The Five Schools Where James Franklin Would Be A Great Fit

On January 9th, James Franklin was eight minutes away from his Penn State Nittany Lions playing for the national championship. Not even one year later, he finds himself unemployed, a stunning fall from grace as we have seen in college football.

While much of the discourse has swirled around Franklin's faults as a head coach (and who should replace him in Happy Valley), there are plenty of schools that could do far worse.

Franklin is fourth among active coaches with a .681 winning percentage (minimum 10 years), behind only Kirby Smart, Dabo Swinney, and Brian Kelly (lol). 

These five schools - even though some are still working with their current head man - should be calling Franklin's agent, just to say hi.

The Obvious Choice: Maryland

If the Terps collapse over the finishing kick, and if the program goes in a different direction from Mike Locksley ...

Not only did Franklin serve on Ralph Friedgen's staff at Maryland as offensive coordinator, but he was also named coach-in-waiting in 2009 before taking the head job at Vanderbilt in 2010.

Maryland has had four winning seasons since joining the Big Ten in 2014 and hasn't come close to playing in the conference championship game.

If Franklin accomplishes 80% of what he did at Penn State in College Park, Terps fans and boosters would be overjoyed.

The Safe Choice: Wisconsin

The Badgers know who they are: they're not as good as Ohio State and Michigan consistently are, but they can be competitive on an annual basis and, if everything breaks right, be in the mix for the Big Ten title... which is what Franklin was at Penn State.

With Luke Fickell likely done in Madison after this year, Franklin could help get Wisconsin back to where they were under Barry Alvarez and Bret Bielema this century: 12 winning seasons out of 13, a few conference titles, and a New Year's Day bowl appearance here and there.

The Upside Choice: Virginia Tech

The Hokies are 2-5, fired head coach Brent Pry weeks ago, and almost certainly won't be in a bowl game.

Yet, this was Lane Stadium on Saturday for a home game... against Cal: