FirePatKraft.com

I

IANit

Well-known member
Thread to talk about the new site - FirePatKraft.com. Something I came up with after one of my posts where I said Kraft would have to be held accountable if this hire goes badly.

What do you think of the idea? What do you want to see there?
 
He should absolutely be held accountable. He did get rid of BGJ but helped coaches from other programs get big raises. He didn't understand the dynamics.
 
We’ll have to see who gets hired as head coach. Will we be pleasantly surprised or will there be disappointment? Penn State had one of the first head coaching vacancies this season and is now one of the last to fill theirs. It hasn’t looked promising with the length of time that has transpired.
 
LionDeNittany said:
Kraft fired a $hit coach who quit on Penn State.

Burn him!
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He was a good coach, a good man, and a very good recruiter and developer of players. He wasn’t a GREAT coach, and for.that he was fired….and I get it. —But he didn’t quit on Penn State, Penn State ( AD/big donors) quit on him…… and that’s part of the reason why very good coaches are not biting on the Penn State hiring attempt . They’re using it to get better contracts/extensions at their schools who didn’t push the ejection seat quickly. It’s not attractive for a successful coach to leave his current school after viewing a coach who won 13 games with a number 5 ranking just 8 months earlier get fired after losing 3 games. As Terry Smith said upon taking over the interim head coaching job : “ We failed coach Franklin”. —Franklin was the head coach, and ultimately responsible….and I get it. But with 5 or 6 top 10 finishes and multiple All Americans, he was decidedly not a $hit coach.
 
IANit said:
Thread to talk about the new site - FirePatKraft.com. Something I came up with after one of my posts where I said Kraft would have to be held accountable if this hire goes badly.

What do you think of the idea? What do you want to see there?
Click to expand...
So in the middle of hiring a new head coach, you want more uncertainty and upheaval? You are usually very levelheaded but this website is something that a Pitt fan would create to undermine PSU during a critical juncture.
 
We’ll have to see who gets hired and give that person a year or two of runway. Next year is going to be *** regardless of who is brought in so we will have to use 2027 as a decision point.
 
Those donors who pulled the carpet out from underneath Franklin this season were a major reason he had the opportunity to get to a playoff position. James was given the resources with facilities, contract extensions, coordinators, staff compensation, etc. over an 11.5 year period. Oh, and don’t forget the best fan base in the country. Not a bad setup by PSU for a coach who had only 3 seasons of head coaching experience under his belt when he was hired.
When James told PSU to jump, the administration and donors said, how high? Unfortunately, his best win was against OSU in 2016. Patience is a virtue and Penn State was very patient over the years.
Also, something was noticeably off with his game day preparation and in-game coaching strategy, especially this past season which resulted in an all-time historic collapse for a #2 pre-season team. For some reason favoritism/politics led too much of his decision making. How do you not start the best running back on the team? Or have a 5-star QB regress? Or not have a non walk-on for 2nd string linebacker depth? I give him a lot of credit for taking over after BOB to salvage a program under sanctions. He was a very good recruiter during certain years of his tenure and generally a good human being who ran a clean program. But, I never anticipated JF would be the guy to get us back to championship caliber football. He was given a lot of resources by PSU that enabled his success here.
 
jjw165 said:
Those donors who pulled the carpet out from underneath Franklin this season were a major reason he had the opportunity to get to a playoff position. James was given the resources with facilities, contract extensions, coordinators, staff compensation, etc. over an 11.5 year period. Oh, and don’t forget the best fan base in the country. Not a bad setup by PSU for a coach who had only 3 seasons of head coaching experience under his belt when he was hired.
When James told PSU to jump, the administration and donors said, how high? Unfortunately, his best win was against OSU in 2016. Patience is a virtue and Penn State was very patient over the years.
Also, something was noticeably off with his game day preparation and in-game coaching strategy, especially this past season which resulted in an all-time historic collapse for a #2 pre-season team. For some reason favoritism/politics led too much of his decision making. How do you not start the best running back on the team? Or have a 5-star QB regress? Or not have a non walk-on for 2nd string linebacker depth? I give him a lot of credit for taking over after BOB to salvage a program under sanctions. He was a very good recruiter during certain years of his tenure and generally a good human being who ran a clean program. But, I never anticipated JF would be the guy to get us back to championship caliber football. He was given a lot of resources by PSU that enabled his success here.
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Franklin is a recruiter/organizer. He'll go as far as his game day skills take him. NIL may help, but I just don't say Sitake as being able to recruit at even a James Franklin level, let alone a Ryan Day level. Seems like a desperation hire right now.
 
