5 Candidates to Replace James Franklin After Penn State Fires Head Coach After Northwestern Loss

Going into the 2025 college football season, the Penn State Nittany Lions, led by HC James Franklin and QB Drew Allar, were one of the top picks to hoist the national championship trophy in January.

Fast forward to October, and the Nittany Lions sit at 3-3 and a shocking 0-3 in Big Ten play, losing to a top-three Oregon team and then falling in a stunning upset to UCLA before falling to a lowly Northwestern team. Following Franklin’s firing on Sunday, October 12, who could potentially replace him as the full-time leader of the Nittany Lions?

Who Could Penn State Hire After They Parted Ways With James Franklin?

After a 12-year tenure that resulted in five bowl victories, James Franklin’s role in Happy Valley might be coming to an end. A string of embarrassing losses has firmly knocked the Nittany Lions, the preseason No. 2 team in the country, out of contention for a spot in the College Football Playoff, and fans have had enough.

While the university looks for its next full-time coach, it has promoted longtime assistant Terry Smith to interim head coach.

Jim Knowles, DC, Penn State Nittany Lions

This option works partly because Jim Knowles is already the defensive coordinator for Penn State. If Franklin were to be fired, Knowles might be promoted to the interim head coaching spot. If he were to end the season off on a positive note, the school might even make the job official.

Sure, Knowles is essentially a lifelong defensive coordinator — his last head coaching job was at Cornell from 2004 through 2009, and since then, he’s been a DC at Duke, Oklahoma State, and Ohio State before joining Penn State — but he has been on the sidelines since 1995 and has what it takes.

Curt Cignetti, HC, Indiana Hoosiers

On the surface, Curt Cignetti might seem like an interesting choice, but the coach has essentially backed up everything he’s told reporters while at Indiana. In 2019, he took his first major head coaching gig — the leader of the James Madison Dukes, who had just moved up to FBS.

While the team wasn’t always eligible for postseason play, due to NCAA rules for schools that just made the transition from the FCS, his teams still won 52 of their 61 total in five seasons. Every year at JMU, he at least won a share of a conference title. He even led the Dukes to a bowl game.

Now at Indiana, he has transformed the Hoosiers into Big Ten contenders, earning them a College Football Playoff berth in 2024. Add in the fact that Cignetti is from Pittsburgh, and this sounds like a good pairing.

Matt Rhule, HC, Nebraska Cornhuskers

While Matt Rhule is mostly known for coaching these days, he actually suited up for the Nittany Lions from 1994 to 1997 as a linebacker. Originally from New York City, Rhule moved to State College as a teenager, played high school football under the lights of Beaver Stadium, and walked on to Penn State’s team.

The current Huskers coach also got his first head coaching job at Temple in Philadelphia in 2013. He has since coached Baylor, the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, and now Nebraska. He holds an overall record of 63-57 in his college coaching career.

Matt Campbell, HC, Iowa State Cyclones

While other schools might tend to take a shot on a young coach like Jon Sumrall or Ryan Silverfield, most “blue blood” Power Four schools, like Penn State, would rather go for a slightly older coach with a little more experience.

While he has only fully led Toledo and now Iowa State, Matt Campbell has produced a standard of excellence in Ames with the Cyclones. Coaching ISU since 2016, he has amassed a 69-52 overall record with a 47-37 mark in Big 12 games. He has also led the team to three bowl victories and two conference championship appearances.

Brent Key, HC, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Finally, another younger coach, Brent Key, could provide something that the Nittany Lions have been missing. He is 7-1 against ranked opponents, which has eluded Franklin during his Penn State tenure. Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Key has bounced around several teams before taking over Georgia Tech.

Key joined his alma mater, the Yellow Jackets, in 2019, first as a run-game coordinator, offensive line coach, and associate head coach. After the previous coach, Geoff Collins, was dismissed from GT, Key took over fully in 2022 as the interim.

Throughout his time in Atlanta, Key’s teams have gone 23-16 and 1-1 in bowl games. This season, Tech knocked off Colorado to open the season and No. 12 Clemson on the road, boosting its chances of sneaking into the ACC title game.