Nebraska's Matt Rhule clarifies his stance on Penn State rumors

Ever since Penn State pulled the trigger on a $50 milllion firing of head football coach James Franklin, another Big Ten coach, Nebraska's Matt Rhule, has had his name thrust into the conversation for next Nittany Lions head coach.

That's because Rhule is a Penn State alum who played linebacker for the football team and served a stint as a graduate assistant back in the 1990s. He's coached at Temple, Baylor, the Carolina Panthers, and is currently leading Nebraska to a hot start in his third season with the program. With Franklin out, a proven college veteran like Rhule, now reviving another Big Ten power, who has Penn State ties, is an obvious candidate.

Rhule addressed the rumors shortly after they began earlier in the week at his Nebraska press conference, and praised his alma mater while emphasizing his focus on the current team. But during a Thursday appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, he was confronted again by the Penn State question and issued a longer answer.

"What does that look like for you with everything, with how hot that's going to get in the kitchen it seems like?" McAfee asked Rhule.

"With my team, it's just unbridled honesty," said Rhule. "Tell them the truth. Tell them exactly the truth and don't BS them, because they'll know. But I don't do that during the season. I don't mess around with that, I don't play that."

That's a standard response from coaches, but Rhule went as far as to say that Nebraska is a "destination" type of job, a place coaches are trying to reach, not just pass on through.

"At the same time, this is not a jumping-off job," Rhule stated. "This is a destination job. This is one of the greatest places in the world. This is a town of 300,000 people. Everyone says, like, Lincoln? This is a town of 300,000 people here in Lincoln. Like, I can do whatever I want here."

Good to know that Rhule's musings are personally satisfied in a town of Lincoln's size, because he's ready to stick around with a young and promising core.

"I have a great young team, the youngest team in the Big Ten," Rhule explained excitedly. "Think about how good we'll be next year. Now, I'm not thinking about next year. But where we are right now, we're learning, learning, learning. Think about where we're going to go with Dylan and all these guys? So, I refuse to be distracted."

Matt Rhule shares affection for Penn State

And cut! Except... Rhule didn't end his answer there. He could have. He could've stopped there after pumping up his own program and that would have been a satisfactory response to Pat McAfee's question about the Penn State job. Instead, Rhule tacked on another few sentences professing his love to the Nittany Lions.

"At the same time, when it's your alma mater, you have to show love and respect, and I love Pat Kraft," he said. "And they'll find the right coach for them, whoever that is. But this is a destination job that should be a national bully that should be a beast, and I think we're making our way toward doing that."

That's a lot of positive Nebraska talk from Matt Rhule, but at the same time·(to use his own words against him), he made sure to note his love and respect for Penn State and their athletic director after he'd already given a sufficient answer to the PSU question.

If Matt Rhule cared not what Penn State thought of him and had no interest in pursuing their open job, why mention the athletic director by name and go out of the way to bring up the fact that Penn State is indeed your alma mater who you "love and respect."

Matt Rhule shares affection for Penn State

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