STATE COLLEGE - Penn State has reportedly found the man to lead its football program in the post-Bill O'Brien era.
Just don't tell that to Vanderbilt.
Foxsports.com has reported Penn State has agreed to terms with Commodores coach James Franklin to become the 16th head coach in program history. Both CBS Sports and ESPN also reported early Thursday that Franklin is expected to accept an offer from Penn State.
The Times-Tribune first reported late Wednesday that Franklin had been offered the job by Penn State officials during a meeting in Florida.
Penn State did not release any official word on a deal being struck with Franklin, but citing a university source, the Centre Daily Times reported Thursday night the Penn State Board of Trustees' compensation committee will be holding a conference call at 9 a.m. Saturday, when it likely will approve the new football coach's contract - whomever that coach may ultimately be.
Through a whirlwind day Thursday, the Commodores clung to hope it wouldn't be their beloved head coach.
Franklin, 41, has led the program to consecutive nine-win seasons and back-to-back bowl wins for the first time in its history, and throughout Nashville, the fact that Franklin had not announced an official decision led to hope of reconsideration.
Vanderbilt defensive end Caleb Azubike wrote on his Twitter feed that he had "first-hand knowledge" Franklin hadn't made a decision.
Vanderbilt athletic director David Williams blitzed Nashville area radio stations to address the Fox Sports report that Franklin and Penn State had reached an agreement, insisting nothing official
about a deal had been mentioned to him in an afternoon discussion with Franklin.
Williams said he had not formed a list of potential replacements for Franklin because he had not been informed he'd need to replace Franklin.
If and when he does, he expects Franklin will be the person he hears the news from first.
"He just called to let me know that the reports that he had accepted the job were not true," Williams told CBS Sports. "I think it was a call to say, 'I know what's being said,' and as I've said, he'll be our football coach until he tells me he's not. I'm hoping that will remain. He will be the one to let me know. He's just having to make a decision."
If Franklin does ultimately accept Penn State's offer to become head coach, he'll bring an outgoing personality, a fast-paced offense and unquestioned recruiting chops to Happy Valley, which is still reeling from O'Brien's departure for the Houston Texans last week.
Penn State athletic director David Joyner and his search committee reportedly interviewed at least three other candidates - Miami coach Al Golden, San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman and Scranton native and former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Munchak - before flying to Florida for Franklin's second interview on Wednesday.
At Vanderbilt, Franklin led the Commodores - once a doormat in the SEC - to 16 wins in their last 20 games, including a 41-24 thumping of Houston in the BBVA Compass Bowl last Saturday. They finished 9-4, fourth in the SEC West behind Missouri, South Carolina and Georgia.
Franklin has built a cult following in Nashville, where even Vanderbilt grad and professional golfer Brandt Snedeker took to Twitter to offer Franklin free golf lessons for life if he stuck with the Commodores. But his roots are in Pennsylvania.
A Langhorne native and graduate of Neshaminy High School, Franklin was a star quarterback from 1990-94 at East Stroudsburg University, and he spent the first two years of his coaching career with Kutztown as wide receivers coach in 1995 and back at East Stroudsburg in 1996 coaching defensive backs.
His career hasn't taken him back to Pennsylvania since, but Franklin has connections to former Penn State coaches. From 2000-04, he was receivers coach at Maryland, and for last two of those seasons, the Terrapins' running backs coach was Bill O'Brien. The man who hired Franklin as an assistant at Maryland in 2000: then-Terrapins head coach and former Penn State linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden.
If hired, Franklin would become the first black head football coach in Penn State history and just the fifth ever in the Big Ten, joining Dennis Green and Francis Peay of Northwestern, Michigan State's Bobby Williams and Purdue's Darrell Hazell.