Penn State Football: Meanwhile, in Southern California…

With the 2021 college football season at its halfway point, the coaching carousel is starting to spin faster. And State College is part of that circus — at least among the national media.

It was reported on Sunday that LSU and Ed Orgeron have agreed to part ways after this season. That means two of the highest-profile, three-letter acronym head coaching jobs in college football are open — at LSU and USC.

And CJF — Penn State Coach James Franklin — has been touted as a possibility in both openings.

Veteran ESPN reporter Adam Rittenberg on Sunday compiled a list of 10 possibilities for the LSU opening and included Franklin, whose Nittany Lions are 5-1 and No. 7 in the latest Associated Press poll.

Also on Rittenberg’s list is former Penn State grad assistant Joe Brady, who had a big hand in the success of Joe Burrow and the LSU offense that propelled LSU to the 2019 national title. Brady is currently the offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers in the NFL.

Here is what Rittenberg, who was on hand to cover last week’s Penn State game at Iowa, had to say about Franklin and LSU:

“Franklin’s name has surfaced more for the current coaching vacancy at USC, but he also might be an intriguing option for (LSU athletic director Scott) Woodward. He owns a Big Ten title and three top-10 finishes at Penn State and has another strong squad this year. Franklin had an incredible run at Vanderbilt and understands the recruiting demands in the SEC. He ultimately may want to stay at Penn State, which continues to increase its investment in the program. But Penn State also might have a ceiling that simply isn’t present at LSU.”

Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, who has a direct and personal pipeline to Franklin, sees the PSU coach as a candidate of sorts for the LSU job, but is succinct when it comes to James and the Giant USC Pitch: “We think Franklin is a prime target for the USC head coaching search.”

After an off-week, USC is 3-3 with a road game next Saturday at No. 13 Notre Dame. Since Clay Helton was fired as the Trojans’ head coach on Sept. 13, they are 2-2 under interim head coach Donte Williams.

They have lost two of their last three under Williams, a defensive-oriented coach, by a combined 87 to 53 to Oregon State and Utah. USC ranks No. 79 nationally in points allowed per game, at 27.3. (Penn State, under defensive coordinator Brent Pry, is No. 3, at 13.8 ppg.) Williams, in his second season with the Trojans, is the first black head football coach, fulltime or interim, at USC.

FINEBAUM: CJF IS A FINE FIT

Last week on The Dan Patrick Show, SEC insider Paul Finebaum said that USC would be a good fit for Franklin, who Finebaum knows from the coach’s days at Vanderbilt.

“I would hire James Franklin,” Finebaum said. “He checks a lot of boxes in the sense that he’s a very good CEO. Which means he’ll bring in a top-flight staff. From there, I think this program needs to be run like a big-time operation, which it hasn’t been.

“If I’m over at Penn State right now, I would be searching the yellow pages for a new coach, because I think Franklin is leaving.”

Franklin and Luke Fickell, head coach of No. 2 Cincinnati, are frequently cited by Los Angeles-based and national media as the two front-runners for the USC job. Fickell was hired at Cincinnati in December 2016 by the Cincy athletic director at the time, Mike Bohn. Bohn moved on and has been the AD at USC since November 2019. Prior to Cincinnati, Bohn was AD at Colorado, Idaho and San Diego State.

Carol Folt, the president of USC since 2019, has experience hiring a big-name head football coach. She was front and center as chancellor at North Carolina when NC hired Mack Brown in late 2018. Watch Folt and Brown here.

Late last week, Fickell – who was 6-7 as Ohio State’s interim head coach in 2011 — told Dennis Dodd of CBS:

“I really like Mike (Bohn). There are guys at places where there is bad blood. There’s none here. It’s not just because he hired me. He was an AD who played the game, too (as a QB at Kansas). So, for a coach in general, that’s a good thing in a lot of situations.”

It is likely that USC has made overtures to Franklin’s agent, Trace Armstrong, in the five weeks since Helton was fired, and it is conceivable that an offer to Franklin and/or Fickell — who is represented by super-agent Jimmy Sexton – has already been extended.

