Penn State reportedly down to James Franklin, Mike Munchak; no Al Golden

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.

Update, Jan. 5, 4:06 p.m. ET: And subtract Al Golden.

Penn State athletic director Dave Joyner said on Friday that PSU’s coaching search would take “days, not weeks,” and it looks as if that’s the case as the school sets its sights on two prominent coaches in the college ranks: Miami’s Al Golden and Vanderbilt’s James Franklin.

The Miami Herald reported on Saturday that Golden was likely to interview this weekend, and even that’s apparently longer than Penn State would have liked to wait:

A Miami football staffer who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Miami Herald in a text that Golden told him Friday evening that any reports about Golden leaving Miami for Penn State were “not true.”

But John Clark of NBC10 in Philadelphia posted on Twitter that a Penn State search committee will travel Saturday “to meet with Al Golden” and that the committee had intended to come Friday but the trip was “postponed because of snow.”

[...] ESPN reporter Joe Schad posted a tweet citing a Penn State source saying that Golden “agreed to speak about the opening as early as [Friday] because ‘It would be coming home.’ ”

It makes a certain degree of sense, seeing as how Golden is a former Penn State tight end in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and he’s done an admirable job weathering a storm of sanctions in Miami. There are unconfirmed reports that Golden’s already been offered the job by Penn State, but as CoachingSearch.com reports, the timing makes it hard to believe.

Also on the radar in a big way is Franklin, who had also been involved in the Texas search but appears to have been passed up for Charlie Strong (in a situation that’s obviously still developing). At any rate, Franklin seems like another program-builder that would be a good fit in Happy Valley, and lo and behold...

• Bowl season TV schedule, with scores and recaps along the way

• How champions are built: FSU vs. Auburn recruiting

• GIF: Oklahoma players break ESPN set during celebration

• College football news | Texas reportedly picking Charlie Strong

• Long CFB reads | The death of a college football player