\u201cI get it, disappointed like crazy with UCLA, disappointed like crazy with Northwestern. But, now (as the program begins) going out and hiring a replacement, who is the guy?\u201d Pollack continued. \u201cWho is the guy that (PSU fans will) say, \u2018Yes, that is a home run, that\u2019s the best of all worlds. We\u2019re going to get him in here and they\u2019re going to completely change it around.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Pollack then addressed several potential high-profile candidates that have been tossed around in connection to the Penn State opening, quickly dismissing them all as serious options due to their current coaching situations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a couple of names, \u2026 so let\u2019s address the names. You keep hearing (Mike<\/a>) <\/a>Elko<\/a>. I don\u2019t see it. Why would Elko leave Texas A&M<\/a> with all the resources, all the success? \u2026 They\u2019re en route to a Playoff run, (so) your coach is not going to start talking and negotiating with another fanbase. \u2026 (Indiana<\/a>\u2018s Curt<\/a>) <\/a>Cignetti<\/a>\u2019s in the same ballpark, exact same world. Cignetti is obviously hot because he just did this switch, did it with (mostly transfer) players, but they\u2019re very much in the (Big Ten) drivers seat after beating Oregon<\/a>. \u2026 Going to be in the Playoff two years in a row. I don\u2019t see why he\u2019d leave. Lane Kiffin<\/a> is another one that continues to be talked about. I can see Lane leaving (Ole Miss<\/a>) for one spot, maybe, and that\u2019s Florida<\/a>. \u2026 I think he could do well, but I don\u2019t even see Lane leaving (for another job) because, again, they\u2019re in the middle of a Playoff push and it seems like he\u2019s found a lot of peace where he\u2019s at. \u2026 None of those make sense to me. I\u2019ll take all those off the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Pollack makes case for Matt Rhule, Matt Campbell, Eli Drinkwitz as Penn State candidates<\/p>\n

With some of the biggest names already off the table, Pollack worked through several more likely coaching options for Penn State to pursue, and began with Nebraska<\/a>\u2018s Matt Rhule<\/a> \u2014 a Penn State alumnus and an early fan favorite.<\/p>\n

\u201cMatt Rhule\u00a0is the first name that comes to mind because it\u2019s his alma mater. He\u2019s worked for the AD now that\u2019s at\u00a0Penn State. He was at\u00a0Temple\u00a0with him,\u201d Pollack said. \u201cHe\u2019s also been in the Big Ten at\u00a0Nebraska, which is a little bit different. They\u2019re not a big name in the Big ten, they have to develop and recruit. He worked at\u00a0Baylor<\/a>. Not a big name in the Big 12. You\u2019ve got to recruit. You\u2019ve got to be a little different. You\u2019ve got to be about development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pollack then threw out two other options: Iowa State<\/a>\u2018s Matt Campbell<\/a> and Missouri<\/a>\u2018s Eli Drinkwitz<\/a>, the latter of whom could potentially bring Tigers QB Beau Pribula<\/a> back to Penn State in a package deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo who\u2019s next on the list? Who fits the criteria?\u00a0Matt Campbell. I think\u00a0Matt Campbell\u00a0is a really, really good one. He\u2019s done it at\u00a0Iowa State, where he\u2019s done it with less talent. He wins close games and always puts good offense and discipline on the field,\u201d Pollack continued. \u201cHow about another guy who fits that category?\u00a0Eli Drinkwitz. You know what I love about\u00a0Eli Drinkwitz? He\u2019s got that moxie and that attitude. He likes to be the agitator and say things that are unconventional. He\u2019ll bring some clout and fun with him to\u00a0Penn State, so I think that would be a good fit. \u2026 He\u2019s done a great job of adapting to NIL and the Portal. Wouldn\u2019t it be something if he went and got his quarterback and brought his quarterback (Pribula) back to\u00a0Penn State?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 On3\u2019s Daniel Hager contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After 12 seasons in Happy Valley, half of which ended with double-digit winning seasons, Penn State head coach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,18605,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-447579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-james-franklin-91-neshaminy","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115376522951726844","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}