Penn State’s coaching search hits turbulence — and Josh Pate isn’t buying the ‘upgrade’ narrative
Josh Pate breaks down Penn State’s chaotic coaching search, questioning the firing of James Franklin and evaluating candidates like Matt Campbell, Clark Lea, Eli Drinkwitz and Brian Hartline.
The clock is ticking at Penn State. With James Franklin gone, the Nittany Lions find themselves staring at a staff vacancy more volatile than expected.
On Episode 687 of his YouTube show, Josh Pate didn’t mince words. He laid out the central truth most fans don’t want to admit: “Anyone who suggests there is a definitive upgrade from James Franklin is trying to fool themselves.”
Pate believes PSU made a crucial mistake in how they fired James Franklin
Pate opened the segment bluntly:
“What’s happening at Penn State? That’s not a question to you. That’s literally what Jesse asks me when he walks in the building every day… We all remember James Franklin overtime against Oregon. They lose… then it’s just kind of a dead-on-arrival performance against UCLA. Then they drop the Northwestern game and he’s fired just like that.”
Pate calls it “ludicrous” and takes issue with the principle of the move:
“If you don’t have a definitive upgrade, don’t pay someone not to coach for you.”
That raises the first red flag: if Penn State believed the coaching search was locked in and a “grand slam” hire was on deck, Pate argues they backed themselves into a corner with no viable fallback.
“The plan was there… It’s great, but that’s not a plan,” Pate said. “Hoping you can hit a grand slam is not a plan. Because if you swing and miss… Now we’ve got to hope for a home run.”
The list of candidates Pate runs through — Clark Lea, Eli Drinkwitz, Matt Campbell, Brian Hartline — reads like a who’s-who of head coach hopefuls. But the elite “upgrade” tier is empty.
Pate singled out Matt Campbell as his pick:
“Matt Campbell’s a stud as a head coach… Everything you would want in a Penn State coach, he has.” And yet: “What turns a lot of people off… he refuses to be a candidate during a season.”
In other words: the top option may not be available. And that puts Penn State in danger of settling. For Pate, the optics surrounding the program are of dire importance. Pate pointed out the extent of the fallout: 17 de-commitments in the current class.
“You’re going to pay them a lot of money,” Pate said. “You just fired a 10-win head coach. The replacement’s got to do as good or better than that guy was doing.”
For Penn State, this moment carries more weight than simply hiring a head coach. The program risks taking a major step backward.
“Out of all the coaches available, you know who the best option for Penn State is? James Franklin. But you can’t go re-hire James Franklin,” Pate said.
Looking ahead, whatever name emerges from this coaching search, the incoming hire will inherit pressure, scrutiny, and a demanding fan base. The recruiting losses, the lack of a fall-back plan, and the narrative of “upgrade” all hang heavy. Pate’s core indictment is simple: Penn State fired a coach who had delivered wins without a clear roadmap for what comes next.
In the current climate of college football, narrative matters as much as the scoreboard — but so does pedigree, momentum, and readiness. Right now, for Penn State, the narrative has unraveled, and the program’s readiness is untested. The next hire must not only deliver wins but also restore faith in the team. Until then, the Nittany Lions will be watching the clock as much as the field.
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