With Florida State looking to come to a relatively quick resolution on its job search, Penn State’s James Franklin has reportedly been contacted by the Seminoles. According to a report from Brendan Sonnone of 247 Sports, Franklin is being considered a top target to fill the vacancy in Tallahassee to lead the Florida State football program.
FSU continues to focus on Penn State coach James Franklin as a top candidate for its coaching vacancy:https://t.co/9zNGW4pJoY
— Brendan Sonnone (@BSonnone) November 26, 2019
Franklin has Penn State currently in a position to play ina third New Years Six bowl game under his leadership in Happy Valley, a tenure that includes one victory in the Big Ten championship game and a Fiesta Bowl victory over Washington. Penn State will have a chance to go 10-2 this season on Saturday with a win over Rutgers. There are plenty of reasons to suspect Franklin would be an ideal candidate for Florida State given his ability to recruit talent to a program, of which Florida State could quickly turn things around and begin to close the gap on Clemson in the ACC. However, this could also be a strategy to ink a contract extension at Penn State, a practice that is not at all uncommon this time of the year.
Franklin is no stranger to hearing his name tied to various coaching rumors. It’s been a few years seeing Franklin having his name attached to any potential opening at USC if and when the Trojans move on from Clay Helton (a coaching change that could potentially be on hold for at least one more season at this point). Franklin would surely be a good hire by USC or Florida State, if he ultimately decides to move on from his current position at Penn State, which is a pretty good one itself.
Florida State reportedly has some other candidates on its list of potential targets as well, including Minnesota head coach PJ Fleck, Memphis head coach Mike Norvell and Iowa State’s Matt Campbell.
Franklin has not commented on this latest news regarding the Florida State opening, but expect some questions to fly around the postgame press conference on Saturday after Penn State closes out the regular season against Rutgers.