{"id":306978,"date":"2025-10-16T03:01:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T03:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/306978\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T03:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T03:01:10","slug":"joel-klatt-penn-state-should-make-nick-saban-the-first-call-in-search-to-replace-james-franklin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/306978\/","title":{"rendered":"Joel Klatt: Penn State should make Nick Saban ‘the first call’ in search to replace James Franklin"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the early stages of Penn State\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> coaching search, the sense is the Nittany Lions could take a \u201cbig swing<\/strong><\/a>,\u201d On3\u2019s Pete Nakos<\/a><\/strong> reported. With that in mind, FOX Sports\u2019 Joel Klatt<\/strong> called on AD Pat Kraft<\/strong> to swing for the fences.<\/p>\n

Klatt told Colin Cowherd<\/strong> he would make Nick Saban<\/a><\/strong> the first call if he was in Kraft\u2019s shoes. The legendary coach is now in his second year on ESPN College GameDay after retiring from Alabama<\/a><\/strong> ahead of the 2024 campaign, and he won an Emmy for his performance last year.<\/p>\n

Klatt also mentioned names such as Dan Lanning<\/a><\/strong> at Oregon<\/a><\/strong> and Marcus Freeman<\/a><\/strong> of Notre Dame<\/a><\/strong> as coaches who should get calls. But he argued the list should start with Saban to make sure he\u2019s not an opion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that Pat Kraft, the athletic director at Penn State, is going to take a big swing,\u201d Klatt said on The Herd<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t think that anybody is off of his list, to be honest with you. If I was Pat Kraft, I would start with the biggest swing possible. I know this sounds crazy, but I think the first call I would make is Nick Saban and just make sure that that\u2019s not going to happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then you start going down the list of the other coaches around the country. I think Dan Lanning will get a call, I think Marcus Freeman would get a call.\u201d<\/p>\n

On3 previously reported Freeman as a name Penn State could target as it gets its list of potential candidates together. But Klatt also wondered not only if Freeman would leave Notre Dame after leading the program to a national championship game appearance, but also if Penn State is a better job. Regardless, he called it potentially the best job to open this cycle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould Freeman leave Notre Dame? I\u2019m not sure,\u201d Klatt said. \u201cHe just went to the national championship. I\u2019m sure he feels like he can build something special. Is Penn State a better job than Notre Dame? I don\u2019t think it is, personally. But that is a call I would make, if I was Pat Kraft because again, this is a good job. I don\u2019t know if it is a great job in college football. But in this cycle, it\u2019s probably going to be the best job available.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if Florida<\/a><\/strong> were to come open \u2013 if they make a move off of Billy Napier<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 even if Florida State<\/a><\/strong> went south and Mike Norvell<\/a><\/strong> was let go at Florida State, whatever happens at Wisconsin<\/a><\/strong>. Even if Brian Kelly<\/a><\/strong> were to somehow take a nosedive at LSU beginning, let\u2019s say, this week. I\u2019m not sure that any of those jobs \u2013 maybe LSU<\/a><\/strong> is \u2013 but Penn State is set up perfectly. You brought up the investment into the stadium, $700 million into the stadium. They\u2019re willing to pay the money to James Franklin to buy him out. They\u2019ve got support and they\u2019ve got an athletic director that\u2019s willing to win. I think Curt Cignetti<\/a><\/strong> should probably get a call.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joel Klatt: \u2018I would be swinging for the fences\u2019<\/p>\n

As he evaluated Penn State\u2019s next steps, Joel Klatt drew comparisons to a coaching search in Athens in 2015. Georgia<\/a><\/strong> opted to move on from Mark Richt<\/a><\/strong> and brought in Kirby Smart<\/a><\/strong>, who was serving as Nick Saban\u2019s defensive coordinator at Alabama.<\/p>\n

Richt had a 145-51 record at UGA before his dismissal. But Georgia thought it could take a leap with a change, and it did, winning two national titles under Smart. Klatt wondered if Penn State could set its self up in a similar fashion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be swinging for the fences if I was Pat Kraft because here\u2019s the thing,\u201d Klatt said. \u201cThis reminds me a lot \u2013 maybe not quite to the tier of Georgia, but Mark Richt at Georgia seemed to have a ceiling on that program and they felt like they could go higher. They bring in Kirby Smart and they did go higher. Maybe that\u2019s the moment that we\u2019re in for Penn State right now, where the next guy is going to lift the ceiling of this program and they can actually go out there and win some of these Top-25, Top-10 game that James Franklin has fallen short in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the early stages of Penn State\u2019s coaching search, the sense is the Nittany Lions could take a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":306979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1318,1317,1315,1316,155385,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-306978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-nick-saban-69-monongah","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115381618843360727","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}