Penn State's botched coaching search turns signing day into unprecedented disaster

When Penn State made the bold move to fire longtime coach James Franklin on Oct. 12, the assumption was clear: act early, land a marquee replacement and steady the 2026 recruiting class as the starting point for the future. Instead, six weeks later, the class has completely come apart.

As the early signing period opened Wednesday, Penn State was down to four commitments -- then it lost four-star safety Matt Sieg to West Virginia and four-star linebacker Terry Wiggins to Virginia Tech before lunch time. It later signed four-star edge rusher Jackson Ford, but with no permanent coach in place and the office empty on the most important day of the year for any program chasing national titles, the class is effectively gone.

The damage is staggering.

"Other coaches are looking around going, 'What is going on over there?'" 247Sports recruiting analyst Brian Dohn said during live National Signing Day coverage. "Penn State will come back from it because it's Penn State and it's the dominant program in the region. ... They'll be fine in the long run, but in the short term, 'embarrassing' is putting it mildly." 

Since Franklin's dismissal, 23 commitments have backed out of the 2026 class, gutting a group that once sat inside the national top 20. Now it has plummeted to -- at this moment -- No. 150 in the 247Sports Composite Team Recruiting Rankings, surrounded by FCS programs, purely because so few prospects remain attached. Even worse: 10 decommits have flipped to Virginia Tech where Franklin has wasted no time rebuilding momentum at his new stop since being hired two weeks ago.

That group uniting with him in Blacksburg now includes:

• Four-star LB Terry Wiggins (94)
• Four-star RB Messiah Mickens (90)
• Three-star WR Davion Brown (89)
• Three-star IOL Benjamin Eziuka (89)
• Three-star LB Tyson Harley (89)
• Three-star QB Troy Huhn (89)
• Three-star TE Pierce Petersohn (89)
• Three-star OT Marlen Bright (88)
• Three-star OT Roseby Lubintus (88)
• Three-star LB Mathieu Lamah (87)

247Sports rating in parentheses

Penn State had eight four-star commitments at the time of Franklin's exit. Most have flipped elsewhere, representing a devastating loss of talent.

Only one remaining Penn State commit, three-star cornerback Amauri Polydor, has yet to sign. He has been in contact with Colorado and Virginia Tech in addition to Penn State, and his final decision may not come until later in the week, according to Dohn.

The collapse is magnified by the stability Franklin once provided on the trail. His recruiting wasn't flawless -- Penn State still needed to climb into the true championship tier -- but he delivered a consistent floor of top-20 classes and cornerstone players. 

The moment he left, that floor gave way.

The October plan was supposed to create clarity. Instead, it created a void. Top coaching targets signed extensions to stay put, and while Penn State kept looking, recruits made their own decisions. Competitors, including Franklin himself, pounced.

One potential stabilizer remains

Inside the building, there is real backing for interim coach Terry Smith, who guided the Nittany Lions to three straight wins to reach bowl eligibility. Veteran leaders like Tony Rojas have publicly pushed to remove the interim tag. Their support is meaningful: In a moment when recruits are fleeing amid instability, the locker room is the only source of it.

However, that potential anchor remains in limbo as athletic director Pat Kraft and the administration continue their search. As Dohn said in the aftermath of Sieg's decommitment, if Sieg thought Smith had a legit chance at the full-time job, perhaps he would have kept his commitment to Penn State. 

The result is a collapse that illustrates a brutal truth of modern recruiting: if you fire a coach, you'd better have a replacement lined up. Penn State evidently did not -- and the consequences hit immediately.

The consequences extend well beyond the 2026 recruiting board. With the class nearly wiped out and the roster bracing for significant portal departures, the next coach should expect to inherit one of the biggest rebuilds in the country. Dohn said Kraft will likely have to spend big in the transfer portal to save face, but we've seen portal-heavy turnovers go poorly. 

For a program that was a play away from the national championship game last season, what was intended as a strategic reset has triggered a full-scale roster crisis. The margin between a controlled reboot and an uncontrolled collapse proved razor-thin, and Penn State now enters the early signing period unable to capitalize on the head start it believed it created.

The Nittany Lions needed traction. Instead, they're watching the ground disappear beneath them.

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