Penn State coaching search ends with Vandy’s James Franklin

Will James Franklin succeed at Penn State? I don’t know. PSU’s certainly going all-in on it, reportedly giving him a six-year deal worth top-10 money.

We have reasons to doubt he’ll win in the Big Ten. It’s a bigger job on a bigger stage, the NCAA’s scholarship and bowl ban sanctions are ongoing, and he hasn’t proved he’s capable of winning over a period of many years.

After days of speculation and reports that a deal was close to being done, Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin has officially been named as the next head coach at Penn State.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am to come home,” the Pennsylvania native said in a statement released by Penn State. “I grew up watching Penn State football, and now to be at the helm of such a storied program is a tremendous honor. It’s important to me to be a part of a university that strives for excellence in everything they do. When football student-athletes come to Penn State, they have a unique opportunity to receive a premium education while playing at the highest level of competition.

Vanderbilt officials, including athletic director David Williams, will meet with head coach James Franklin either Friday or Saturday in an effort to keep him in Nashville, multiple sources tell SB Nation. The school is expected to make a counter offer to the head coach, re-structuring his deal in a hope to steer him away from his rumored departure to Penn State.

Multiple Vanderbilt sources believe Franklin has not yet signed any official agreement with Penn State. The coach has not communicated with players or staff in Nashville. A handshake agreement is reportedly in place with Penn State, and a contract is expected to be approved by the school on Saturday, according to a report from ESPN’s Brett McMurphy.

The Penn State Nittany Lions reportedly have their man, with an expected hire of Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin coming shortly, according to CBS Sports’ Bruce Feldman and ESPN’s Brett McMurphy. Football Scoop’s Scott Roussel confirms the reports.

We’ll know more soon.

Welcome to COACHWATCH, the weekly review of the coaching carousel.

With Texas hiring Charlie Strong and Louisville quickly going back to the future with Bobby Petrino, Penn State stands as the only BCS-conference program still looking for a head coach.

Penn State will interview San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman for its vacant head coaching position, according to CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora. The Nittany Lions are looking for a replacement for Bill O’Brien, who was hired as the head coach of the Houston Texans late last month.

Reports on Monday indicated that Penn State was focused primarily on former Titans coach (and PSU alum) Mike Munchak as well as Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin. Franklin was the frontrunner for the job on Tuesday, per CBS’ Bruce Feldman, but Vanderbilt also has been working hard to keep him in Nashville. Additionally, PSU’s search may have taken a disappointing turn Tuesday -- take from that what you will.

Vanderbilt managed to ward off potential suitors for James Franklin during his first two seasons as head coach, but with some high-profile openings within college football, plus some interested parties in the NFL, the task is getting tougher. Still, Vandy athletics director David Williams remains optimistic that the school will be able to retain Franklin.

Williams said Monday that he is willing to re-work Franklin’s contract, and that he’s approaching things as though the coach isn’t going anywhere.

Update, Jan. 5, 10:54 a.m. ET: Add one more name to the list.

Munchak was fired by the Titans after going 7-9 this season. The Pennsylvania native was a three-year starting offensive lineman at Penn State, playing there under Joe Paterno from 1978 to 1981. He has no college coaching experience, having spent his entire post-college career with the Oilers/Titans franchise.

If you have any doubt whatsoever that the top of college football belongs in its own division, that it has become its own separate sport, its own separate monster, take one look at Penn State and Texas and the burgeoning messes surrounding their head coaching searches.

In the wake of now-former Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien agreeing to join the Houston Texans, David Jones at PennLive.com wrote a startling column about a conversation he’d had with O’Brien just weeks prior, in which O’Brien’s frustrations with the program’s establishment were boiling over:

The Texans sported the worst record in the NFL in 2013. O’Brien follows Dom Capers and Gary Kubiak as just the third head coach in the franchise’s history, the first to be hired from the collegiate ranks.

Multiple high-profile names from both the NFL and college ranks have been named as potential candidates for the Penn State position, which is one of the most coveted in college sports, despite ongoing sanctions. We can also expect several names from Penn State’s last coaching search to be mentioned again.

Penn Sate is compiling a list of candidates in case Bill O’Brien leaves for the NFL, and Vanderbilt’s James Franklin is at the top of the list, according to David Jones of the Patriot-News.

Franklin was born in Pennsylvania and played college football at East Stroudsburg University. His ties to the area could make him an even more attractive candidate for the Nittany Lions. According to Jones, PSU athletic director Dave Joyner has connections to Franklin through third parties who are “very impressed with him.”

“The results over the past two years have not lived up to our standards and we believe the time has come to find a new direction,” said Buccaneers Co-Chairman Bryan Glazer in a team statement. “Mark has been a valued member of our organization for two decades and we respect the passion he showed for the Buccaneers during his time here. We thank Greg for his hard work and effort the past two seasons, but we feel these moves are necessary in order to achieve our goals.”

Schiano and the Bucs made plenty of national headlines during his stint, but not for the reasons they probably wanted. Schiano’s tactics drew criticism from players and other coaches. There was a mass exodus of players early on his career. Those who didn’t buy into his “my way or the highway” approach were shipped out. One report earlier this year said there was an “atmosphere of fear and distrust” among the players. Another report said coaches around the NFL view Schiano as a bully and one didn’t expect him to last very long unless he changed his ways.

Texas and Penn State aren’t the only hot coaching jobs reported to be potential destinations for rising star and Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin. NFL teams are apparently looking at the young coach, Ian Rapoport is reporting.

Franklin is one of four coaches reportedly being considered strongly for the Texas job, and has also reportedly been eyeing the Penn State job, which could become open if Bill O’Brien leaves for the NFL.

Penn State athletic director Dave Joyner is already pushing to hire Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano in the event of Bill O’Brien leaving for the Houston Texans, according to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapaport.

Rapaport is also reporting that O’Brien has told assistants to prepare for the move.

Welcome to COACHWATCH, the weekly roundup of news from the college football coaching carousel. It’s usually all about Texas these days.

We interrupt this regularly scheduled Texas update with a non-Texas item. After hiring one football coach in 61 years, Penn State might be hiring its second coach in two.

O’Brien has been in charge of the Nittany Lions since the start of the 2012 season, and he’s done a fine job in the face of tough NCAA sanctions. Penn State went 8-4 in 2012, finishing second in the Big Ten Leaders Division with a 6-2 conference record. This year, the Nittany Lions posted a 7-5 mark overall and 4-4 B1G record, good for third in the Leaders Division. O’Brien won national coach of the year awards following the 2012 season.

O’Brien’s also been connected to the Vikings and Texans jobs by CBS Sports.

Schiano has previously been linked to the Penn State job going back to 2011 and 2012. The speculation stems from the fact that Schiano once worked as an assistant in Happy Valley, and has extensive experience coaching at the college level. He was the head coach at Rutgers for 11 years before being hired by the Bucs.

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