UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State has a golden opportunity over the next two years to contend for a national championship, but to do so, James Franklin needed to make sure every single part of the program is exactly where he wants it to be going forward.
That even meant making the strange move of firing an assistant coach coming off an 11-2 season. And while we may never know the exact reasons Franklin moved on from wide receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield, the fact of the matter is that Penn State appears to have found a better fit for the program in Marques Hagans.
Penn State is really always in win-now mode, and not a program that often has to think about rebuilding. But the win-now mode takes on a new meaning with prized quarterback Drew Allar taking over for the next couple of years, and the Nittany Lions cannot be messing around with regards to wide receiver development.
That's where we'll begin this week's Friday top 5.
1. The new guy fills a big need and seems like a good fit for what Franklin wants in an assistant
First and foremost, the Nittany Lions need their wide receivers to improve, every single day. They need the on-field development aspect to be top notch, and quite frankly, they weren't getting that with Stubblefield.
Parker Washington was really kind of the same receiver over the past couple of years -- good with a lot of potential, but never quite developing into the standout many expected.
It didn't really seem like Mitchell Tinsley improved at all during the 2021 season. He came in with a good reputation from Western Kentucky and caught seven passes for 84 yards in the opener at Purdue, but those figures both wound up being season highs. He never really took the next step in his development in his lone season with Penn State.
Then there were the younger receivers. KeAndre Lambert-Smith was very inconsistent, although he did finish great with an 88-yard touchdown in the Rose Bow. Harrison Wallace III looked solid at times but also didn't seem to take the next step as the season went on.
Hagans comes to Penn State with an excellent reputation of developing receivers. Pretty much everyone talks about how well he did with the talent he had while at Virginia.
For Hagans, the biggest aspect of helping develop the players on the field seems to be making sure he develops a good personal relationship with them off the field. And ultimately, that's the kind of coach Franklin wants on his staff.
You don't often hear tough football coaches use the word vulnerable in any capacity, but Hagans did so in explaining how he tries to communicate with players.
“The first thing is you got to be vulnerable,” Hagans said. “You got to be willing to give those guys your truths -- like who you are, where you come from -- and not just speak from the vantage point of having done it all correctly. Be open to the mistakes that I've made and then just really, not so much talking, listening. I need to listen to those guys. I need to hear who they are.
"A lot of times you can kind of stunt the progress of developing relationships based upon talking too much. So, a lot of times just listening to those guys, giving them a voice to tell me who they are. And then as we continue to grow, see if that aligns with how they work, how they go to class, who they are in practice and who they are in the game and just helping them grow constantly. Those are the initial steps. But I will say listening more than talking and giving the truth when they ask questions that relate to me in particular.”
One thing that has become apparent is that Franklin didn't fire Stubblefield while already having someone else in mind to take the job. It would have made sense if that were the case, but it wasn't. Instead of already knowing about Hagans, it seems as if Franklin had to learn about him before bringing him in.
"You go through the interview process -- we talked to a good number of guys -- and it just became obvious that this was the guy that we needed to bring into our room and kind of within our family," Franklin said. " And so far, so good. It's been really good having him around.
"Ultimately, the most important thing is bring the best people you possibly can into your organization, the most talented people and you help them grow," Franklin added. "I think he's pretty far along professionally, and there are some areas that I think we can help him, as well."
One big part of that is recruiting. I keep bringing this up, because it's vital, but Hagans didn't have strong recruiting success at Virginia. For whatever reason -- either the way the Cavaliers broke things down in recruiting, or if he just couldn't convince top players to come to a struggling program.
I asked Hagans about the recruiting setup at Virginia, and he mentioned it was more of a collective kind of mindset.
"Some staffs are built where this guy is only going to coach and not recruit or this guy is going to be the recruiter and maybe not the coach. And I've never believed that," Franklin said
"I believe your staff, you need to put it together where everybody is pulling their weight in both areas, and then we have to take advantage of people's strengths and backgrounds.
"So, obviously we'll have Marques recruiting in Virginia and that state has been very good to us. ... Marques is going to have to take on some other responsibilities, too, besides Virginia."
2. A few other things about Hagans
He told the story about how his wife is a breast cancer survivor and that one reason he stayed at Virginia for so long was because she could get great medical care there in Charlottesville.
