Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - INSIDER: James Franklin Using Virginia Tech as LEVERAGE While Waiting for Auburn and Florida Calls?
Episode Date: November 4, 2025James Franklin to Virginia Tech? Penn State coaching carousel heats up with shocking ACC connections.Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs team up with Zach Sako from Locked on Nittany Lions to break down the c...ollege football coaching carousel. The discussion examines why Franklin might leave Penn State for what some consider a step-down job, analyzing his recruiting dominance on the Eastern Seaboard and fit in the ACC's lower-pressure environment. The hosts debate top Penn State replacement candidates including Louisville's Jeff Braum, Georgia Tech's Brent Key, and Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, weighing their big-game credentials against Franklin's struggles in crucial matchups. The conversation shifts to ranking the top open positions, comparing LSU's recruiting monopoly, Florida's talent-rich territory, and Penn State's billion-dollar resources while addressing political interference concerns and conference affiliation advantages.Tune in for insider analysis on which coaches fit where and why this carousel could reshape college football's power structure.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DoorDashWith DoorDash Streaks, you save every Saturday you order — stack it up all season and you could save up to $250. Order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive. Fuel your gameday — only with DoorDash. Terms apply. Promo period through 11/18.SupplyHouseJoin the free TradeMaster program today and score serious perks like priority shipping, lower prices, and a dedicated support line. Visit SupplyHouse.com to sign up for free and use promo code SHCOLLEGE5 for 5% off your first order. GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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James Franklin is being heavily linked to the open head coaching job at Virginia Tech.
Even with bigger jobs open, here's why the Hokies might be the right fit.
You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.
It's another epic crossover event.
Alex Dono and Kenton Gibbs from Locked on ACC.
We got Zach Seiko from Locked on Nittany Lions,
and there's no time like the president with James Franklin being linked to the Virginia tech job
and multiple current ACC coaches being linked as candidates to Penn State.
Thank you so much to the everydayers on both of our channels and all of our channels.
Kenton also hosts Locked on Wolfpack, Big Win for the Pack.
I also host Locked on Cain's, tough loss for the Cains.
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purchase. So we'll talk about possible ACC coaches to Penn State. But first, Zach Seiko,
want to pick your brain on this. Heavy links over the past week or so to James Franklin,
possibly landing at the vacancy at Virginia Tech, which I think catches a lot of people by surprise,
because Virginia Tech would probably have to pay more for James Franklin than they've ever
paid for a football coach before. I would argue, and I think Kenton has said the same thing,
that, you know, coming off a high pressure job like Penn State, going to a place like Virginia
Tech where there's not the same sort of pressure cooker might actually be a really good fit for him
right now.
And that's perfectly well said.
I agree with you 100%.
But is that how James Franklin feels?
Is James Franklin using the Virginia Tech job as a safety net?
Because he knows that it might actually benefit him to stay in college football, not take
the year off go the media analyst route for a safety net.
season or two, which I think could do a lot of, I mean, could do James Franklin some good,
but he also kind of has to reestablish his credibility. But does James Franklin fully believe that
for himself as Florida is still open, L, which is, you know, obviously going to be the case.
But as Florida is open, LSU, now Auburn. You know, this conversation continues to take twists
and turns. And if those jobs weren't available, slam dunk Virginia Tech, I have a hard time, but it's,
kind of a, I have to believe it to see it kind of thing. Because I know how James Franklin is,
and I'm not trying to demean him. I know how Jimmy Sexton, his agent is. And that's the big one right
there. It has to do with a lot of the fact that Franklin believes that he's better than Virginia
Tech. Is this a move that Franklin believes is best for him for the next five, 10, 15 years? It's also
kind of odd that Virginia Tech hires one Penn State coach, fires him, and then brings in the next
Penn State coach behind him. Brent Pry being the former Penn State defensive coordinator.
It's just hard for me to materialize how going from a team within the Big Ten, with all the
resources, all the support that Penn State gave to Franklin, and then taking a significant
step back in terms of the leverage that you have and being in the ACC.
I just have a hard time buying that Franklin is okay with that, which is why he's using Virginia
Tech probably as a safety net and being advised so by his agent, Jimmy Sexton.
to either get as many guarantees as logistically possible from BT or waiting until Auburn,
Florida. LSU isn't calling. I've heard that from our counterpart over at Locked-on, LSU with Matt Mascona,
that LSU has not mentioned the words James Franklin in a sentence by anybody. So Auburn, though,
could have legit interests. And I think that's what Franklin and his agent are waiting for.
