Click Here To See James Franklin’s Coaching Tree.
Let’s be honest: Manny Diaz was not going to come back for another season at Penn State.
That was part of the deal in hiring him. Even two years felt like a stretch for the former head coach to return to that role somewhere else.
But now Diaz is off to Duke, once again becoming a head coach in the ACC. And once again, James Franklin’s coaching tree is getting a little bit bigger.
Good or bad, predestined or not, Franklin’s coaching tree has now expanded across the country – or at least the East Coast – in a way that he deserves a bit of credit.
It never felt like there was more than a 40 percent chance that Diaz would stick around for 2024, particularly with his Miami buy-out drying up and the decision being mainly in his court – rather than on Pat Kraft and Franklin to retain him. But even if Diaz was going to take a job regardless, Franklin still deserves credit for hiring him.
It was the best decision he’s made in the last four years.
Now for the decision he made right before Diaz left — hiring Andy Kotelnicki for offensive coordinator — and the one that will be made because Diaz left, Franklin’s got to hope they’re more Huff, Diaz and Pry than Donovan, Yurcich and Stubblefield.
With Kotelnicki, there’s a lot of reasons to be excited – even if you’re trying to get wrapped up in hype once again. If you look beyond the fact he was a major factor in putting a functional football team on the field in Kansas, he’s also got all of the boxes that Franklin publicly expressed that Mike Yurcich didn’t have this season.
Kansas’s offense was ninth in the country in explosive play rate. Penn State was 123rd. Kotelnicki’s passing offense was third in the country in expected points added – all while doing it primarily on the arm of a backup quarterback. Penn State ranked 70th. On third down, the Jayhawks were eighth in expected points added in 2023. The Nittany Lions were 72nd. Again, clear signs on why Penn State fired the previous offensive coordinator and targeted the new one in their search.
And if it works out here in Happy Valley, then Kotelnicki will probably become a branch on the Franklin tree. This is college football coaching after all where it’s less about chasing rings and more about chasing promotions for most.
Around these parts, those promotions are just part of the deal with Franklin’s hires. Since 2014, Penn State’s had at minimum 14 assistants or grad assistants take promotions whether it be within the Lasch Building or outside jobs.
That coaching tree is chalked full of talent, too, or at least trending that way. Ricky Rahne has made Old Dominion at worst a fun watch and at best a team going back to a bowl for the second time in three years. Charles Huff’s name comes up for virtually every job that opens at lower Power 5 level – and even some above that.
Joe Moorhead didn’t quite work out the way we thought it would in the SEC at Mississippi State but seems to be fine with taking less stress of Akron. Then of course, there’s Brent Pry, who appears to be building something – maybe slowly – but something, despite some headwinds at Virginia Tech.
And even if Diaz was always looking for a head coaching job while at Penn State, his defenses still needed to perform. In 2023, he provided arguably the best defense in the last 20 years to play at Penn State, creating three shutouts and ranking top five in virtually every major category.
So yes, Franklin gets to take credit for Diaz – even if he’s more of a sturdy twig than a branch.
But back to the decisions that come next.
It’s great that Franklin keeps creating coaches that go to the next level. He’s been adamant that’s what he wants from his assistant. It’s a sign that he knows, for the most part, how to hire the right assistants around him.
That trend needs to continue though.
Based on salary figures, Franklin clearly looks highly on Kotelnicki. Then again, he looked so highly on Yurcich that he fired Kirk Ciarrocca. With Kotelnicki, his offenses will need to click just as quickly as Diaz’s defenses did.
So too will Franklin’s pending defensive hire.
We likely won’t know who it is for a few more days and we won’t know how well both of them will work out until the 2024 season begins. But 2024 is an important year in Franklin’s tenure where based on talent returning alone, his team needs to make the playoff to get rid of the sour taste for some in 2023.
For now though, it’s time to at least make note of the fact the Franklin tree is growing. Even with a few dead branches, the signs suggest there are strong ones too.
It’s up to the man sowing the roots to see it continues to grow.
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