We often talk and think about coaches moving on or staying put based only on sports decisions. But these are human beings, too, and they have to make decisions that are best for their lives and families. By revealing that part of his life, Hagans indeed showed the kind of vulnerability that he mentioned above.
He also talked about his relationship with Anthony Poindexter, a Virginia legend and good friend. Poindexter gave Franklin a great recommendation about Hagans, which helped him get the job. Hagans says his son's name is Christopher Dex, so his middle name is a tribute to Poindexter.
Lastly, Hagans talked about how he's good friends with basketball superstar Allen Iverson.
“AI is someone who I grew up around,” Hagans said. “He’s a few years older than me. We all played for the same rec league team and started off at the same high school. He’s become a big brother to me, and my kids look up to him. He’s always around them, always checking in on them. ... I would say he’s a really close friend. He’s like a big brother."
3. A Franklin-Narduzzi comparison
I'm in the media. I want the truth. If a coach makes a move, we all want to know exactly why, but we rarely get the kind of answers we want from them when it comes to explanations.
It would be great to finally learn why Franklin fired Stubblefield. Because you just know there's a good reason, or maybe several reasons. You just don't make that kind of move otherwise after an 11-2 season.
My best guess is that Stubblefield wasn't a good enough coach on the field when it came to development, or that he just didn't connect with players personally the way Franklin likes.
Whatever the reasons, there wasn't much chance Franklin was going to divulge why he fired Stubblefield when we finally got to ask him this week. All he said was that it wouldn't be appropriate to get into it.
If only something like that had happened at Pitt! You just know Pat Narduzzi wouldn't hesitate to spill the beans about why he had decided to fire an assistant coach.
For better or worse, Narduzzi has no qualms about throwing somebody under the bus once he's left the Pitt program. There was this doozy about former offensive coordinator Mark Whipple, who had helped the Panthers win an ACC title before going to Nebraska:
“Our old offensive coordinator had no desire to run the ball,” Narduzzi said in July. “Everybody knew it. He was stubborn. Wake Forest was 118th in run defense, and we threw the ball every down. When we ran it, we ran it for 10 yards, but that wasn’t good enough.”
Narduzzi also recently had this to say about Kedon Slovis, after he had transferred to BYU.
“We knew there was a chance we were going to lose our quarterback. We knew there was a chance we wanted to lose our quarterback,” Narduzzi said.
That last sentence was ... hilarious. I mean, how often do you ever hear a coach say that?
Narduzzi says a lot of wacky stuff, and gets called out for it a good bit. It may not sound all that professional at times, but he doesn't seem to care if he hurts someone's feelings.
If Narduzzi had fired his wide receivers coach after an 11-2 season, you gotta think he would come out and explain why. Rightly or wrongly.
Franklin took the high road with the Stubblefield situation, and that's respectable. There's no reason to pile on a guy publicly after he's suffered the humiliation of being fired. Still, when a coach goes that route, it does leave a lot of questions unanswered about why the move was made.
4. Wrestling team has busy weekend
Penn State has two dual meets -- tonight at Rutgers, then Sunday at home against Maryland.
After that, the Lions have only one more dual meet before the postseason. Clarion will visit Rec Hall on Feb. 19.
Here's an updated look at records for Penn State's individual wrestlers this season, from GoPSUSports:
125: Gary Steen (5-10)
133: #1 Roman Bravo-Young (11-0)
141: #6 Beau Bartlett (16-1)
149: #13 Shayne Van Ness (12-4)
157: #8 Levi Haines (15-1)
165: #9 Alex Facundo (13-2)
174: #1 Carter Starocci (13-0)
184: #1 Aaron Brooks (8-1)
197: #3 Max Dean (15-2)
285: #2 Greg Kerkvliet (11-1)
5. Looking ahead to Weekend Primer
The Penn State basketball team plays at Maryland on Saturday, looking to snap a three-game losing streak.
I've got a whole lot of thoughts about the hoops team. I shared some of them in my Live Qs file Thursday. Be sure to check Saturday morning for my thoughts on Micah Shrewsberry and how there's no way he could have known just how hard this job was until he actually got to Penn State.
