The Penn State Nittany Lions finally caught a break 36 days after firing James Franklin. Interim head coach Terry Smith picked up his first win of the season against Michigan State over the weekend. State College wants the second-generation Penn State alum to be its long-term head coach. However, there is one thing besides quality wins that might prevent him from becoming that.

The glaring problem? Plenty of decommitments. Coach Smith has support from his players and Penn State fans, many of whom are eager to see a hometown coach succeed. However, recruiting issues crept up after James Franklin’s firing. 17 of Penn State’s committed recruits flipped their commitments when the news dropped that Franklin was gone. A bunch of future stars basically said, “Peace out.”

The departures were not small losses. Five-star running back Kemon Spell, who was expected to be a program-altering player, decommitted as soon as the news broke. A four-star quarterback prospect, Troy Huhn, also left. It was not just them. An entire group of highly rated offensive and defensive players pulled the plug. For comparison, LSU lost only one recruit after firing Brian Kelly. Florida lost none after firing Billy Napier. But losing 17 in less than 2-3 weeks is the type of setback that typically forces athletic departments to rethink their long-term plans immediately.

This recruiting crisis arrived at the exact moment the program was trying to stabilize under interim head coach Terry Smith. On November 16, after their 28-10 win against Michigan State, Terry Smith was in tears of happiness as he spoke to a reporter about what the victory meant to him. “Yes, it gets very emotional. You know, I played for the legendary Joe Paterno. Spent the past 12 years with James Franklin and just a lot of history. My son played here. My dad graduated here. We got 10 graduates from Penn State. Just means a lot to me that I’m able to grace the field and lead the team out here.”

Even Joe Paterno’s son, Scott Paterno, wants the program to remove Smith’s interim tag and make it permanent on X. “FWIW I am becoming convinced you take the interim tag off his title. You need a guy who fits your school and your roster. The ‘names’ everyone’s tossing around are all signing extensions.”

Scott even pointed to his late father as an example. After he was promoted from interim to head coach, Joe Paterno won 409 games for Penn State. Smith already knows the school and its players, and could bring stability and long-term success to Penn State.

However, this surge of support runs directly into the larger, unavoidable concern: recruiting. If the administration believes Smith cannot quickly reverse the recruiting damage, they may feel pressure to hire an outside coach with a stronger national reputation to rebuild the roster.

Former NFL coach targets Penn State job

Penn State may have a former NFL coach interested in taking over the program. Brian Daboll, who was the head coach of the New York Giants and the offensive coordinator at Alabama in 2017, is reportedly on some people’s radar.

Bruce Feldman spilled the tea: one wild card in the mix is former New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll, who was the offensive coordinator at Alabama in 2017 and helped lead the Tide to a national title. The 50-year-old is believed to be interested in the job and is expected to get some consideration in Happy Valley. He stated, “We’ve heard some former NFL players with strong ties to Penn State have pushed for Daboll to get in the mix.”

Another top candidate before Brian Daboll was Mike Elko. However, the No. 3-ranked Aggies locked him with a new contract extension. Also, James Franklin may take a new job at Virginia Tech next season. Penn State is currently 4-6 on the season. With two more games left in the season, it’s interesting to see which direction the Penn State board is heading from now on!

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