Ignore the Haters: Penn State Is Right to Demand Championship Standards
It was never a Penn State problem. It was a James Franklin problem.
Now that the dust has settled on Penn State's coaching search, everyone seems to agree that the Nittany Lions ended up with the best possible candidate given the circumstances surrounding their search.
Matt Campbell will be a hell of a coach in Happy Valley, but the rhetoric surrounding Penn State still feels like that of a fanbase whose unrealistic expectations caused them to fly too close to the sun — and get humbled.
For starters, as I’ve said before, I don’t fault Penn State for firing James Franklin and taking a chance on finding someone with a higher ceiling.
You can argue Campbell won’t be more successful than Franklin — time will tell — but his slightly better record against top-25 opponents at a school with far fewer resources should be seen as a positive rather than a pejorative.
What I keep seeing, though, is this bizarre narrative that Penn State shouldn’t have championship expectations — that they should have kept Franklin and been grateful. That they didn’t know what they had until it was gone.
Even the great Nick Saban nodded toward this idea while talking to Pat McAfee.
With all due respect to Saban, I disagree.
Penn State should have championship aspirations every year.
Not necessarily championship-or-bust — Franklin got plenty of runway — but if you’re Penn State, you need to show you can win a championship in any given season.
Franklin’s abysmal record against top-10 opponents suggested he wasn’t the guy, and people suggesting that was a Penn State problem are ill-informed.
This is a program with every resource needed to win a title, especially when it comes to talent acquisition.
No, it isn't Georgia or Ohio State. But from 2021 to 2025, the Nittany Lions' five-year average recruiting class ranking was 14.2.
Michigan — a team that ran the Big Ten for three straight years and won a national championship — averaged 11.4 during their run from 2019 to 2023.
That’s splitting hairs.
Penn State has also had 33 players drafted since 2021, far above the Power 4 average of 12–16.
At that point, it’s not a talent problem. It’s a coaching problem.
And Curt Cignetti’s recent run at Indiana makes that even clearer.
Indiana has a talent profile ranked 71st nationally — below Nebraska, South Carolina and Florida State, all of whom underachieved. Penn State ranked 10th.
If Indiana can be on the shortlist of teams that are capable of winning a championship, then so can Penn State. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
What happened with James Franklin's firing and the subsequent fallout was rough for Nittany Lions fans, but I don't think they should feel as if their school did the wrong thing.
If your program has won a championship before — and has the resources to win another — don’t let anyone gaslight you into believing high standards are a bad thing.
Never let "good" be the enemy of "great."
Penn State got its man. Now they need to give him the tools to make this thing work.
And I’ll be watching with great interest.