Who’s going to coach penn state?

Penn State looks destined to hire a football coach who isn’t as good as James Franklin—and the search is already wobbling. Public rejections from Indiana’s Curt Cignetti and Nebraska’s Matt Rhule (reports and denials aside, the message is clear: not interested) have left the PSU administration projecting indecision. Each “no” tightens the timeline, shrinks leverage, and emboldens agents. When a blue-blood appears to be speed-dating in public, candidates smell weakness and the fan base loses confidence.

Franklin’s flaws were obvious—game management, big-stage record—but his floor was high: elite recruiting, consistent top-10 talent acquisition, near-annual double-digit wins. If you’re going to move on from that profile, you must land a coach who can either match the recruiting machine or out-coach the league’s best on Saturdays. So far, Penn State has lined up neither.

There is, however, a face-saving option: Pat Fitzgerald. He’s battle-tested, Big Ten-proven, and has won at a resource-light program where most coaches tread water. Northwestern’s ceiling under Fitz—division titles, top-10 seasons—came from culture, defense, and development. Drop that framework into State College’s infrastructure—recruiting base, NIL potential, facilities—and you get a credible path to parity with Michigan and Ohio State. He’s not a splashy “next big thing,” but he’s an adult hire who stabilizes the room on Day 1 and plays the complementary-football style that travels in November.

If Penn State can’t land clearly better than Franklin—and the optics suggest they won’t—then stop the bleed, restore credibility, and hire Fitzgerald. It won’t win the press conference, but it could win the season.