Ahh the good old Daelin "7 high schools and 5 games played in 2 years" Hayes

as long as Wilson is at IU they will be able to take anyone to the brink with their hyper-speed tempo, it's just so goddamn hard to play against. if you have anything less than an elite DL you're going to get nuked

Urb may have just stolen all his croots but Durkin could make Maryland frisky before too long. He's building a nice staff there and is a great recruiter, judging from his offensive hires he's planning to run an up-tempo spread, throw in some Under Armor bread and that program could make a nice turnaround.

otoh, Franklin is a dead man walking and Rutgers is probably hopeless as long as Chris Partridge is at Michigan and OSU has Schiano, have fun recruiting against those dudes

wow, just realized Penn State is in a horrific spot right now. the buzzards will be circling franklin after another 7-5 type season, so your options are

1. give Franklin another year and render him a total dead man walking, driving recruiting off a cliff
2. afraid of option 1, extend him and have a ceiling of 8-9 wins while he's there, or
3. can his ass and get stuck in a coaching search persuading an up-and-comer by saying "this is a great opportunity, by the way 25% of your games are against Harbaugh, Urb, and Dantonio" or going the route of flinging an unholy pile of money at Bert Bielema's feet. enjoy!

If they fire Franklin, whoever walks in will have the third best roster of talent in the B1G. Not sure how that is a bad spot for a new coach.

third best??? - who are the bouncing - Ohio State, MSU, m*ch*g*n to get to 3? Not sure they are better than Iowa or Wisc or even NW for that matter.

That is all good stuff ^^^. Probably a stretch on my part, but I do think the Big Ten East has a chance. Maybe we can focus on the top three and watch them in 2016. That might be an indicator for years to come.

Having to play Urban, Harbaugh and Mike Dantoni every year + recruiting against them

lol no, they'd also be the bitch of osu/mich with a fanbase that would expect more.

don't forget having to recruit against Narduzzi and Pitt as well

to illustrate how this might go, i looked at the rivals Pennsylvania rankings to see how often PSU got the top ranked player over the past decade. they did it this year; the last time the top player in PA went to Penn State? 2006

expanding to how many of the top 10 in state players went to Penn State:
2016: 3
2015: 7
2014: 0
2013: 1
2012: 1
2011: 2
2010: 6

whole lot of not great bob going on in there, and the competition has only gotten stiffer. the sanctions may not be there anymore but now you're recruiting daily against four elite programs (ND, OSU, M, MSU) as well as a resurgent Pitt

Guess I am just more optimistic than you fellas. The way I see it, the product on the field now is rough because there were several down years of recruiting due to terrible Paterno and sanctions. They've been getting decent classes since Franklin joined. (3rd, 2nd, 3rd in 2014, 2015, 2016 in B1G) Those classes should produce better results on the field starting in 2017 and PSU will play like a top25 team. That won't be enough to win the B1G in 2017, but could create better momentum in recruiting especially PA.

If Franklin can weather 2016, things are setting up for decent results in 2017. At that point we might not be favored to beat UM or OSU, but we'll be a decent upset threat at home every year. Win one of those and getting to the B1G championship game is well within reach.

Pitt will always get their one big star from the city of Pittburgh, but they aren't going to routinely be competitive for PSU recruits. Funny, a lot of PSU fans are buying season tickets to Pitt this year because it's cheaper than buying the one PSU home game they have.

If I was a PSU'er I would thank Franklin for getting you through the troubled times and look for a winning coach.

Who is the obvious replacement in your mind? There's no Harbaugh or Urban out there waiting for us as a no-brainer replacement right now. In the cycle where we got Franklin, he was the best available with Charlie Strong who went to Texas. Considering sanctions, Franklin has done better than Strong.

I think Franklin deserves a chance to show his abilities post sanctions. If the wheels fall off in 2017, then sure it's time to find a replacement. But no one who has followed the roster under sanctions thought we would be competing with OSU or UM in 2014-2016.

Yea - I am not sure who the obvious replacement would be. But I would hope they could/would upgrade. The further away from being competitive they get the harder it is to attract a Herman type guy.

Did they think you'd be competing with Temple & Northwestern?

the obvious replacement is greg schiano and i'm not really even joking

You know that is a perfect answer. His schtick doesn't play well in the NFL - but it does in the NCAA.

former PSU assistant, familiar with recruiting the area/NJ, proven track record as a legit college coach, outstanding talent developer, yeah he's about as good as PSU can expect to do, plus he'd almost certainly accept for a reasonable price

So apparently Harbaugh is trying to hold Michigans spring practice in Florida (at IMG academy aka football recruits heaven) this year and the SEC ain't having it and trying to get it disallowed

Bless your heart Jim and gtfo

Oh look, the SEC is blatantly arguing against student athlete's interests again!

**** off SEC.

Why should they be allowed to practice at the place that has dozens of 4-5 star HS players?

There are other places in Florida to hold practices

serious question, why shouldn't they be able to? whose/what interests does this harm?

I dunno

I don't know all of the recruiting rules with regards to contacts and official visits and time spent with players etc

This has nothing to do with "athlete's interests". GTFO with that bull****.


That said, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. If Michigan can poach a few guys who otherwise end up at Florida, UT, or Ole Miss; more power to 'em.

Until you are a senior, coaches are not allowed to have contact with you off campus

This would seem to get around that if allowed

I am surprised PSU hasn't had a losing season yet given the circumstances.