Penn State fires WRs coach Stubblefield, who believes he did good job

NOTE: Just so everyone is clear on the timeline, this story was published literally a few minutes before news broke about wide receiver Dante Cephas transferring to Penn State. Was it all just a coincidence? I seriously doubt it, although we may never fully know.

ALTOONA, Pa. -- Penn State's wide receiver situation is kind of a mess right now, and the assistant coach in charge of it was fired Sunday.

The school released the following statement about Taylor Stubblefield, who just wrapped up his third season as receivers coach:

Penn State head football coach James Franklin announced wide receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield has been relieved of his duties, effective immediately.

“I would like to thank Taylor for his efforts during his time with Penn State but feel it is in our program’s best interest to make a change at this time. I wish him and his family nothing but the best in the future,” Franklin said.

Franklin will immediately begin a national search for Stubblefield’s replacement.

Stubblefield also served as the offensive recruiting coordinator.

While we may never know the exact reasons for Franklin's decision to fire Stubblefield, the truth of the matter is that Penn State faces a difficult situation at the wide receiver situation. The No. 1 receiver this past season, Parker Washington, declared early for the NFL draft, while No. 2 receiver Mitchell Tinsley is out of eligibility.

We detailed the tough situation right here with regards to Penn State's issues at wide receiver heading into next season. Not only do the Nittany Lions not have a proven highly productive receiver on the roster, they also have failed to land a wideout so far from the transfer portal.

How much of this was Stubblefield's fault? That's not something that's ever likely to be discussed publicly by Franklin, who doesn't dive too much into personnel matters.

To fire an assistant coach after an 11-2 season is strange, without a doubt. But clearly Franklin didn't like what he saw with Stubblefield leading the wide receiver room, so the unusual change was made.

Here's what Stubblefield had to say about his time at Penn State, and I encourage you to click on the tweet to read it. His message is very interesting and revealing, because it sounds like a guy who feels like he did a really good job and is using his goodbye message as a way of disputing that he would need to be fired.