Helton made $5 million per year. Fickell makes $3.4 million a year. Franklin will make a base of $5.5 million in 2021, plus a $500,00 bonus if he is employed by Penn State on Dec. 31, 2021, plus another $200,000 minimum if PSU makes a bowl game (a win on Saturday vs. Illinois, and the Nittany Lions are bowl eligible). He also has access to the cash piece of an annual $1 million life insurance policy. If he leaves Penn State any time on or before Dec. 31, 2021, Franklin must pay the university $4 million. On Jan. 1, the buyout drops to $3 million. (When Bill O’Brien left Penn State to coach in the NFL, the Houston Texans wrote Penn State athletics a check for $5.8 million.)

Franklin has not addressed the situation publicly since mid-September, when I asked him at a mid-week presser: “Your name comes up every year for a job. Is there any reason you just don’t go, ‘Hey listen, I’m not interested. I’m staying.’ ’’

Franklin’s reply to my query back then: “I have. I have. But I’ve also found and tracked this over time that really no matter what you say, people aren’t happy with. So, I’ve decided that I’m going to handle this internally and talk to our team. It happens every single year. I’m not worried about distractions in the media and with the fans. I’m worried about my team. So, I talk my staff about it, I talk to the players about it, the leadership council, in detail. But I think that’s the best approach.”

THE U$C JOB

USC is well-positioned for success. In a recent article, The Athletic rated USC as the No. 6 best coaching job in college football, one spot behind LSU at No. 5. Penn State was No. 16.

USC had the No. 8 recruiting class in the nation in 2021, according to Rivals.com, while Penn State was No. 26. Currently, its 2022 class is ranked 34th in the country — Penn State’s is No. 1. However, Penn State has 26 verbal commitments, while USC has only 10. USC has two five-star commits, and has an average player ranking of 3.80 stars (Penn State’s average is 3.54).

In addition, in conjunction with sponsor United Airlines, USC recently completed a $315 million renovation of the historic LA Memorial Coliseum, which includes new suites, loge boxes and 650 video screens. The renovation dropped the seating capacity from 93,000 to 77,500. A new and charismatic head coach would certainly drive seat and suite sales. In 2021, USC ranks No. 23 in college football home attendance, at 54,302 – just about half of Penn State’s 107,024 average for 2021, second in the nation. In 2021, Cincinnati ranks No. 70 in the country in home attendance, at 35,738 fans per game.

USC’s #54k is a far cry from the 91,480 it averaged in the Coliseum in 2006. It has been almost a decade since it was built, but USC does have a 110,000-square foot football facility, named after John McKay, that cost $70 million.

Throw in proximity to myriad NIL opportunities, the rich recruiting rich hotbed of California, proximity to a major airport and a much easier path to the College Football Playoff than the loaded Big Ten East – whether the CFP is 4, 8 or 12 teams – and the USC head job is very intriguing.

Not to mention the presence of true freshman quarterback Jaxson Dart, who came off the bench against Washington State a few weeks ago and in his first college appearance was 30 of 46 passing for 391 yards, with four TD passes and two interceptions to lead USC to a 45-14 victory.

41 DAYS AND NIGHTS

With games against Notre Dame, Arizona State, crosstown rival UCLA and BYU left on their schedule, it’s hard to see the Trojans finishing better than 7-5; 6-6 is possible. While six wins make then bowl-eligible, Bohn may decide to call the 2021 a wash and get his new head coach in early.

For good reason: The new USC head coach has a lot of work to do on the recruiting trail, given that the Trojans only have 10 verbal commitments. (They gained 10 players and lost nine in the 2020-21 transfer portal.) The first NCAA national signing period is Dec. 15-17, while the second signing day is Feb. 2, 2022 — which just so happens to be James Franklin’s 50th birthday.

USC’s last regular season game is on Nov. 27 against BYU, while Penn State wraps up its regular season at Michigan State the same day. It would not be a surprise if Bohn named his new head coach a few days after that.

Penn State is certain to go a bowl game, but while a berth in the College Football Playoff is a possibility it is not likely. The Nittany Lions’ next 41 days will be very challenging. According to the NCAA, Penn State’s finishing slate of games ranks 14th toughest in the country, while its overall 2021 schedule is ranked No. 9.

The Nittany Lions play on the road at No. 5, 5-1 Ohio State (ESPN’s power index gives PSU a 20.6% chance of winning) and No. 9, 7-0 Michigan State (47.5%). They host 6-0 No. 6 Michigan (49.5%). Illinois, Maryland and Rutgers round out the schedule.

ESPN gives Penn State a 2.3% chance of winning out; a 3.7% chance of winning the conference; a 4.7% chance of making the CFP; and a .4% chance of winning the national championship.