Franklin expected to be announced as PSU head coach on Saturday

Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin is expected to be announced as the new head coach at Penn State on Saturday, reports say.

Penn State has announced a press conference at 4.15pm on Saturday which will announce that Franklin has taken Penn State’s offer, which is rumored to be around $4.5m per year.

He will replace Bill O’Brien, who has gone to be the new head coach of the Houston Texans. O’Brien masterminded a stunning 2012 season (8-4), and wins over then-unbeaten Michigan and a double-digit road victory at Wisconsin, while also managing to recruit the country’s best high school quarterback in Christian Hackenberg.

A USA Today report says that Franklin will meet the Vanderbilt boosters and players on Saturday morning. It is expected he will announce his departure then.

The Penn State Board of Trustees will meet Saturday morning to approve the contract.

Some media sites have said that hiring Franklin is a terrible idea for Penn State, because of the current rape case that has entrenched the program – which saw five players indicted, including wide receiver Chris Boyd, who was booted from the program before the season started. Penn State is still down a ton of scholarships and will not play in a bowl game for the next two years because of its problems related to a child abuse case.

One reporter went as far as saying that the reason USC shied away from hiring Franklin was the rape case, and the cloud it might put over a program already in the NCAA’s  bad books.

BOTTOM LINE: Franklin hasn’t said anything to anybody about the contract and whether he’s leaving, although sources within Penn State have told us that Franklin signed the deal a couple of days earlier, but was waiting on board approval. Although some Vandy fans don’t like his way of doing this, there’s no point in Franklin announcing that he’s leaving if there has been no approval.