In a big Penn State coaching search update, Matt Rhule will not be the next guy in Happy Valley.
Per a report by Josh Peterson of Sports Illustrated, the Nebraska coach “has signed a multi-year extension with Nebraska, keeping the third-year head coach of the Cornhuskers in Lincoln beyond 2030. This, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.”
Peterson reported that an official announcement from the school is expected Thursday.
When Penn State fired James Franklin Oct. 12, an immediate thought was that Rhule would be a natural successor. For one, Rhule played at Penn State and grew up in State College. He’s also close friends with Penn State AD Pat Kraft, who was Rhule’s boss when he coached at Temple from 2013-16.
Rhule is best known for the work that he did turning Temple and Baylor around.
At Temple, the team was 2-10 in his first season and 26-13 over his last three.
Baylor went 1-11 in Year 1 under Rhule and 18-9 over his last two seasons, going to the Big 12 championship game in his final year.
Now, Rhule is in the process of turning around Nebraska. The Huskers hadn’t been to a bowl game since 2016 before Rhule took them to one last season. Now in Year 3, Rhule has Nebraska at 6-2, with four winnable games left on the schedule: vs. No. 23 USC, at UCLA, at PSU and vs. Iowa.
Many PSU fans will be relieved by this news because they feel Rhule is too similar to Franklin. Franklin went 4-21 against top 10 teams over his time at Penn State, and Rhule is 0-11 in such matchups throughout his career, plus a 2-23 mark against ranked teams.
Follow Nittany Sports Now for continuous updates on the PSU coaching search.
