What’s the story with the change at WR coach?
That would be Taylor Stubblefield, the man who stabilized the Penn State receivers coach position after three previous years of musical chairs. By and large, Stubblefield’s receivers did one thing that his predecessors in the job didn’t always seem to accomplish – they caught the damn ball. He produced arguably the two single best Penn State receivers of the past six seasons (2017-22) – Jahan Dotson in 2021 and Parker Washington in 2022.
But he didn’t recruit or mine the transfer portal at a level James Franklin believed was necessary to challenge Ohio State. And when you look at the job new OSU offensive coordinator Brian Hartline did there as receivers coach, well, there’s no arguing that. Hartline produced one stud after another during that window, often deployed simultaneously – Marvin Harrison, Emeka Egbuka, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Parris Campbell, K.J. Hill. That’s not even counting some of the stockpiled talent that couldn’t always get on field and/or were injured, such as Julian Fleming.
So, the fact is that, while Stubblefield upgraded the room and was a very good teacher of the craft, he wasn’t signing enough raw talent to compete with Penn State’s most important rival.
Here’s what I’ve learned about how the firing went down:
The tipping point occurred because Franklin wanted to sign a better 2023 class from both high schools and the portal than the staff delivered for which, of course, he substantially blamed Stubblefield. Still, I’m told that when he notified the assistant last Saturday night that they should meet, Stubblefield was not suspecting a dismissal. When the Sunday meeting occurred and Franklin informed him he was making a change, I understand that Stubblefield was quite surprised.
The meeting grew somewhat contentious beginning with Franklin’s assertion that the WR room was not producing enough and Stubblefield’s rebuttal that it had produced Washington and Dotson and the most functional and consistent unit of the offense, certainly in 2020 and 2021. That Washington had made one acrobatic catch after another in 2022 including his best game (11-179) at the most important moment – the 44-31 loss to Ohio State. That it even performed well without the injured Washington late in the 2022 season and in the Rose Bowl with Stubblefield portal signee Mitchell Tinsley starring in the 35-21 win over Utah.
The focus shifted to the 2023 portal signings. It’s known that onetime PSU commit Dont’e Thornton of Oregon (who officially signed with Tennessee 11 days ago), Kaden Prather of West Virginia (who officially signed with Maryland 16 days ago), Devin Carter of North Carolina State (who signed with West Virginia 10 days ago, 9 days after verbally committing to PSU in the wake of the Rose Bowl win), and Devontez Walker of Kent State (who signed with North Carolina a month ago) were targets Franklin wanted to have signed. That they were not, by all accounts, contributed to Stubblefield’s undoing. There was also some disagreement between the two about who should be pursued.
Here’s where the story begins to reflect the new era we’ve entered. I’m not going to name names but it’s already become common for sought-after recruits or transfers to name a price for their signature – 6 figures or even 7 depending on how many bidders are active. Either you come up with it or you’re not a player. The sell job isn’t cutting it anymore.
For decades, Penn State has been accustomed to simply stacking up the prowess of both their athletic and academic brands against other schools and signing kids based sheerly on that comparison. With the emergence of NIL and the portal, those days are over. Money talks and BS… you know the phrase.
Penn State has the donors and the money. And their brand still matters, just not as much. The trick will now be to identify high-character individuals with requisite talent and quickly pay them what they’re worth. I’m not certain Penn State has ironed out that process yet, but I’m sure it will because there is no choice.
In the meantime, I think Stubblefield was a guy caught in the crossfire of the Wild West as everyone tries to negotiate a transition. He was clearly good at coaching and teaching what he did very amply as a player at Purdue – catching the football, in traffic, in the clear, contested balls and not, gaining yards after the catch. That instruction skill will never go out of style and he will always find work.
But the job description of a major-college assistant became much more than that, almost during his PSU tenure. All college coaches are trying to adapt to the new lack of control in which they find themselves immersed; that’s Stubblefield and everybody else. I also don’t think that’s a bad thing. College players and their families have deserved more power for a long time. Now, they have it.
But the pressure on staff members to sign talent has never been higher than it is now. Stubblefield’s story is just one example.