Well, I want to push back against the idea that, you know, James Franklin looks at this job as beneath him,
and especially Jimmy Sexton,
if he's looking out for his candidates
or his representative
or the coaches he represents in a meaningful way,
James Franklin is a East Coast guy.
It takes a certain personality, a certain type of guy
to not only succeed,
but to stay around at a place like Auburn.
And I'm not sure James Franklin is that type of guy.
However, James Franklin has proven
he's one of the best at recruiting the Eastern Seaboard,
especially when you're talking about that DC,
DC, Maryland, Virginia, the DMV area, and above.
When you talk about the DMV and above, that is his sweet spot.
That's where he makes his hey, as a recruiter.
So I think that if we're saying, hey, go into the toughest conference, go in with potentially
less resources than the teams you're playing against, and go into a region that with all due
respect, I mean, yeah, he looked good at Vanderbilt while he was there, but Vanderbilt was not
a southeastern recruiting.
powerhouse when he was there. That was much more of a national deal. We're selling you on education.
We're selling you on all the good things you can have here as opposed to come play near home.
You're from here, play here, win ball games here. So I think that there is a lot of legitimacy to
the Virginia Tech angle in that regard. But let me ask you this, from the other regard of location,
right? Do you think that it's a great fit going from Happy Valley to a place like Blacksburg,
being that these are two very unique, very rural places that, you know, you're very far removed from your nearest major city and all that.
And that environment is kind of a bubble. Do you think that that's a good fit for James Franklin?
Or is that being overstated by people saying it's a great transition to go from Happy Valley to Blacksburg?
I mean, he knows that all too well. He knows how to maximize at least to the best of his ability,
because I know the recruiting limitations of State College, Pennsylvania. I'm not going to sugarcoat it and say that,
oh, that's a destination for tons of college athletes.
It's not.
It takes a very, it is a niche location.
But Virginia Tech kind of a similar situation where I'm not here to compare State College
versus Blacksburg, but it's another similar setup where it's not Miami, right?
It's not L.A.
And that's a really extensive comparison, right?
That's even further from what we're talking about here.
My point being is that it's not just easy to say,
hey, location, location, location.
And James Franklin is used to that.
So him being at Virginia Tech, I think the schools in the ACC, the ACC should be concerned about that above all else.
To say that, oh, well, Penn State should be worried.
He's right in the East Coast.
He still has the connections.
In the short term, yes, because he could poach players in the transfer portal because he has tons.
He has relationships built.
I fully expect players that they think that they can start at.
a school like Virginia Tech. Remember, this is ACC versus the Big Ten. Okay? And I don't mean to come on,
you know, do a crossover with your guys, the show devoted literally to the conference itself.
But don't worry. We criticize the ACC enough here on Locked on ACC. So you're, you're all good,
brother. Don't worry about what you say. But that's, that's just it is that Penn State will have
to worry about its own issues with Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, and other powers in the
SEC that try to move up into the Northeast. Whereas Franklin, that's a concern. That's a
for Maryland. That's a concern for schools like North Carolina, Virginia, who's obviously
seeing ample success for James Franklin to drop down into Virginia Tech like that. I think he could
get VT at the top of the ACC, but my expectation is that he's using it as a springboard in the
next three to four years to get back within the Big Ten or the SEC. All right, so let me ask you then,
as we close the book on Franklin before we moved on to everything else, your prediction as to where
he's going to end up, whether it is out of coaching altogether, maybe for a year sabbatical on TV,
like so many coaches do, or if he does land at a program, which program do you think is the best
fit in his mind? In his mind, I would look at a school. Here's one that's just not being discussed
as much because I don't know what direction they're going to go in. I think Michigan State would
be phenomenal for him, actually. I think the Wolverine, you know, Auburn makes a ton of sense.
I've always said that Florida would be a job to watch in the past, you know,
before any of this happened, I'm talking five years ago when there was steam that he was going to go to USC.
It was USC, LSU and Florida were always the schools that I viewed as jobs back in 2018 and
2019.
They could poach James Franklin from Penn State when times were extremely different before NIL,
Transfer Portal, and all of that.
Florida makes sense to me, LSU, since they're not even saying his name over there,
I'm not going to consider them.
Auburn has genuine interest.
He's showing up on hotboards.
I know that John Summerall is the leading candidate.
