There have been a plethora of moments in the 2025 season of college football that have defined careers. But James Franklin’s 37- 42 loss to a winless UCLA team will top the list. This loss could very well be the final nail in the coffin for his career at Penn State. The Lions entered the Rose Bowl as a 24.5 favourite against a Bruins team that had fired its head coach and was starting with a first-time playcaller in Jerry Neuheisel.

What happened next was unbelievable. Penn State imploded spectacularly. This wasn’t UCLA outplaying the Lions as much as it was Penn State beating themselves in every conceivable way. The Nittany Lions entered the game with one of the nation’s elite defenses and surrendered 446 yards and 42 points to an offense that averaged 14.3 points per game through four losses.

Franklin’s post-game justifications revolved around not handling the Oregon loss and losing playing during the week, neither of which explained the demolition they suffered at the hands of a winless team. Now, every Penn State forum on the planet is marred with “Fire Franklin” posts. But the question is, who could be his replacement?

Curt Cignetti

Curt Cignetti is the name that should be at the top of Penn State’s list, and honestly, it’s not even close. The 63-year-old Pennsylvania native just led Indiana to a top-10 Big Ten road win, something James Franklin has managed exactly once in his entire 12-year tenure at Penn State. Curt Cignetti has been a blessing for Indiana. He has turned the Hoosiers into legitimate contenders after years of building programs at James Madison and Elon.

He is a proven program elevator whose teams don’t wilt under pressure like Franklin’s do. The fanbase would embrace him immediately because he’s from the state and represents the toughness and accountability that seem to be missing in Happy Valley right now. The only concern is whether Penn State can pull him away from Indiana before a bigger program swoops in, because Cignetti isn’t going to stay at IU forever if he keeps winning at this rate. He’d bring instant credibility and a winning mentality that Franklin has never been able to establish against elite competition.

Matt Rhule

Matt Rhule checks every box as a Penn State alum who understands what it means to wear the blue and white, but there are legitimate concerns about whether he’s the right fit for a program that needs to win now. Rhule played linebacker for the Nittany Lions from 1994 to 1997 and has built a reputation as an elite program builder at Temple, Baylor, and now Nebraska.

The only problem for Penn State is that they don’t need a program builder. They want instant impact and instant results. They already have a roster that is loaded with NFL talent, but the coaching limitations just cannot do it right now. Rhule’s track record is amazing in building programs, but the sustained level of success is missing. But he still is a strong contender for the role.

Dabo Swinney

Dabo Swinney might seem like a long shot, but this season’s performance has weakened the connection between him and Clemson’s diehards. Obviously, this does not mean that Swinney has lost his talent to build a championship pedigree team. Swinney has two Nattys and has made the College Football Playoffs six times.

Now, he might not be the playcalling mastermind like some of the coaches on this list are, but the value he infuses in the form of motivation just cannot be underestimated. Players have been on record saying that they’ll go to war for him, and that’s the opposite of James Franklin, who seems to be losing the locker room slowly. 

Ed Orgeron

Ed Orgeron is the wildcard option that nobody is talking about but might actually make sense if Penn State wants to inject some genuine toughness and swagger into a program that’s gone soft under Franklin. Coach O won a national championship at LSU in 2019 with one of the most dominant teams in college football history, and he did it by building a culture of physicality and attitude that permeated every aspect of the program.

Ed has claimed that he is “getting the itch” to coach, and Penn State might very well be a good spot for him. Penn State’s biggest problem is not the talent; it’s the mental fortitude to sustain peak performance against elite competition. And it has been a negative feedback loop. The more they lose to top teams, the more pressure they put on themselves and the more mistakes they make. Coach O would fix it in a jiffy. Although we’re not sure if his thick Louisiana accent will fit in as well as his personality will.

Jon Gruden

Jon Gruden is the name that nobody wants to say out loud, but might actually be lurking in the back of Penn State’s collective consciousness if they get desperate enough. Gruden won Super Bowl XXXVII with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002 at just 39 years old, making him the youngest head coach to win a championship at the time. Well, Gruden also comes with the baggage of his past actions, and it would follow him to Penn State, too. For an institution with a reputation to uphold, he might be a hard one to contain, but the football prowess is undeniable.

But the most important decision is about James Franklin’s buyout, which sits at roughly $56 million. Penn State’s fans are so extremely desperate that there have been GoFundMe campaigns all around message boards to help cover the cost of Franklin’s buyout. This buyout, if initiated, would handicap Penn State for years to come, and on top of that, if the front office decides to go for the likes of coaches present in this list, they’d be looking at a $5 million contract per year. So, a lot of unpack for the Penn State administration, but this buyout is the only reason James Franklin’s job might still be safe no matter how loud the “Fire Franklin” chants get.