"We are done being great."
Odds are, everyone reading this remembers when James Franklin uttered those words. It came as part of his now infamous "great to elite" speech that Franklin gave following Penn State's gut-wrenching 27-26 loss against Ohio State in 2018. The second consecutive season in which the Nittany Lions blew a double digit 4th quarter lead against the Buckeyes only to come up a point short.
Since then, the Nittany Lions have continued to struggle to cross that elite threshold. Penn State has continued to be a great football program since then. In the six season since 2018, Penn State has won 10+ games four times. They have won a Cotton Bowl, a Rose Bowl, and capped it off by reaching the College Football Playoff for the first time this past season, winning a pair of playoff games on their way to a trip to the College Football Playoff semi-finals.
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In the semi-finals, the Nittany Lions yet again came up just short. They led Notre Dame 10-0 in the first half and 24-17 with less than 8 minutes to play. In the end, Penn State lost in heartbreaking fashion 27-24 on a last second field goal by the Irish. Once again, very great but maybe not quite elite.
On Sunday, the Nittany Lions made a move that signals a football program that is ready to make that jump. Ready to make that jump from being great to being elite. That move was stealing defensive coordinator Jim Knowles away from their number one nemesis in the battle to go from being great to being elite - the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Knowles is arguably the best defensive coordinator in the country. The past three seasons he has had an elite defense in Columbus, culminating with Knowles helping the Buckeyes defeat Notre Dame to capture the College Football Playoff National Championship this past season.
The Knowles hire is not as simple as Penn State hiring the man who is, once again, arguably the best defensive coordinator in college football. It goes much deeper than that.
Penn State did not just hire Knowles, they hired him away from the team which has been their top roadblock during the entirety of the James Franklin Era. This team also happens to be the defending National Champions and they did all they could to retain Knowles.
Despite all of this, the Nittany Lions were able to lure Knowles away. Thanks in large part to a contract that will pay him north of $3 million per season, making Knowles the highest paid coordinator in college football history. Let that sink in, Penn State now has the highest paid coordinator in college football history.
Make no mistake about it, this is a move that Penn State does not make as recently as even two years ago. Hell, Penn State tried to hire Knowles when Brent Pry left for Virginia Tech following the 2021 season and came up short. Not only did they land their man this time, but they landed him by stealing him away from their arch nemesis Buckeyes.
Alignment is finally there
While the 2025 season will already be the 12th at the helm in Happy Valley for James Franklin, in a lot of ways it's year 3 for him. How so? Because it will only be year 3 since their was complete alignment between the football program, athletic department, and university administration.
With Pat Kraft as athletic director and Neeli Benadapudi as university president, for the first time, Franklin has leadership that is completely bought in. Leadership willing to do whatever it takes to help Penn State Football reach their ultimate goal.
It's not a coincidence that Penn State now has better buy in than ever before from boosters, donors, etc. Without that buy in, players such as Nicholas Singleton, Kaytron Allen, Dani Dennis-Sutton, Zane Durant, etc. would be preparing for the NFL Draft right now. Instead, they're preparing to make a run at the National Championship in 2025. Without a lot of these key figures who are returning on defense, even with the salary he was offered odds are Knowles would not have accepted the Penn State job. These things are always connected.
Oh, and let's not overlook Penn State being able to give safeties coach Anthony Poindexter a raise to retain him through all of this. Just another sign of alignment from top to bottom and commitment to the assistant coach salary pool.
The time to win is now
All eyes turn toward 2025 now. By adding Knowles to pair with offensive coordinator Andy Kotlenicki, it's not unreasonable to think Penn State may have the best coordinator duo in college football.
In addition to what has become one of the best coaching staffs in college football, the Nittany Lions did a better job of player retention than any other program in the country this offseason. In addition to the aforementioned Singleton, Allen, Dennis-Sutton, and Durant, Drew Allar, Zakee Wheatley, Vega Ioane, Drew Shelton, Smith Vilbert, Dominic DeLuca, Nick Dawkins, and JB Nelson all turned down NFL money and/or an opportunity for a bigger role elsewhere to return to Penn State.
There will be plenty of offseason buzz about Penn State being in the discussion for the preseason number 1 team. While Texas or Ohio State will likely claim that, the Nittany Lions should be a unanimous preseason top 5, if not top 3 team.
2025 will be Penn State's opportunity to finally stop being great. To build upon a 2024 season that was arguably the best in program history outside of 1994 and their two National Championship seasons. Their chance to join the rank of the elites is now, and everything that has transpired this offseason adds to that possibility.
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