One of the biggest stories of the offseason will be who Florida State will hire to help rebuild the Seminoles’ program after a major falloff during the last few seasons, including the year-plus era of Willie Taggart that resulted in a 9-12 record and the program missing its first bowl game since 1981 last season.
Names throughout the nation will obviously be thrown around with some big ones coming up. According to 247Sports, a former SEC coach is a target of FSU.
Noles247 confirmed on Wednesday that representatives for FSU and Penn State coach James Franklin have talked at this point in the process. Franklin was believed to be a candidate, and now we know he is a target that FSU has vetted.
Franklin has the Nittany Lions at 9-1 and heading into a big game this weekend against Ohio State that could put them back in the College Football Playoff picture. In his sixth season at Penn State, Franklin has put up a record of 54-22 including a 33-17 conference record and two 11-win seasons.
Prior to taking the Penn State job, Franklin led Vanderbilt to three straight bowl games and two straight nine-win seasons in 2012 and 2013.
Brian Stultz covers SEC football for SaturdayDownSouth.com. A graduate of Auburn University, he is a member of the Football Writers Association of America. You can follow him on Twitter @brianjstultz.
