Last weekend, the College Football landscape was turned on it's head as the Penn State Nittany Lions fired James Franklin after a 3-3 start to the season. One of the biggest programs in the Country is now without a coach and their impending search has dozens of programs on high alert that their coach could be poached as a result.
The next few months will be filled with rumors and reports tying different coaches to the job, but it's more likely that Penn State already has a plan with a short list of coaches. In order to fire a Head Coach like James Franklin, you have to know that there's a better option on the move and willing to take your job.
Urban Meyer believes Penn State knows it's successor
On his Podcast, "The Triple Option" Urban Meyer broke down the options Penn State has and how the school likely moves forward.
Urban Meyer started by talking about how schools like UCLA and Virginia Tech are approaching their hiring processes as they hired search firms to find potential candidates. Meyer broke down how Penn State's a different situation as it's a far bigger and more attractive job.
"Penn State is a whole different animal, in that way, the head coach at the other school can say he hasn’t really spoken to anyone and the AD can say ‘I’ve never talked to that coach.’ Because he hasn’t. It’s all through third-party stuff. They get the list together and go start recruiting or whatever when that’s done. At Penn State, I think it’s a whole different animal."Urban Meyer
Meyer is indicating that Penn State's Athletic Director already has a name or two in mind to replace James Franklin and that you have to have an idea what you're going to do if you're firing a coach like Franklin while taking on a massive buyout.
"When you fire a coach, when his record was 104-45 and was in the Rose Bowl, Peach Bowl and a score away from playing for a National Championship. And 16 days ago, he could have had the possible No. 1 team in the country. I don’t think you make that move, with a $75 million dollar expense coming, unless you know who you’re gonna hire."Urban Meyer
The coach everyone will believe Penn State is targeting is Nebraska's Matt Rhule based on the fact he played at Penn State and coached at Temple with current Penn State AD Pat Kraft as his AD. While Rhule seems like the most likely candidate, we'll have to wait and see who ends up taking the job to know for certain if there was a plan.