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Mention of mulligans for having rebuilt program and making progress in playoff progression make some sense, but....

I think his history of not winning the big game, combined with now not winning the gimme's made them think he isn't the answer.
Better to get out in front and cherry pick than wait until the musical chairs for head coaches is over and they are stuck with James Franklin II.

Cignetti makes a lot of sense as the current hot coach, but at 64, is that what you want to build you program around? Will recruits believe he'll still be there by the time they are upper classman? Be interesting to see, but I hope they make a poor decision.

The discussions now are about going after a couple of former Penn State guys.

Matt Rhule would be the obvious choice, since he has shown he can rebuild a program, having success at Temple, Baylor, and now, arguably, Nebraska.

The other one is Manny Diaz, who was the DC under Franklin for a couple of years, and seems to have learned the ins and outs better as Duke's HC.

The obvious choice is Cignetti. Given that PSU is willing to eat a $50M buyout, I will be shocked if this does not happen.

He is the hot coach du jour.

I would be surprised if a major school plucks him.

No matter where he coaches.

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And, as a bonus for Cignetti, he'll continue to be able to play the charmin soft schedules that drew him to IU.

Something Florida can't offer.

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Former athletic director Sandy Barbour signed Franklin to a 10-year contract extension worth up to $85 million in 2021. According to terms of the deal, Penn State will have to pay Franklin's base salary of $500,000, supplemental pay of $6.5 million and insurance loan of $1 million until 2031.

football and second only to Jimbo Fishers $76 M.

After all, they paid out close to $300 million for the damages, legal fees, etc., related to the Paterno / Sandusky incident without touching that $4.67 billion endowment fund.

They've never had a shortage of generous, wealthy alumni, even during those putrid times (Paterno / Sandusky incident above).

Arkansas or Va Tech or whoever else pays Franklin about what he was making...

The man took over the program when it was on death's door. They've been to major bowls (including 2 Rose Bowl wins) and won 2 playoff games last year.

And they fire him at 3-3???

PSU better pray they can find someone better to step in. Odds are it is going to get worse. The guy could recruit with the best of them, and had three losses by a combined eleven points. Seems like a knee-jerk reaction.

three games have been awful. They're no more satisfied with Franklin than most ND fans were satisfied with Kelly. Had Kelly experienced three losses like these in a row, there would have been the same calls to fire him as the calls from Happy Valley to fire Franklin.

He won 70% of his games, a fraction of a point better than the school's all-time record. He's also basically what Paterno was for his last 20 years on the job.

I'm just wondering if there is already something else lined up, or if something else happened with Franklin and the school. I'm not disputing that the guy hasn't been a great coach, but Penn State has been experiencing mixed seasons ever since they joined the Big Ten.

Watered-down schedules distort these comparisons. Penn State's schedule mirrored what Lou played. It was tougher. Beyond that, Franklin is almost incomparably bad against top 10 teams, be it a comparison to JoePa or any other coach at a high-profile program. Do you think Kelly was better than Devine? I don't, but if you ignore the cupcakes that all the top teams, ND included, schedule these days, the raw numbers make it seem like Kelly was indeed better.

I'm shocked anyone is shocked that Franklin got canned midseason after this. Everything about the post-game looked like Franklin knew it was the end. Even the press, thick as they are, caught onto that after the game ended.

I thought he'd get a mulligan for having several very good years, as well as last season's CFP semifinal appearance. That, plus there was still plenty of time to turn the team around and get them to a bowl game.

Normally, starting out a season 3-3 isn't going to get you fired, but I'm guessing that because he back to back games where PSU was favored by 3+ scores, their Board of Trustees panicked.

His pattern of success was very good, but not elite. If anything, his record looks a lot like Brian Kelly's, maybe even a bit better.

You're very much correct, that he can rebuild a program and get it to top 10 contention. While a lot of the credit for his initial success goes to Bill O'Brien, Franklin still brought in good recruiting, and developed a lot of NFL talent.

He blasted away the weaklings, comfortably beat the average teams, and usually beat the good teams, but when it came to the very good or elite teams, he didn't exactly have the best of success.

2-3 loss seasons became the norm over there, though.

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One more reason this mess needs to be regulated.

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Starting QB is out, 3-3 does not seem fireable. He is not a likable dude, which probably came into play.

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Slimy? Yes, but it's Penn St.

But he lost the fan base. I read online that 30 mins before kickoff the place was half empty. And fans left long before game ended. And the Fire Franklin chants were coming from alumni and boosters, not the student section this time.

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Franklin is a complete asshole who deserved it.

But this year there have been more early-season firings than ever. It’s just so weird.

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Another proud day in Happy Valley.

He must have lost the team. U would think he would get the whole year based on last years run