Texas Football: 3 Head coach candidates after Urban Meyer says no

James Franklin

It might be hard for some to understand why James Franklin is on this list, especially as he coaches a 2-4 team at Penn State. But, if you take out this season and even now, the Nittany Lions have won two in a row, he has a pretty solid resume and he has been mentioned in connection with the job.

Going back to his days at Vanderbilt, Franklin led the Commodores to three consecutive bowl games, as well as back-to-back nine-win seasons. Again, he did that at Vanderbilt.

At Penn State, it took Franklin a little time to get going, but prior to this season, the Nittany Lions have won 11 games in three of the past four seasons, made it into a New Year’s Six game three times and finished in the top 10 of the final AP poll three times.

Beyond that, Franklin has experience in the SEC and that experience should help him recruiting in the state of Texas. The thing is, Texas football has always sort of recruited itself. It needs a coach that will get results and Franklin, like him or not, is a proven winner.