Bruce Feldman gives latest update on James Franklin job status

As the coaching carousel turns and the regular season comes to an end, speculation about job openings is reaching peak heights. 

At the center of the talk remains Penn State head coach James Franklin and whether he will move on from Happy Valley after eight seasons.

Bruce Feldman, a Fox college football reporter and writer for The Athletic, joined “The Paul Finebaum Show” on Thursday to discuss the latest news surrounding Franklin, who is rumored to be in contention for both the USC and LSU jobs. 

“I don’t think this is going to happen, but if he was the USC hire, I think there would be a lot of people that were like ‘I could see that. That makes a lot of sense,’” Feldman said.

USC was the first big job to open after they fired former head coach Clay Helton on Sept. 13. The Trojans are 3-4 under interim head coach Donte Williams and 4-5 overall.

In the SEC, on Oct. 17, LSU announced they would part ways with head coach Ed Orgeron at the end of this season. The Tigers are 4-6 and fighting for bowl eligibility. Would someone with Franklin’s track record excite the LSU faithful?

“On the flip side of it, if he is going to be the guy that, let’s say, Scott Woodward’s gonna announce, I don’t know how that would play down there,” Feldman added about the LSU opening. “Because he’s obviously coached in the SEC, he has recruited really well. But at this point I feel like there’s a big portion of the fanbase at Penn State that is very frustrated because they hear his name come up a lot. I think they feel like they keep expecting them to compete with Ohio State and have top-10 seasons, and it’s been a little while since that point.”

Penn State has reached double-digit wins three times under Franklin in 2016, 2017 and 2019, and he has a 66-32 record there as a head coach. Additionally, they won the Big Ten Championship in 2016. But since 2019, they have gone 10-9 since their last 11-win campaign.

Despite all of the talk, Feldman believes Franklin could end up staying in State College.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if he did a long-term deal there and just said ‘Hey, this is where I want my family to be. No more uncertainty about it,’” he added. “But you look at some of the comments he’s made at times this year, and it’s hard to read what’s going on there.”

Earlier this week, Franklin acknowledged fans’ concerns but added this is not the first time he has been considered for other jobs, and the Nittany Lions have fared well under those circumstances.