Oregon State, Penn State fire their football head coaches

Oregon State fired coach Trent Bray on Sunday after the team fell to 0-7, while James Franklin is out at Penn State.

Oct 12, 2025, 12:00 PM Updated: 12:16 pm

Oregon State head coach Trent Bray on Oct. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

(AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Oregon State fired coach Trent Bray on Sunday after the team fell to 0-7, its worst start to a season since 1991.

And in the Big Ten, James Franklin is out at Penn State, fired less than 24 hours after a 22-21 home loss to Northwestern all but ended whatever remote chance the preseason No. 2 team had of reaching the College Football Playoff.

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Robb Akey will be Oregon State’s interim head coach for the rest of the seson pending a national search for Bray’s successor, athletic director Scott Barnes said.

Oregon State is one of two remaining Pac-12 teams along with the WSU Cougars. The Pac-12 is set to add seven new members next fall.

“I want to thank Coach Bray for the energy and determination he brought to the role. A former student-athlete, proud graduate, and dedicated mentor, Trent’s connection to Oregon State runs deep — he will always be a Beaver,” Barnes said. “This was a difficult decision, but the results on the field were not acceptable and after evaluating every aspect of the football program, I believe it is in the best interests of OSU football student-athletes, our fans and our university.”

The move came a day after backup quarterback Deshawn Purdie threw for 270 yards and four touchdowns in his first start for Wake Forest and the visiting Demon Deacons beat Oregon State 39-14 in front of a listless home crowd. The Beavers haven’t started this poorly since 1991, when they started 0-10.

After the game, Bray said he planned to keep showing up “until they tell me I can’t.”

“I’m frustrated. I’m disappointed. I look at myself, and I’ve got to fix it,” Bray said after the game. “It’s unacceptable to me where we’re at. That’s just how I look at it. What can I do? I’ve got to look at it. What can I do different to get these guys going?”

A week ago, Oregon State fired special teams coach Jamie Christian and Barnes said he and Bray were evaluating the program with an eye toward making immediate changes.

The buyout of Bray’s contract will be paid “exclusively using donor-generated funds,” the school said.

Akey is a veteran coach with experience in college and as an NFL assistant.

At Penn State, Terry Smith will serve as the interim head coach for the rest of the season for the Nittany Lions (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten), who began the year with hopes of winning the national title only to have those hopes evaporate by early October amid a string of losses, each one more stinging than the last.

Penn State, which reached the CFP semifinals 10 months ago, fell at home to Oregon in overtime in late September. A road loss at previously winless UCLA followed. The final straw came on Saturday at Beaver Stadium, where the Nittany Lions let Northwestern escape with a victory and lost quarterback Drew Allar to injury for the rest of the season.

Franklin went 104-45 during his 11-plus seasons at Penn State. Yet the Nittany Lions often stumbled against top-tier opponents, going 4-21 against teams ranked in the top 10 during his tenure.

There was hope this fall might be the one when Penn State would finally break through. Yet after three easy wins during a light non-conference schedule, the Nittany Lions crumbled.

Athletic director Pat Kraft said the school owes Franklin — who is owed nearly $50 million in a buyout — an “enormous amount of gratitude” for leading the Nittany Lions back to relevance but felt it was time to make a change.

“We hold our athletics programs to the highest of standards, and we believe this is the right moment for new leadership at the helm of our football program to advance us toward Big Ten and national championships,” Kraft said.

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