Urban Meyer offers bold take on Penn State’s James Franklin firing

Urban Meyer is no stranger to the hiring and firing process of big-time football programs.

He spent five years with Florida and six with Ohio State. When he was briefly an NFL coach in 2021, he got fired by the Jacksonville Jaguars. His terrible tenure in Jacksonville aside, Meyer is a college football legend and is still a name that surfaces whenever a big-time coaching position is available.

The Penn State Nittany Lions are the latest CFB program with a head-coaching vacancy after firing James Franklin on Oct. 12 after 11 seasons in Happy Valley. Meyer has not been mentioned as someone who could replace Franklin; he believes Penn State already has its next head coach in mind.

As Meyer explained on a recent episode of “The Triple Option” podcast, a program like Penn State doesn’t make a move of this magnitude without having a plan in place. “Smaller” programs have to hire a search firm to find candidates.

“The reason they do that is because with those types of schools, you have to go out and search who’s interested. Because those aren’t top-five or top-ten jobs,” Meyer said (h/t On3). “At Penn State, I think it’s a whole different animal.”

Urban Meyer believes Penn State already has head-coaching plan

Based on Meyer’s experience, he finds it hard to believe that a program would fire a coach with an outstanding win-loss record spanning more than a decade unless it had a rock-solid succession plan in place.

“When you fire a coach, when his record was 104-45 and was in the Rose Bowl, Peach Bowl and a score away from playing for a National Championship,” Meyer added. “And 16 days ago, he could have had the possible No. 1 team in the country. I don’t think you make that move, with a $75 million dollar expense coming, unless you know who you’re gonna hire.”

Some names that have been floated as replacements include Nebraska head coach and former Penn State linebacker Matt Rhule and Duke coach and former Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz. Indiana’s Curt Cignetti was mentioned, too, but he signed an extension on Thursday that runs through the 2033 season, so he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

Regardless, Penn State must wait until the end of the regular season to poach them, though there’s much that can be done via backchannels over the next few months. 

Meyer could be an interesting target, considering his impressive resume, which includes three national championships. That would certainly add more intrigue to his comments, but there’s little evidence to suggest he’s looking to leave the media world and dive back into the demands of coaching at 61.