But I think under the circumstances now, Michigan State could use somebody that could
stabilize and recruiting in the Michigan area, which he's actually had success with,
the Wolverines need some resistance.
They need somebody to go up and compete with them in recruiting.
That's why Michigan is as good as they are now because they don't have anybody pushing back on
them in the local areas because Michigan State.
isn't a threat anymore. That's when Jim Harbaugh had his biggest struggles because Michigan
State was actually doing well as a program. I thought UCLA would be a good fit because if USC really
liked him, well, UCLA's not that far from USC in proximity. But Michigan State, I think, is the
best situation for him. UCLA, I think would be a good situation for him. Virginia Tech for right now
is an ideal setup for him, but is James Franklin willing to accept that himself. KG, I'll give you the
final word on that. Well, to say the Michigan State would be a better job than Virginia Tech,
I don't give a damn about conferences, Saco. You're tripping. You're tripping. Yeah, what's going on here?
Your perennial little brother to a school that is not just a regional powerhouse. Michigan is a national
brand. That's one of those like you're always going to be little brother situation as opposed to
Virginia Tech where even when Virginia is having immense success, people still look at them like, can you
beat Virginia Tech at the end of the year and even beyond that. The UCLA USC thing, I can see
that being more of the thing. But let's not sell Virginia Tech short here. But let me end it with this.
Let me ask you this one question before we go to break here. If we're talking about James Franklin
in the next five to 10 years, where do you think this trajectory goes? Is he going upward from here
and this was just a bad year? Or do you think this is the beginning of a long decline?
I think he reestablish his credibility. If he ends up at a place like Virginia Tech, he'll win and he'll win
pretty quickly because he has connections. Again, he'll bring with him elements that were at Penn State.
You know, what is someone like Anthony Poindexter thinking? Would he follow James Franklin? And then
that's a home run coaching hire that just gets somebody that can recruit very well. So Virginia
Tech would start to swing and punch above its weight class, which would be bad for the ACC.
And then that it reestablishes James Franklin's credibility as a recruiter, as a program builder,
and then somebody that's just in flux every three years.
They're Auburn, firing a coach, Florida, every few cycles, they fire somebody.
Let's get James Franklin to see if that's the answer.
So when James Franklin promises national titles, I don't think he's winning a national
title anytime soon, if ever, at any program.
But he will be able to reestablish what he does well and then get back to doing what he
does best.
And that's winning consistently, but your ceiling is kept.
Right, that's well said. And on the Virginia Tech side, we've heard about the Hokies willing to invest massive amounts of money into their football and athletics budget. So they really do want to kind of return to that old standard. The game has changed a lot since Frank Beamer was there winning and getting close to a national championship back in the late 90s. But they would like to raise their standard. And James Franklin would be a great guy to help them do it. Meanwhile, if I look at the betting odds,
and the Penn State hotboard,
there are multiple current ACC coaches
that are apparently persons of interest.
You want to keep it locked right here.
We're only getting started on this locked on Nittney Lions,
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All right.
So, Zach Seco, I got to ask you because I keep seeing Jeff Brom, current head coach at Louisville.
I've seen him atop the betting odds on certain occasions as a possible next head coach for Penn State.
I've seen Brent Key, who's doing a great job despite the fact he just took an L to the fighting Kent and Gibbs over the weekend.
I see Brent and Brent Key showing up on that hotboard as well.
well. Do you like either of them as a possible next head coach at Penn State and why?
Tons. And the preference is Jeff Brom because he's been within the Big Ten. He was, I mean,
the reason he landed Louisville aside from, I mean, we're talking deep connections. I spoke to
somebody today about why they don't think Jeff Brom is a realistic candidate for Penn State,
because I had no idea how deep the connections were for him at that. So that's going to be tough. It's
going to be tough. Never say never. People have left their alma mater before for head coaching positions
elsewhere. But I'm just saying that if Penn State is going to make it difficult for Jeff Brom
to say no, let's just put it that way, if they believe that he is a true candidate.
But it's being reported that, I mean, we want to talk about tangible and not just speculation.
The tangible is being reported by 24-7 that Brent Key during the by week here.
So he goes and loses to the fighting Kenton Gibbs. And then on his week off,
He's set to have an in-person interview with Pat Kraft, the athletic director for the Penn State job.
There's no wrong answer here when it comes to Penn State and who they're targeting.
Because you're going to go in the correct direction if you get Jeff Brom.
I've always said that in this coaching search, Penn State needs.
And we could talk about Mani Diaz, right?
