It appears that Rhuleās buyout would be in the $5-$6 million range, chump change for Penn State these days and a small fraction of the $49 million theyāll owe Franklin.
Mike Nolan
It sounds like thereās a lot of people who want Curt Cignetti, HC at Indiana, whoās also from Pennsylvania. He just signed a new contract and has a $10M buyout.
My older son, who lives in Pittsburgh, says the rumor mill there has been speculating about Rhule for several days, anticipating the firing.
Ok thereās no indication at all the Rhule is their ātop candidateā besides a lot of speculation from talking heads.
Well, Penn State canāt say anything about going after a coach still on contract somewhere else, and I think the Big Ten has even stricter rules on it. They have to ask for permission to talk to him.
But I believe they can have a third party contact Rhuleās agent any time and retain plausible deniability that theyāve contacted Rhule.
My guess is Rhuleās agent has already told him to say nothing. Even āno commentā might be misinterpreted. But he normally meets with the team on Sunday and Iām sure that the players and assistant coaches were at least thinking about it. And he usually meets with the media on Monday, and thatās likely to be their first question. And itāll probably be the lead-in to the game at Minnesota on Friday.
Of all the names Iāve seen suggested, perhaps the silliest is Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.
I hope that Rhule sees Nebraska as the better alternative! I think he is truly building a great team here in Lincoln.
Go Big Red!
ā LynetteLynette Peavey
831-801-2730
ESPN says Rhule talked about loving being at Nebraska but didnāt squelch the possibility of leaving, so the rumor mill will continue to churn. Several Penn State commits have already backed off, it wouldnāt surprise me if commits for schools whose coaches are on the media short lists for Penn State start seeing some hesitation on the part of their commits, too. (Nebraska, Indiana, Iowa State, among others.)
Itās interesting to see how the local media is changing the spin on Rhuleās Monday media session. At first they were echoing the national mediaās line of how he didnāt squelch rumors about his interest in the Penn State job, but now theyāre pointing out all the ties and investments he and his family have made in Nebraska.
I wasnāt at Northwestern until after Ara had left for Notre Dame, but there was a lot of residual resentment over his leaving. And I remember all too well the rumors that Gary Barnett was interviewing for a job in LA while prepping Northwestern to play in the Rose Bowl and how he left a few years later for Colorado, where he basically flopped. (49-38)
Iām kind of hoping Penn State goes after Cignetti, even though heās 64. Heās a bit of a jerk and Penn State deserves a jerk to replace their recently departed jerk.
I guess I am totally unaware of why Penn State deserves a jerk nor did I realize Franklin was a jerk. The only thing that I can think of is the Sandusky thing and how it was grossly mishandled.
There are a lot examples of coaches leaving a program for another program because of personal reasons. One example is Roy Williams leaving Kansas for North Carolina in basketball. This isnāt an exact quote but Williams said something like āKansas was a great program and place to live but certain things tug at your heart and that he wouldnāt have left Kansas for any other program.
A coaches loyalty most of the time is way different than a fans loyalty. There are personal things that usually weigh a lot heavier than the program where they currently are at. Penn State is where Rhule went to college, where he played football, where he met his wife, and the strong ties Rhule has with the Penn State AD. The AD even gave Ruhle his first college coaching job at temple. Those things are tough to ignore no matter how much you like where youāre at.
One of the situations like that happened at UNL was with Van Horn. He had built a great baseball program and took teams to the CWS. But he had ties to Arkansas that pulled at him. I hated to see him go but it was totally understandable. He is another one that said something like Williams that Arkansas is the only place he would have left Nebraska for.
John Papenhagen
On his personality, I agree on the jerk-ness of Cignetti. He crosses the line between self-confidence and arrogance. On Cignettiās coaching success at Indiana, it certainly appears real after a year and a half.
If Rhule does jump, I do wonder what our backup plans are and who weād target for replacing him.
When Franklin was at Vandy, Northwestern had a multi-year home/home deal going with them. After a couple of losses to the Cats, Franklin cancelled the remaining games with less than a yearās notice on the first one, and the Cats had to really scramble to find a replacement game. As I recall, they replaced Northwestern with a typical SEC creampuff opponent.
Speculation had it that he didnāt want another loss to Northwestern to affect his ability to move up in the coaching ranks, which he did soon afterwards.
I actually liked Joe Paterno, I thought Penn State treated him badly, especially since he was dying of lung cancer at the time, which they probably knew.
Not that I generally make a habit of agreeing with Paul F., but:
If Cignetti had put up this kind of a record at Vanderbilt or Mississippi State, Paul F would be calling him the best thing since sliced bread. Heās an SEC shill, through and through.
Is Cignetti brash? Yeah. So what coaches arenāt a bit brash about their success these days? Even Tom Osborne rubbed some people the wrong way.
I donāt typically agree with Finebaum but there are sometimes he absolutely nails it. Of course he is a SEC shill but I can name a lot of reporters that were Husker shills over the years as well.
John Papenhagen
I guess Paul has never listened to Lane Kiffin.
Indiana has given Curt CIgnetti a new 8-year deal worth about $93 million. It has a buyout clause of $15 million, up from $10 million in his current contract.