Administrator said:
Franklin is a recruiter/organizer. He'll go as far as his game day skills take him. NIL may help, but I just don't say Sitake as being able to recruit at even a James Franklin level, let alone a Ryan Day level. Seems like a desperation hire right now.
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Sitake and Franklin are both good at interpersonal skills, but I believe the Sitake's authenticity will win over a lot of players and families.
And Penn State's sales pitch could be "why play for a coach who can't win the big game?" There were a lot of very good HS players in PA, NJ, DMV who didn't trust Franklin and chose to play ball elsewhere.
 
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Administrator said:
Franklin is a recruiter/organizer. He'll go as far as his game day skills take him. NIL may help, but I just don't say Sitake as being able to recruit at even a James Franklin level, let alone a Ryan Day level. Seems like a desperation hire right now.
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If a guy can take BYU to 11-2 and #13 last year and then follow it up with 11-1 and #11 this year, then he can flat out coach. BYU doesn't have half of the resources that PSU has. What he has done is pretty remarkable. I'm not saying he's the guy. I'm saying that he is absolutely qualified.
 
LudicrousSpeedGO! said:
If a guy can take BYU to 11-2 and #13 last year and then follow it up with 11-1 and #11 this year, then he can flat out coach. BYU doesn't have half of the resources that PSU has. What he has done is pretty remarkable. I'm not saying he's the guy. I'm saying that he is absolutely qualified.
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He's for sure not the guy now. Kraft was played again. I feel like ordering the PSU athletic department some Crumbl cookies.
 
27Pellis said:
He was a good coach, a good man, and a very good recruiter and developer of players. He wasn’t a GREAT coach, and for.that he was fired….and I get it. —But he didn’t quit on Penn State, Penn State ( AD/big donors) quit on him…… and that’s part of the reason why very good coaches are not biting on the Penn State hiring attempt . They’re using it to get better contracts/extensions at their schools who didn’t push the ejection seat quickly. It’s not attractive for a successful coach to leave his current school after viewing a coach who won 13 games with a number 5 ranking just 8 months earlier get fired after losing 3 games. As Terry Smith said upon taking over the interim head coaching job : “ We failed coach Franklin”. —Franklin was the head coach, and ultimately responsible….and I get it. But with 5 or 6 top 10 finishes and multiple All Americans, he was decidedly not a $hit coach.
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  • Respectfully, I don't think JF is a "good coach," or "developer of players."
    James Franklin is a politician and at best, a figure head, and outclassed as a coach by nearly all his peers.
    In the archives of Rivals, on his welcome press conference thread, was me saying that he felt fake - "PA kid coming home," was stated 25 times in response to almost every question. I get it's a tough spot and you don't want to have a bad first impression, but it came off to me as fake and questionable....but I reserved judgement.

    As I've said many many times to this group, JF is everything you want in a CFB coach, except the actual FB coaching. He is horrendous, in fact. If there was a situational call in a game, you could predict he'd make the wrong move. 4th and 1 from your own 40? Kick the FG or go for it? He never learned.

    Your assessment above is perhaps one way to look at it, if you aren't someone that was paying attention to PSU. If we are being honest, he wouldn't have lasted 14, or even 10, seasons at Alabama, Auburn, Florida, or even Michigan. Franklin was a politician that talked a big game he couldn't back up, and for that, he got fired, rightfully.
    -He talked about being "elite" over and over again. He raised the expectations. But he was rarely competitive with OSU. He managed to blow 21pt 2nd half leads. OSU games would never be out of hand (~14pts) but while the game was being played, it never felt like PSU had a shot of overcomeing a 10-14pt deficit.
  • -Whenever a big job came open and his name was mentioned, he was tight lipped & leveraged it for more money, more years, and bigger buyouts.
    -He complained publicly about a deficit in money around the program
  • -In his 14 years, you can look back and track relative performance to who his coordinators were. JF apparently had no input into the Offense and Defense except making boneheaded in-game decisions.
    -In 2025, he raised expectations to astronomical heights. He finally had his 5* upperclassman QB and 2 high round RBs that stuck around to make a NC run thanks to boosters writing checks.
    .....and then, a giant sh*tting of the bed. A team that was wholly unprepared to play BIG, to overcome, to be competitive.
    -In the face of his atrocious record against teams of same/similar talent, the Oregon loss and his inability to rally the team against inferior opponents in UCLA and Northwestern, it was the final straw.