He's at Duke in this conversation.
He's still going to be linked to this job and be one of the contenders all the way through.
But speaking on Brom, you need somebody.
different than what James Franklin has given Penn State for a decade plus here.
And look no further than the results themselves.
Okay, well, what about recruiting?
What about his connections and things like that?
Okay, that's going to, but how about somebody that's just winning the big games?
Somebody that is four and four against top 25 teams at, well, he wasn't doing that at Western
Kentucky, but he picked up three top five wins at Purdue and go figure has a more recent
victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes than James Franklin.
does. And then he adds to it. He defeats on a Friday night the numbers, sorry Alex,
the number two Miami Hurricanes. And you can make the argument sent that team in a downward
spiral because of that game. So Jeff Brom just in-game coaching, not being afraid of the moment.
I'm not here to say that James Franklin was afraid, but he doesn't shy away from it. I think he
embraces it. So if you want something different, how about going after the guy that actually
does the thing that James Franklin never could, winning the big game.
So tell me this, Brahm is your number one guy.
Okay.
Out of the ACC.
Out of the ACC.
Oh, who's the number one guy overall?
Who's the number one guy overall if it ain't Braum?
Logistics aside, Mike Elko, Texas A&M.
Logistics aside.
Perfect.
Oh, it's Anger Kenton.
The number one woman I want on Hinge to match with me is Megynostalia.
We got to be realistic with ourselves, that.
We got to be realistic what I said.
She's taking Clay Topsie.
He's six, seven, and a hundred millionaire.
I can't pull that.
I can't do that.
I think he leads out the battle.
So when we see Elko running down the tunnel at Happy Valley, next year, we'll believe
the believers have the battle.
All right.
Of the people.
Well, let me ask you this real quick.
Were you relieved to see Matt Rule sign an extension with Nebraska?
Because I'm not a Matt Rule believer.
I think you dodged a bullet there.
Yes, because it just goes back to what I said.
You want to get something different?
Matt Rule is no different.
I mean, you could even make the argument that he's worse in big games.
Oh, but it was at Baylor.
It was at Temple.
What is he?
Oh, and eight now against top 25 teams at Nebraska.
At least you have some leverage at Nebraska, even though they're in the lower tier of the
Big 10.
One, at least one.
No, zero.
By the way, there was this great ex post.
I can't remember who, which, uh, which crap talk.
posted it, but they said that Matt Rule is the James Franklin of Mario Cristobals is what the post was.
Like the greatest thing I've ever seen.
That's poetry.
It is.
It was in haiku form, I think, and everything.
So of the guys that are on the betting odds favorites, right, of the guys that we know like,
hey, this is a serious chance that Penn State has to lend.
I feel like Brahmin is your number one of those guys.
And if not, who is?
and who are your two and three of that list?
And are they both ACC coaches?
Are you looking elsewhere?
I mean, I like Brent Key a ton.
So if I had to go, okay, well, it's impossible to hire Mike Alco.
Let's bring the logistics and the being realistic, actually.
Same thing with Kalin DeBoar.
I'm saying, 1A, 1B, logistics aside, you target Mike L.
You make a phone call.
And Kurt Signetti, you make the phone call, okay?
Well, I haven't seen any extension signed by Elko and DeBore as it is right now.
That's all I'm saying.
how quickly Indiana reacted.
They got an extension midseason.
Texas A&M, oh, they keep winning.
Alabama keeps winning.
They're right in the thick of the, you know, playoff race.
Then where are their extensions?
Just putting that out there until there's a signature somewhere.
But Jeff Brom would be the number one candidate in terms of, you know,
hey, this is realistic, but it's still somewhat of a long shot because of the Louisville
connection.
Same thing with Brent Key over at Georgia Tech and the postseason.
How long does Penn State want to wait?
How long should?
Should they? How long can they wait to where it starts to actually hurt them?
And then they made the wrong decision firing James Franklin in the middle of the season.
And it comes back to bite them because they actually created leverage by being the first big top tier program.
Right. Okay, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech. But Penn State stands out above the rest.
And now LSU, Florida and Auburn joined the party.
You know, even UCLA, right? That still doesn't compare.
They're all in this category by themselves.
but now there's a lot of top 10, top 15 programs that are all vying for the same head coaching
candidates. So you've got to make a move somewhat quickly, but I think Penn State feels like it
holds the cards. We see the rumors now. Penn State told Urban Meyer no, potentially. That Penn State
is basically telling people knowing that they have, that they are kind of dictating the terms of
this head coaching search. With all that being said, if they don't get an established head coach,
Brian Hartline would be an offensive coordinator of Ohio State.
