Paul Finebaum believes $74 million head coach badly wants Penn State job

On SportsCenter Monday afternoon, ESPN's Paul Finebaum explained why Matt Rhule's latest comments regarding the Penn State vacancy suggest that he's a very possible target for the Nittany Lions.

On the whole, 2025's college football season has been a bad time to be a fledgling power conference head coach, because 7.4% of the men in charge of the 67 programs spanning the Big 12, Big Ten, ACC and SEC have already been fired this season. And buddy, more are coming.

Penn State is the highest-profile program to file the divorce papers and are handing out roughly $50 million to James Franklin to no longer man the Nittany Lion sidelines. Before ink even dried on his expulsion papers, fans, of course, raced to the streets to campaign for new head coaches. One fellow Big Ten leader keeps popping up... and that's Matt Rhule.

A Penn State linebacker in the 1990s who's been a successful college coach at several stops and is now resurrecting Nebraska, Rhule seems like a perfect fit. When asked about the opening Monday morning, Rhule couldn't hold back his love for the place he once called home.

Matt Rhule's Penn State comments

"I love Penn State," Rhule first said with a smile after PSU was brought up. "Met my wife there. My alma mater. Fan since I was four and I was born, probably had a Penn State shirt when I was born. I love Pat Kraft."

Rhule manuevered into a more coach-speak type of answer guarding himself by saying he's focused on the Nebraska season at hand and won't discuss jobs or contracts during the year. However, it's hard not to notice how smitten he seemed by the Penn State opportunity when was asked about it. Plus, it's not like he was caught off guard by the question, he surely knew reporters would bring up Franklin's firing on Monday, especially given Rhule's own connection to the job.

Rhule's deal with Nebraska currently runs eight years and is worth a grand total of $74 million, paying out roughly $8.5 million annually.

Paul Finebaum says Rhule clearly wants Penn State job

After those comments were broadcast on SportsCenter, Paul Finebaum told SC host Matt Barrie said that he's hardly ever heard a coach stump for a job so hard without coming out and flat-out saying they want the gig.

"I have never heard anybody wanting a job more than Matt Rhule," Finebaum stated. "By the way, Matt, he's a very good choice."

Rhule is at Nebraska after recovering from the one flameout in his coaching career, a brief and unsuccessful NFL stint with the Carolina Panthers. But at the college level, Rhule's always been gold. He erected contenders at Temple and Baylor and appears to be in that process with the Cornhuskers as well. Could he do the same at his own former school? Finebaum believes there are reasons to believe in such a reality...

"In addition to the relationship with the AD, he is a Penn State man," Finebaum explained. "You've been there enough times... that REALLY matters in Happy Valley."

Paul Finebaum certainly seems to think a Matt Rhule and Penn State marriage could be in the cards by the end of this season. But there's a lot of football left and plenty of negotiating to be done before we ever get to that point.

Matt Rhule's Penn State comments

Paul Finebaum says Rhule clearly wants Penn State job

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