James Franklin has a list of names he is targeting for Penn State football’s next offensive coordinator. But Franklin explained the ideal timeline of this hire to the media.

The news buzzing around State College, PA right now is who will serve as the Penn State football offensive coordinator in 2024 and how soon will he be hired. While we may not know the answer to who, James Franklin did provide some context on when we should expect a new hire today. This all of course depends on who the target is, if they are currently in a similar role in the NFL or college, and will that person be available in the right timeline. But James Franklin has a working track record of getting new coordinators up to speed if the timing works out while trying to replace Mike Yurcich.

James Franklin sets ideal timeline for new OC hire

Mike Yurcich was fired on Sunday afternoon. For James Franklin to make such a decision for the Penn State football team indicates that a new target is already on his mind and that he wants to move quickly to make this deal happen.

If that’s the case, what would be more important is how soon can this new offensive coordinator get on campus and be around the team. Not only to install their new system but to learn about Penn State and what team he is inheriting.

When asked about his ideal hiring timeline today Franklin said, “Yeah, sooner rather than later, right? That’s hard, you know hiring someone is like a full-time job. So, you can’t really have two full-time jobs right now. So, the most important thing is for us to play well this week and finish the season the right way.”

Franklin continued, “I already have a list. It’s narrowing it down, it’s running all of the numbers, it’s seeing if people are interested. And then, trying to that turned over as soon as we possibly can through maybe some Zoom calls, some in-person interviews.

And then I think if you could have a situation like we did with Manny [Diaz], where we hired him, had him here for the bowl game, I think we’ve done that at other times as well. So now they’re here, they’re around the guys, they see how we operate, they see how we meet. They get a feel for the culture and they get to watch and evaluate players…”

Could the timeline change for someone in the NFL?

This conversation will be much different if James Franklin pursues someone like Joe Brady to replace Mike Yurcich. It’s a name that has been thrown around a lot recently as the next potential offensive coordinator at Penn State. Brady is currently the quarterbacks coach with the Buffalo Bills.

For someone like him, he would likely finish the NFL season with the Bills and then join the team. So, it depends on the source of the hire and if they’re in current roles that they need to finish before coming to Penn State.