    FRANKLIN set the expectations (not the AD or fan base) and he failed to live up to them, OVER AND OVER again. He is the politician that makes campaign promises to donors every election and then fails to deliver on his promises. Finally, the donors and voters had enough. His salary + NIL + facility investments = an expectation of being competitive against peers.
    Franklin is the definition of the Peter Principle and he needed to be demoted to the ACC.



 
NittanyLion99 said:

  • Respectfully, I don't think JF is a "good coach," or "developer of players."
    James Franklin is a politician and at best, a figure head, and outclassed as a coach by nearly all his peers.
    In the archives of Rivals, on his welcome press conference thread, was me saying that he felt fake - "PA kid coming home," was stated 25 times in response to almost every question. I get it's a tough spot and you don't want to have a bad first impression, but it came off to me as fake and questionable....but I reserved judgement.

    As I've said many many times to this group, JF is everything you want in a CFB coach, except the actual FB coaching. He is horrendous, in fact. If there was a situational call in a game, you could predict he'd make the wrong move. 4th and 1 from your own 40? Kick the FG or go for it? He never learned.

    Your assessment above is perhaps one way to look at it, if you aren't someone that was paying attention to PSU. If we are being honest, he wouldn't have lasted 14, or even 10, seasons at Alabama, Auburn, Florida, or even Michigan. Franklin was a politician that talked a big game he couldn't back up, and for that, he got fired, rightfully.
    -He talked about being "elite" over and over again. He raised the expectations. But he was rarely competitive with OSU. He managed to blow 21pt 2nd half leads. OSU games would never be out of hand (~14pts) but while the game was being played, it never felt like PSU had a shot of overcomeing a 10-14pt deficit.
  • -Whenever a big job came open and his name was mentioned, he was tight lipped & leveraged it for more money, more years, and bigger buyouts.
    -He complained publicly about a deficit in money around the program
  • -In his 14 years, you can look back and track relative performance to who his coordinators were. JF apparently had no input into the Offense and Defense except making boneheaded in-game decisions.
    -In 2025, he raised expectations to astronomical heights. He finally had his 5* upperclassman QB and 2 high round RBs that stuck around to make a NC run thanks to boosters writing checks.
    .....and then, a giant sh*tting of the bed. A team that was wholly unprepared to play BIG, to overcome, to be competitive.
    -In the face of his atrocious record against teams of same/similar talent, the Oregon loss and his inability to rally the team against inferior opponents in UCLA and Northwestern, it was the final straw.

    FRANKLIN set the expectations (not the AD or fan base) and he failed to live up to them, OVER AND OVER again. He is the politician that makes campaign promises to donors every election and then fails to deliver on his promises. Finally, the donors and voters had enough. His salary + NIL + facility investments = an expectation of being competitive against peers.
    Franklin is the definition of the Peter Principle and he needed to be demoted to the ACC.


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A self-absorbed guy who acted out a role. These people move up in every organization until the Peter Principle kicks in. Kraft, meanwhile, may be in the same predicament, but due to his not first understanding the dynamics affecting his decision.
 
NittanyLion99 said:

  • Respectfully, I don't think JF is a "good coach," or "developer of players."
    James Franklin is a politician and at best, a figure head, and outclassed as a coach by nearly all his peers.
    In the archives of Rivals, on his welcome press conference thread, was me saying that he felt fake - "PA kid coming home," was stated 25 times in response to almost every question. I get it's a tough spot and you don't want to have a bad first impression, but it came off to me as fake and questionable....but I reserved judgement.

    As I've said many many times to this group, JF is everything you want in a CFB coach, except the actual FB coaching. He is horrendous, in fact. If there was a situational call in a game, you could predict he'd make the wrong move. 4th and 1 from your own 40? Kick the FG or go for it? He never learned.

    Your assessment above is perhaps one way to look at it, if you aren't someone that was paying attention to PSU. If we are being honest, he wouldn't have lasted 14, or even 10, seasons at Alabama, Auburn, Florida, or even Michigan. Franklin was a politician that talked a big game he couldn't back up, and for that, he got fired, rightfully.
    -He talked about being "elite" over and over again. He raised the expectations. But he was rarely competitive with OSU. He managed to blow 21pt 2nd half leads. OSU games would never be out of hand (~14pts) but while the game was being played, it never felt like PSU had a shot of overcomeing a 10-14pt deficit.
  • -Whenever a big job came open and his name was mentioned, he was tight lipped & leveraged it for more money, more years, and bigger buyouts.
    -He complained publicly about a deficit in money around the program
  • -In his 14 years, you can look back and track relative performance to who his coordinators were. JF apparently had no input into the Offense and Defense except making boneheaded in-game decisions.
    -In 2025, he raised expectations to astronomical heights. He finally had his 5* upperclassman QB and 2 high round RBs that stuck around to make a NC run thanks to boosters writing checks.
    .....and then, a giant sh*tting of the bed. A team that was wholly unprepared to play BIG, to overcome, to be competitive.
    -In the face of his atrocious record against teams of same/similar talent, the Oregon loss and his inability to rally the team against inferior opponents in UCLA and Northwestern, it was the final straw.

