Penn State coach James Franklin insisted it was the best deal around, getting to pick the brain of former NFL head coach Jim Haslett while Haslett, who wanted to stay involved in football after being let go as the Washington Redskins defensive coordinator, came at the right price.
“I know there were a bunch of conspiracy theories going around about what his actual role was, why I really hired him,” Franklin said in July. “We had a guy who has been coaching for 30 years, been a head coach, been a coordinator and we basically can get this guy for free and now I can bounce ideas off him.