If Matt Rhule Isn’t a Penn State Candidate, Someone Should Say So

As the Penn State coaching search careens into its third week, speculation runs rampant and hard news is scant.

And still out there is Matt Rhule, loyal Penn State alum, former walk-on linebacker who met his wife at PSU.

And current Nebraska head coach.

No one at Penn State put the brakes on the speculation that Rhule is not only a candidate but likely the *top* candidate for the Nittany Lions’ job. Can’t blame Penn State, really. As one of the top college football programs in America, Penn State believes its pool of job candidates is anyone it says or wants.

Penn State’s head-coaching job is available after James Franklin was fired on Oct. 12.

Rhule didn’t end any speculation either, not definitively, at a news conference the day after Franklin was fired. Rhule proclaimed love for Nebraska but also said how much he loved Penn State, and he also talked about his close relationship with PSU athletic director Pat Kraft, his former boss at Temple.

Since that initial news conference, Rhule went on “The Pat McAfee Show” and reaffirmed his love for Nebraska, saying it’s “not a jumping-off job.”

Indiana proactively addressed the Penn State opening by awarding a new contract to coach Curt Cignetti. The second-year coach, who has turned around the Hoosiers’ program, has an eight-year contract worth about $11.6 million annually.

Cignetti’s contract put an end to rumors and speculation and put the Hoosiers’ football program and fans at ease. Penn State might be lurking, Indiana said with new deal, but the Hoosiers wanted to show loyalty and get the Cignetti deal done.

Rhule and/or Nebraska should call a news conference and come right out and say the coach is staying in Lincoln. End the speculation. End the flirting. Get it done.

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti was given a new contract soon after the Penn State job became available. | Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

New contract for Rhule?

That’s not to say Nebraska should rework Rhule’s contract. Maybe they should, maybe they shouldn’t. There are a ton of good jobs out there and maybe Nebraska wants to ensure Rhule remains in Lincoln.

Nebraska, a rebuilding program, is 6-2 after Saturday’s 28-21 home win over Northwestern. The Huskers have four regular-season games remaining, all in the Big Ten. On Saturday, the Huskers face what could a season-defining game against USC at Memorial Stadium. The Huskers need to win to keep alive their long-shot CFP hopes. It's a game that should be without unnecessary distractions.

The Huskers have been just good enough — and winning enough — to be considered a long shot to squeak into the College Football Playoff. Losing to Minnesota hurt, and that defeat might ultimately keep Nebraska on the outside looking in, even if the Huskers win out and finish 10-2.

Nebraska players chose the Huskers because they believed in Rhule, their position coach and coordinator and the program. Players generally don’t commit to a school because of a fully stocked weight room. Every school has one.

Same with the recruits — the kids the Huskers have signed and the kids they are pursuing. If these kids pick Nebraska, it’s because of Rhule, the staff and the program.

Uncertainty can’t be part of the Huskers’ sales pitch to these potential recruits. Uncertainty can’t be healthy to the current players, who are fighting each week to help the Huskers win games. Opposing teams will use Rhule to recruits: "Hey, will coach Rhule even be there next year?"

Nebraska didn’t ask for this situation and neither did Rhule. Penn State could be the only job in America that would make Rhule think twice about leaving Nebraska. There are at least seven other major college job openings — and more anticipated — and there’s been no speculation about Rhule going to any of them.

The current Power 4 openings: Penn State, LSU, Stanford, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State, Arkansas and Florida. Rhule has not been associated with any of them, except the Nittany Lions.

Bad ‘audition’

There was considerable internet chatter about Rhule after the Franklin firing. In the Huskers’ next game, at Minnesota, they were outplayed in most — if not every — facet of the game, losing 24-6.

It was one heck of an audition for the Penn State job, went the online talk, a 24-6 pasting by the Golden Gophers. Others said a program’s decision is not going to be swayed by the result of one game.

Fair point.

Penn State coach James Franklin was fired Oct. 12, the day after the Nittany Lions lost in overtime to Oregon. — Penn State coach James Franklin was fired Oct. 12 after losses to Oregon, UCLA and Northwestern. | James Lang-Imagn Images

Whether Penn State was a distraction to Rhule and the Huskers that week in practice and when they took the field against Minnesota is impossible to know. Several players spoke out and said that was not the case.

Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola said: “He ain’t going nowhere.”

Nebraska was locked in a 21-21 tie in the fourth quarter with Northwestern on Saturday, a game the Huskers won, but obviously could have gone either way. Were the Huskers distracted?

That’s a fair point and fair question, too.

What if Rhule goes to Penn State?

Should Rhule end up at Penn State — and we’re not suggesting that in any way, shape or form — his three years at Nebraska were a perfect training ground for what he should expect with the Nittany Lions.

And Penn State knows it.

Both are big programs with all of the benefits, huge expectations, administrative support and desire to win and win big.

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule was a younger man when his Temple Owls played Penn State, his alma mater. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Besides Rhule’s Penn State ties, the Nittany Lions might want him because he has been forged by the fire. Rhule is someone who understands what it’s like to run a major program with an engaged, demanding fanbase. Remember, the Huskers got booed at home in games this season.

In Penn State’s eyes, Rhule checks off a lot of boxes. How much is Rhule interested in his alma mater? Well, we don’t know. And isn’t that the point? Isn’t that one of reasons for all of the uncertainty?

He was polite and political when he said so many nice things about Penn State and Kraft, as any faithful alum would do. But he left that speculation window wide open.

Penn State is going to hire what it believes is a significant coach and isn’t going anywhere until it lands one. The question remains: Is Matt Rhule going anywhere?

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