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Penn State AD breaks silence on firing James Franklin
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- Penn State AD breaks silence on firing James Franklin
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The post Penn State AD breaks silence on firing James Franklin appeared first on ClutchPoints .
Following the firing of Penn State football head coach James Franklin, athletic director Pat Kraft has commented publicly.
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Kraft, who was hired in 2022, said "he took into account where the program is and where it's going with an aim to 'continue to build this to a place where we are the best program in the country. That's the motivation. As you put all those things together, you have to make the call,'" according to ESPN college football insider Pete Thamel.
Thamel also posted on X, formerly Twitter, that Kraft said interim head coach Terry Smith , who was an assistant at Temple in 2013 when Kraft was the deputy AD there, will "absolutely" have a chance of shedding the interim label.
"Everyone is under consideration," Kraft said. "I'm going to help Terry do everything he can to help run the table."
If Smith were to win out — that would include wins over currently first-ranked Ohio State (on the road), third-ranked Indiana , and No. 25 Nebraska — it would be nearly impossible to deny him the full-time job, especially considering he is a Penn State alum and has been a PSU assistant since 2014.
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But in the likely chance that the Nittany Lions don't finish the regular season 9-3, most have speculated that Kraft will target two current Big Ten coaches: Indiana's Curt Cignetti and Nebraska's Matt Rhule .
While Rhule, the more likely option than Cignetti, is on pace to improve the Cornhuskers' win total for the third consecutive season and potentially compete for a Big Ten title, he and Kraft have a long history, and Rhule, like Smith, is a Penn State graduate.
Rhule played in Happy Valley from 1994 to 1997 and began his coaching career under Joe Paterno as a volunteer assistant in 1998.
Since then, he has proven to be a program (re)builder, having achieved success at Temple, including back-to-back 10-win seasons in four seasons, a Big 12 title game berth and New Year's Six bowl appearance at Baylor after taking over the scandal-ridden program, and now, at Nebraska, which is 5-1, ranked, and on the verge of a second consecutive bowl appearance. The Cornhuskers had suffered six consecutive losing seasons prior to Rhule's arrival.
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Kraft and Rhule worked together from 2013 to 2016 at Temple, the last two seasons of the stint with Kraft as athletic director.
If Rhule leaves Nebraska before Jan. 1, he would owe the university $5 million, with which Penn State would certainly help, adding it on top of the nearly $50 million PSU is set to pay Franklin for firing him with more than six years left on his deal.
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