Paul Finebaum addresses Matt Rhule's comments on Penn State opening: 'He wants the job'

Penn State shocked the college football world this week when it parted ways with long-time head coach James Franklin, who had been with the program since 2014. Franklin led the Nittany Lions to a 104-45 (64-36) record over 12 seasons, but back-to-back-to-back losses to No. 6 Oregon, previously 0-4 UCLA and Northwestern this season ended his tenure.

Athletic Director Pat Kraft will now head the program’s first head coaching search since the 2013 offseason, when head coach Bill O’Brien departed for the Houston Texans after spending two seasons in Happy Valley. Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule, who played college football at Penn State (1994-97) and coached under Kraft at Temple (2013-16), has emerged as the prime candidate for the opening.

During Friday morning’s edition of ‘Get Up,’ ESPN‘s Paul Finebaum was adamant that Rhule would want the job. Rhule has led the Cornhuskers to a 17-14 record over three seasons.

“He wants the job,” Finebaum said. “There’s a lot of reasons. He played at Penn State and his best friend, by the way, is the Athletic Director (Pat Kraft), who was his boss at Temple, where Matt Rhule had great success. He hasn’t had a lot since then with the (Carolina) Panthers, well, he did at Baylor excuse me. But he hasn’t had it at Nebraska.

“But I think he fits there well, and Penn State is about fit. I don’t think anybody can fit that job better. (Curt) Cignetti is now out of the picture. Matt Rhule, to me, is the de facto choice. I would hire him today, although that’s not possible since he’s coaching at Nebraska.”

Matt Rhule declares Nebraska ‘a destination job’

With his name being floated as a candidate at Penn State, Rhule went on record to call Nebraska a ‘destination job’ during an appearance on Thursday’s edition of ‘The Pat McAfee Show.’

“With my team, it’s just unbridled honestly,” Rhule said. “You tell them the truth and don’t B.S. ‘em, because they’ll know. And secondly, just with what’s out there, this is it, this is part of (being a coach). It’s better than when I was in Carolina and they were chanting to fire me; it’s better than being on a hot seat list. So having other schools maybe be interested in you is pretty cool. But I don’t do that during the season, I don’t mess around with that, I don’t play that.”

“And, at the same time, (Nebraska) is not a jumping-off job. This is a destination job. This is one of the greatest places in the world. … I can do whatever I want here. I have a great young team, the youngest team in the Big Ten. Think about how good we’ll be next year. Now I’m not thinking about next year, but where we are right now, we’re learning, learning, learning. Think about where we’re going to go with (sophomore quarterback) Dylan (Raiola) and all these guys. So I refuse to be distracted.”

Until a new name emerges, Rhule currently seems to be the favorite for the Penn State head coaching job. He and his team will look to block out these rumors Friday night when they travel to Minnesota for a Big Ten clash.