I feel bad for Vanderbilt. I really and truly do. The betrayal we felt two weeks ago when Bill O'Brien abandoned us for the Texans is the same sort of betrayal I imagine Commodores are feeling in Nashville right now.
It's official; Vanderbilt's James Franklin will succeed Bill O'Brien as Penn State's head coach after the Board of Trustees approved his contract this morning at a 9 a.m. public conference call. Franklin becomes the 16th head coach in program history and the fifth in the last three seasons, when including interim coaches Tom Bradley and Larry Johnson.
The Vanderbilt football team will hold a meeting tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. (9 a.m. ET) for James Franklin to say goodbye to the team he las led for three years, The Tennesseean and other sources are reporting tonight.
Four-star quarterback recruit Michael O'Connor drove to State College with his family today but has not made a final decision regarding his early enrollment, he told Ryan Snyder. O'Connor was initially supposed to begin classes this semester but decided to reconsider his enrollment after Bill O'Brien announced he was leaving Penn State to coach the Houston Texans.
When athletic director Dave Joyner said the coaching search would be over in a matter of days, he meant it -- nine days, to be exact.
While many people have expressed excitement over the imminent James Franklin hire, at least one Penn State College of Communications professor (and 117 supporters, as of publishing time) are not happy with it.