Following a somewhat lengthy negotiation process that saw Vanderbilt desperately try to hold on for dear life, James Franklin was introduced as Penn State's 16th football coach this past Saturday.
The soon-to-be 42-year old Franklin has a 24-15 career coaching record and signed a 6-year $25.5 million deal with the Nittany Lions.
I love this hire.
Franklin has some villain qualities to him and those personal traits are only going to be magnified in Happy Valley. That's a big win for outsiders who haven't found Penn State to be all that appealing over the last few years, or longer.
He's also likely to improve the football program at some point but probably not enough where he'll compete with Ohio State and a couple other teams for Big Dog supremacy in the Big Ten. That frustration is going to be a treat to watch.
My favorite part from Franklin's press conference was when he said Penn State was going to "dominate the state and region" in recruiting. He's putting Rutgers, Temple, and Pitt on notice!
But seriously, Franklin is going to have to hit recruiting hard if he's to build up Penn State especially with the sanctions hanging around for a couple more seasons. Did you know that including the current 2014 verbals and stretching back to the 2011 class the Nittany Lions have signed just 16 four-star recruits? For reference, Alabama has 18 four-star recruits in the 2014 class alone, and even Notre Dame has 16 verbals from 4-star prospects in this cycle.
No wonder he's trying to get Rutgers to shake in their boots.
NATIONAL LINKS
Georgia got Florida State's Jeremy Pruitt to make a lateral move for a nice pay increase as he becomes the Bulldogs' defensive coordinator after leading the Seminoles to the national title.
Speaking of getting paid, the Georgia DC position was open because Todd Grantham is going to make $1 million per year doing the same job at Louisville. The Cardinals are not messing around with their athletics heading into the ACC next year.
Ohio State hired a new DC as well, signing Arkansas' Chris White. The Buckeyes also signed D-line coach Larry Johnson once he left Penn State a couple days ago.
Oregon promoted their linebackers coach Don Pellum to DC.
Alabama was able to sign Bo Davis away from USC after just 6 days in Los Angeles. David will the be Crimson Tide's new defensive line coach.
This story is fun. The ACC sued the University of Maryland to get the $52.3 million exit fee as the Terps head to the Big Ten in the fall. Maryland decided to turn it up to 11 and is counter-suing the ACC for $157 million claiming the ACC actively recruited 2 Big Ten schools to move to the ACC.
Stanford safety Ed Reynolds is passing up a fifth-year on the Farm to head to the NFL. So too is guard David Yankey. They made it a trifecta as tackle Cameron Fleming is passing up another year for the League too.
One of Arizona State's best defenders in Carl Bradford is leaving early for the NFL.
Former top national recruit Dorial Green-Beckham from Missouri was arrested for possession of marijuana for the second time in 15 months. This time he was pulled over with a pound of pot in his vehicle.
Long-time CBS personality Tim Brando is leaving the company after 18 years.
In case you were wondering the Coaches Poll is going to continue next year although the crystal BCS championship trophy is being retired.
The executive director of the Fiesta Bowl abruptly resigned.
The final 247 Sports rankings are out for the 2014 class and A&M commit Myles Garrett moves up to the top player in the country.
IRISH LINKS
B/R: Fallout from NFL Departures & Suspensions
B/R: Why DT is the Key to the 2014 Class
HLS: Notre Dame to Replace Adidas with Under Armour
UHND: Ranking the 2014 Units