You see how it's worked with Dan Lanning.
You see how it's worked with Marcus Freeman, Kirby Smart.
They're not the standard.
They're the exception.
I get it.
However, I'd like to think that Brian Hartline, again, would bring elements that are different to James
and player development connections, the recruiting.
And James Franklin's a great recruiter, but it's a different.
It's the player development along with the recruiting.
And Penn State, I'm so sick.
of them having middle of the road QBs and wide receivers, that Brian Hartline would fix that
overnight.
Oh, your wide receiver problem would be fixed in the snap of a finger if you get probably.
He's taking enough guys out of South Florida.
I know.
I know how that goes.
I know how that goes.
Playing with the dolphins.
That's why.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, when we come back, I want to break down where this opening at Penn State ranks
among all these big jobs available, where the Virginia tech job ranks.
obviously they're going to be behind a few of these behemoths that are now open,
but you want to keep it locked right here,
locked on Nittney Lions,
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It's a locked on ACC, locked on nitty lions crossover.
over. So in terms of Penn State, for me, it's definitely a, well, I mean, it's obviously a top
four job, maybe a top three job. Normally, Kent, and I would have, and I have in the recent
past ranked at the LSU job number one, but that's like there's all this political stuff that I
don't fully understand going on with the governor getting the AD fired. It's like, I don't know
if that makes the Penn State job a little, or the LSU job, I should stay a little bit diminished. The
Auburn job is now open, but they certainly have not shown long-term commitments to head coach.
They cycle through guys every few years. Same thing with Florida, but those are massive jobs.
Like at least, you know, Penn State has shown commitment to the coaches that they've had.
You know, they stuck with James Franklin for a really long time. That may make the job, you know,
top two caliber. Kenton, I'll go to you first. Where do you rank Penn State and how do you rank
the openings right now? I'd still say it's got to be number three or four, depending on what
else pops open.
Only because LSU is,
I don't care what they got going on politically.
I don't care what type of jackass day.
Oh, I'm sorry, I don't want to lose our clean rating,
but what type of buffoon, rather,
the governor looks like at times.
Realistically, when you look at all these openings and say,
who has won the most recent national championship?
What is a state that does not have any serious competition around them?
Old Miss is the only school that you're looking at,
that's a bordering school that you're like,
That is a serious school at all times.
And maybe you would go Alabama as well, but that's it.
That's all I said.
In-state Louisiana, which is one of the best recruiting states in the country,
they have no competition in state.
None.
Bar none.
They are the standard.
They are what Ohio state is to the state of Ohio.
It's just nobody's close.
So I'd say LSU has to be number one.
Even though Florida continues to cycle through coaches,
you want to talk about a hotbed of talent down on?
Yeah, you got a fight.
Don't get me wrong.
You got a fight. You got a battle. You got a scrap to keep those.
And even if you only win, like 20% of the battles in state, you're still getting
great players down here.
A great recruiting class. So I'd say that they're number two.
And we got to talk about it because we know it's going to be open.
Florida State. Actually, I might say Florida State is number two and Florida is number three,
actually, because Florida State, you talk about commitment to a coach.
You talk about all of the resources.
And you talk about the way that Zach talked about the ACC, anybody can come in and win.
So Florida State
For them, I think the Florida
job is better than the Florida State
job right now because Florida State
is in more debt. And this
is only if they fire Norville, obviously,
but they just spent hundreds of millions
on stadium renovations, the ACC
lawsuit. And if they also fire
Mike Norvel, which is going to cost
close to 60 million, Florida's
buyout for Napier was a fraction of that.
Well, Dono, the reason I
say that is because that booster
money is a lot like NFL salary cap
and everybody's the Saints.
It doesn't really exist.
Like the number's kind of there,
but we're always like,
wait, how to the head?
What's going on?
And all of a sudden,
more money appears.
So I think Florida State is a fantastic job
because they're,
again,
they have the resources,
they have the success.
They can pitch the kids.
Dude, we won an ACC championship three years ago.
Like this ain't a,
you got to go back in forever to them
to figure out when we were in a class of the conference.
Not to mention,
we are in prime position to once again,
be the class of the conference very quickly
because our competitors down there in Coral Gables
every November, no win November is very real for them.
I don't know why they do it.
But they're like, we have no interest in winning football games in November.
