What is next for Penn State, James Franklin, and Drew Allar?

Let the record show, I was very excited to do a scouting notebook coming off an amazing weekend of games in college football. However, James Franklin and Penn State had different plans for me when one decided to lose to Northwestern at home as a 20+ point favorite, and the other decided to do something they should have done a while ago.

James Franklin came to Penn State after Bill O’Brien left for the Houston Texans shortly after arriving. The team was just a few years removed from the Jerry Sandusky scandal that rocked not just the school but the region. Franklin took the baton of hope that O’Brien had and ran with it, and found success after coming from Vanderbilt, where he had built that program up.

Sadly, despite several top recruiting classes, returning talent, and a coaching staff full of future head coaches, it was all never enough.

On Saturday, it ended up being his final game in State College, as it was his quarterback, Drew Allar’s. Both men now find themselves looking for what is next, with one having more options than the other.

Amid the smoke from the demolition project at Beaver Stadium, I have some thoughts on what is next for both parties.

What is Next for James Franklin?

James Franklin walked out of Penn State’s facility this week with a check making him nearly $50 million richer. Because of that, I truly believe he takes his time, maybe even waits a year or two, for the right job to open up.

However, that makes for a boring read, and rarely does life make that much sense. Franklin is a football coach; he has clawed his way from the fields of East Stroudsburg University to walking the sideline of Beaver Stadium. Because of that, he will want to earn his way back again. Here are three jobs that I see as making sense for him.

Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech is injecting its program with an amount of money that will make most coaches blink and do a double take. They are likely to be competitive as they look to pull a Texas Tech and use the transfer portal to speed up any sort of rebuild they are facing. Ironically, it was Franklin’s former assistant who was fired to create this opening, so his filling it is quite the full-circle moment. However, Franklin could be exactly what they need; he is familiar with the recruiting area and pipelines, so he would have a leg up on that area quickly as well.

Stanford

Before he signed his massive extension with Penn State, Franklin was rumored for the USC job. There was talk of him taking it as his wife’s family is from California, and it would create some new opportunities for him. With Andrew Luck leading the football program, he is likely to go big game hunting for the Cardinals’ next head coach, and perhaps Franklin can be just that. The ACC (still weird writing that for Stanford) is looking like it could be open, so if not Virginia Tech, perhaps out west is where he makes his biggest impact.

Florida

Right now, Florida has a head coach who seems to struggle winning the games they are supposed to win most of the time, but makes the hard ones look easier. For Penn State fans, that was the opposite of their experiences as he was able to dominate the majority of the Big Ten outside of Michigan and Ohio State. Fans may not like the move, but Florida, if they move on from Napier, will be big-name hunting, and Franklin is the biggest fish in that ocean at the moment. He can recruit well, he uses the portal, and he could be a big get for Florida if they open up.

What is Next for Drew Allar?

I genuinely feel for Drew Allar, given the circumstances he is now facing. He is likely to have to head to the NFL coming off the worst year of his college playing career, while also suffering a knee injury. Graham Mertz had the same thing happen to him in his final year at Florida, and it resulted in him being a sixth-round draft pick.

Now, Allar could request a medical waiver to allow him to get one more year to improve his draft stock. He has no other way to have eligibility, unfortunately. If he were to receive that waiver, then transferring would be his best bet to improve his stock.

Three schools pop out to me as immediate options that would fit his skillset and also get the most out of him. One would be another Big Ten school in Indiana, what they have achieved and done with Fernando Mendoza is incredible. Allar has the physical gifts and arm talent to fit in nicely there. The other schools I think that would fit him are Tennessee and Ole Miss, both teams have explosive offenses and could allow for Allar to showcase the arm talent he possesses finally.

It is worth noting that a dark horse could also be Mississippi State. Their head coach, Jeff Lebby, recruited Allar heavily to Ole Miss when he was their offensive assistant, so they have a connection from back then that may help matters.

What is Next for Penn State?

Now time for the big discussion around what is next for the program that is undergoing it’s emergency. Penn State came into the year with a national championship roster, and they are six games into a year where they are now left without their head coach or star quarterback.

That being said, there is still a lot of talent left on the roster that may stick around for the next head coach to arrive. Not to mention, the right name could also help matters when it comes to recruiting and the transfer portal.

With that in mind, here are five names whom I would target if I were Penn State.

Matt Rhule, Nebraska Head Coach

Head Coaching Record of 64-57 (5-1 in 2025)

The name that everyone is mentioning, and the one that makes the most sense, is Matt Rhule. He played high school football in State College, walked on to the team and played at Penn State, and was a grad assistant there. He has shown he can rebuild programs with less recruiting pedigree or history of success, and he wins everywhere he goes. I imagine he is the top target for his recruiting, development, and transfer portal usage, making him a great hire. Perhaps he can even convince Dylan Raiola to follow him to State College as well?

Brent Key, Georgia Tech HC

Head Coaching Record of 24-16 (6-0 in 2025)

Brent Key has the Yellow Jackets on the cusp of an ACC title game appearance and a College Football Playoff Birth. Both are things that not many fans could have imagined a few years ago, but Key has built this team from the inside out with his personality and grit. They are an old-school team with an old-school approach, and that can win in the Big Ten. It will be appealing for Penn State as well, as they have some young talent at the offensive and defensive lines, so Key would be another homerun hire in my opinion, given everything he has working for him.

Alex Golesh, USF HC

Head Coaching Record of 19-13 (5-1 in 2025)

I have to lead with a fun fact here: Did you know Alex Golesh was born in the USSR?

Back to football now, Golesh has helped USF become a formidable opponent in recent years with back-to-back bowl wins, and now has them 5-1 on the year. They are poised, if they win out, to be in the college football playoff as an at-large bid, potentially, and that alone makes him worthy of being considered for the job. What also helps matters is that he is an Ohio State alum, has coached in the Big Ten before, and is familiar with the region’s pipelines to recruit his type of players.

Will Stein, Oregon OC

Previous Coaching Stops: UTSA OC and Texas QB Coach

Teddy Bridgewater’s backup at Louisville has become quite the playcaller in his coaching career. While Bridgewater has already demonstrated his coaching chops at the high school level, Stein has shown he can develop quarterbacks and skill players while coaching at Oregon. Penn State needs someone who can develop those types of players, and also recruit through the transfer portal; both of those boxes are checked by Stein. If they want to hire a coordinator, Stein is the big hit on a slow pitch down the middle to them.

Mike Shanahan, Indiana OC

Previous Coaching Stops: James Madison OC and IUP WR Coach

No, this is not the former Washington or Denver head coach of NFL fame, it isn’t even his son. Mike Shanahan is a Pennsylvania kid who graduated from a school just outside of Pittsburgh, attended college there, and developed his overall coaching chops in the area. He joined Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s coaching staff, a Division-2 powerhouse in the PSAC conference, in 2016 when their then-head coach, Curt Cignetti, hired him. From there, he followed Cignetti to James Madison and Indiana and helped craft his team’s offense. He has shown that he can keep things simple while getting the most out of his players and developing them beyond what many expect.

This will be a name that not many think of, but given his background and coaching pedigree, he should get an interview for the job.