    FRANKLIN set the expectations (not the AD or fan base) and he failed to live up to them, OVER AND OVER again. He is the politician that makes campaign promises to donors every election and then fails to deliver on his promises. Finally, the donors and voters had enough. His salary + NIL + facility investments = an expectation of being competitive against peers.
    Franklin is the definition of the Peter Principle and he needed to be demoted to the ACC.
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Also respectfully…I understand you believe he’s “not a good coach or developer of players”, but the numbers/empirical data show differently. —He won and developed players at Vanderbilt. If anyone knows the history of Vanderbilt, that’s pretty **** good. We were ranked in the top 10 with him many times, with many All Americans, and scores of All B10 players as well as scores of players to the NFL…some earning Offensive and defensive POY / Pro Bowl honors. That’s a good recognizer and developer.of talent.
He remains a good coach, and not a great coach…hence his firing. I don’t agree with it, but I respect it and understand it. He simply did not win the big game….great coaches out coached him, or coordinators Vapor locked in the big moment. Regardless, he was responsible.
—I believe he will do very well at VT, as he did the majority of the time here. We’ll see if he’s learned anything about coaching under the most stressful situations, or , as CEO, he has hired the right coordinators to do this for him…. But in the ACC there is less stress. —I believe ( unfortunately) that VT will have an easier time rebuilding and being ranked than we will. —Many worthwhile ( great) coaches, IMO, look at the optics of Franklin’s release as red flag to their hiring . If they’re “hired guns”, like Kiffin, this doesn’t bother them….but if they’re complete coaches ( players coach), it does.
—I hope we find a GREAT coach, but in some ways, we have clearly tarnished the luster. Although the business model has absorbed college football, with 17-24 y/o’s , it’s much more than a “transactional” venture…their parents understand this.
—Maybe we can lure someone like Fitzgerald out of retirement, who knows. —IMO this current situation was easily foreseen. Genuine best wishes to whoever takes the position.

*** Just read that Fitz was hired by Michigan State. They’re about to get good.
 
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27Pellis said:
Also respectfully…I understand you believe he’s “not a good coach or developer of players”, but the numbers/empirical data show differently. —He won and developed players at Vanderbilt. If anyone knows the history of Vanderbilt, that’s pretty **** good. We were ranked in the top 10 with him many times, with many All Americans, and scores of All B10 players as well as scores of players to the NFL…some earning Offensive and defensive POY / Pro Bowl honors. That’s a good recognizer and developer.of talent.
He remains a good coach, and not a great coach…hence his firing. I don’t agree with it, but I respect it and understand it. He simply did not win the big game….great coaches out coached him, or coordinators Vapor locked in the big moment. Regardless, he was responsible.
—I believe he will do very well at VT, as he did the majority of the time here. We’ll see if he’s learned anything about coaching under the most stressful situations, or , as CEO, he has hired the right coordinators to do this for him…. But in the ACC there is less stress. —I believe ( unfortunately) that VT will have an easier time rebuilding and being ranked than we will. —Many worthwhile ( great) coaches, IMO, look at the optics of Franklin’s release as red flag to their hiring . If they’re “hired guns”, like Kiffin, this doesn’t bother them….but if they’re complete coaches ( players coach), it does.
—I hope we find a GREAT coach, but in some ways, we have clearly tarnished the luster. Although the business model has absorbed college football, with 17-24 y/o’s , it’s much more than a transactional venture…they’re parents understand this.
—Maybe we can lure someone like Fitzgerald out of retirement, who knows. —IMO this current situation was easily foreseen. Genuine best wishes to whoever takes the position.
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Watched the Oregon game. A totally ill-prepared team given the promises and the circumstance. Then spent some money to attend the UCLA game with many others doing the same. The performance was beyond embarrassing. Then came the Northwestern game with the team's inability and lack of desire to win the game. This expensive team had major holes and also player compensation and favoritism that was unjust, insulting, and deflating. The "obviously" and "I get it" responses were just throw away lines. And as I noted before, I don't think he saw the team as a holistic machine, but just an assembly of 3* and 4* players. I'm guessing his Myers-Briggs profile is an ESFP. A good people person, maybe a teacher, but not an analyzer or solutions guy.
 
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