So I think that that's a fantastic job.
I think Florida is right after them.
And then I'd have to say Penn State.
I think the Penn State job, you have to throw it in at this point
because Penn State is another school.
They've shown the propensity to win.
They've shown that they're going to invest.
They've shown every single thing.
The only thing that Penn State does not have that the schools in front of them have is location, right?
Where LSU, how close are you to New Orleans, right?
Baton Rouge is still a lot to do in comparison.
What about Auburn?
You didn't mention Auburn or you have them after all those.
Auburn would be five for me.
Auburn would be five.
And I think there's a gap between those top four and five.
I mean, let's be very realistic.
You want to talk about nothing to do.
Everything in Auburn, every single thing in.
Auburn is Auburn. That's it. That's all. Everything is on the main road and the main road
has tigers all over. Their Walmart got a tiger on it for Christ's sake. It's too much tiger.
Tony the tiger would throw up seeing that much tiger in one area. Okay. So I think that
Auburn is a distant bit, but I would say that that's probably how we'll rank those jobs right now.
What about you, Zach? I think conference supremacy really matters. It's the difference. Look,
I'm not trying to make this as a direct comparison, but it is true.
You think about, okay, playing in the NFL versus the UFL versus the USFL kind of thing, right?
And I'm not saying that the ACC is the equivalent, but development, who you're playing against on Saturdays routinely and resources.
Okay, so, oh yeah, Florida State and Virginia Tech, you know, the areas, the surrounding areas might be a little bit better.
LSU, I agree, is the top job opening.
But again, it's really to each their own.
If you find somebody that says, you know, I don't mind State College, Pennsylvania.
I could see myself anchoring down here for the next decade, two decades, three decades.
Penn State, all of these schools are destination jobs to somebody.
I know that if Dion Sanders got the call from Florida State, he would come back to his
alma mater and anchor down there just so long as he gets the support, right?
It's to each their own.
That's why I think of, you know, Mike Elko's a Texas A&M, but he's a northeast guy, born and raised in New Jersey, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.
If we're actually looking at the dollars, the revenue, Penn State is a 10B school in terms of revenue based on what the athletic did in terms of valuing the programs.
Texas is far and away number one.
They're 2.3 billion.
It's something like that.
But Penn State is at 1.2 billion.
and then LSU is at 1.23 billion.
So they have the resources.
They have the revenue to compete with the people that are saying that,
oh, Penn State's barely a top 20 job.
They struggle with NIL and things like that.
It's just not the case.
So Penn State is right there.
LSU, Florida, and Penn State,
I mean, you have an athletic director that is ready to go,
ready to open up the war chest and give you whatever you need.
He did that for James Franklin.
And James Franklin couldn't succeed.
He said, you want Jim Knowles as your defensive coordinator.
We'll go get him.
You want a player out of the transfer portal.
We'll do what it takes to go get him.
And somehow that was just, it was fumbled.
It was mismanaged for whatever reason.
And we might not know exactly what it is, you know, a year or two years from now.
All that being said is that though it's, it's LSU, Florida and Penn State in some sort of,
in some sort of ranking.
And then Florida State for Jerry, let me include Auburn in there as well.
and I would say I would put, if I had to actually rank them, I'd say LSU.
But then again, do you want politicians meddling in your job?
Do you want, do you want a governor or a state politician who knows nothing about your program
to come in and say, yeah, you're done?
You don't have a job.
I don't care if you're an LSU grad.
I don't care if you're an LSU alum.
I know better than you because I'm a politician that doesn't have anything to do with your
football program.
So you could make the argument that that leverages Penn State to the top.
And then it's LSU because recruiting is going to be everybody,
loves LSU on Louisiana.
Yeah.
Well, this has been good stuff, as always.
You guys want to make sure you follow all of us.
It's great for us on Locked on ACC connecting with Zach from Locked on Nittney Lions.
Follow him on X at Zach underscore Seiko.
And of course, check out Locked on Nittney Lions.
Check Kenton and I out on Locked on ACC.
Follow Kenton at TGIF underscore Kenton.
He's also on Locked on Wolfpack.
I also host Locked on Cains.
Follow me at Alex Dono.
And we'll see where the Domino's fall.
This has been the craziest coaching carousel I can ever remember in college football.
I've been watching this sport for a long time.
So we'll talk to you again next time.
Thank you for making this locked on crossover, your first listen,
right here on the awesome lockdown podcast network.
Your team every day.
