Duck fans must find the right lesson in James Franklin's shocking dismissal

Conference realignment, the Transfer Portal and NIL have changed college football forever. There's more parity than ever before. Shocking upsets are common. The margins have shrunk to a degree where dominance has to be earned one game at a time.

Super-sized conferences mean schedules can vary widely from year to year and team to team. Wisconsin, for example, faces a brutal slate this season where they play five ranked opponents and nearly every one of the Big Ten's best teams, including Oregon and Indiana on the road. Head coach Luke Fickell is about to be fired.

At Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft fired James Franklin in his 12th season at the school after compiling a 104-45 record. PSU suffered three straight losses, to the Ducks, UCLA and Northwestern, prompting his dismissal.

The charge was that Franklin couldn't win big games, although he won two College Football Playoff games a year ago and came within one play of beating Notre Dame for a spot in the championship final.

Fans and boosters were disgruntled, witnessing how far short of expectations the team fell this year. Franklins 2025 squad was supposed to be a national championship favorite, an experienced, senior-laden unit with key transfer acquisitions, an All-American backfield, a veteran offensive line and a half dozen NFL players on defense.

They were supposed to follow the formula established by Michigan and Ohio State to win the national championship with key players electing to "run it back" for a title run. Things fell apart. Instead they are last in the Big Ten at 0-3.

Criticism centered around the idea that Franklin had lost the locker room and underachieved badly. The standard and expectation are higher at Penn State, fans said. We're a blue blood with two national titles. We expect more.

What that thinking ignores is that in the current climate, any program can have a down year and miss the playoffs. College football has become more like the NFL. Parity rules. A favorable schedule sets a team up for a playoff run. Other years, the free agent acquisitions don't pan out.

Penn State fans forgot that when Franklin took over the program, it was wrecked, reeling from sanctions and scandal. He elevated it. Over the last three seasons they'd won 11, 10 and 13 games, and made it all the way to the national semifinal.

Blowing up a program is a drastic choice. It cost Kraft and the boosters a $56 million buyout to shed their longtime coach. All kinds of spectacular names are being thrown as the search begins, Eli Drinkwitz, Marcus Freeman, Lane Kiffin, Curt Cignetti, Matt Rhule, but getting one of these coaches to leave their current situation to take a job where the program just fired a coach with a hundred wins is a big expectation.

Meanwhile, the next two recruiting classes have been decimated.

It's too early to tell whether the Nittany Lions made the right decision in blowing up their program, but this is certain: They'll have a make a hell of a hire to improve it, and many of the names they've set their sights on will prove to be an absolute pipe dream.

Say they settle on Matt Rhule. Is he going to elevate the program above what Franklin achieved? Exactly three active coaches have won a national title, and whoever gets the job in Happy Valley has to get past Dan Lanning, Ryan Day and Cignetti every year.

The point for Duck fans is that fans everywhere have to reset their thinking in this era. Parity is everywhere. Bad weeks will happen. Down seasons and missing the playoffs are a reality every fanbase will have to deal with. Alabama and Ole Miss missed the playoffs last year. Ohio State nearly did.

Dan Lanning remains the right coach for Oregon, and he's the right coach for the Ducks even if the team slumps to 8-4, this season or somewhere down the road. Fundamentals, teaching, running it clean, recruiting, playing with effort and hustle are the standards to judge a coaching staff. Winning and losing gets complicated.

When a program falters, hard questions should be answered and there absolutely has to be accountability. But around college football, there's a growing frenzy to fire the coach when things go bad. Chances are there will be three to four more dismissals by Sunday.

In a volatile competitive environment, it's best to set expectations with care and adjust them with wisdom and perspective. The rush to fire someone and pay out millions isn't always the right choice.

Designing a program for the long haul means enduring everything that comes with it. Lanning is going to win a national title at Oregon, but it may take faith and patience to get there.