Since Bill O'Brien announced that he would be leaving Penn State to take the head coaching position with the Houston Texans it's been crazy times for Penn State players and fans.

Penn State Athletic Director David Joyner announced about 10 days ago that the process of selecting a head coach would take just days not weeks. So, here we are a little over a "week" later and still officially Penn State University does not have a head football coach.However, by tomorrow afternoon that should no longer be the case as several media outlets reported yesterday that Vanderbilt coach James Franklin is expected to be the new Penn State head coach. Franklin was the hot commodity as far as coaches go at the end of the college football season, even garnering interest from the Browns and the Redskins. It was also pretty evident from the start that Franklin was one of the top targets for Penn State along with current Miami coach Al Golden and former Rutgers and Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano.Schiano was to my knowledge never interviewed and Golden apparently opted to stay at Miami, but reports indicate that he was never formally offered the Penn State job. After talks with Golden reportedly fell through then talk about Mike Munchak being the next PSU coach heated up after he was let go from the Tennessee Titans. People were reporting he was interviewed and then that he wasn't interviewed, even though he was really interviewed. It was honestly just becoming a mess.Yet, through all the speculation, polls through various media outlets indicated that fans still wanted Franklin to be the next head coach. Then the sky opened up, the heavens parted, and Franklin all of a sudden became the frontrunner for the Penn State head coaching position. At least that's how it seemed to Penn State fans after all the prior conflicting reports about all the candidates involved.Wasn't Franklin always the frontrunner?; Did people really think Al Golden was going to leave the ninth best recruiting class in the country (according to Rivals) in sunny Miami to head back to State College? I know I didn't and to be honest why would he?Yes, Golden played tight end for the Nittany Lions and yes he loved Paterno, but maybe the situation in Miami is just better (which it is) and he is happy there. So, of course when talks with Golden fell through all the "Paterno" people were upset. In my opinion that's why Munchak got so much press or interest in the first place. I never thought he was the right guy for the job from the get go (no prior college coaching experience). I think the Munchak hire would have been done just to please a certain group of people who are still hung up on the past and right now that's the last thing this program needs.So, now the spotlight is on Franklin, who is supposed to be announced officially as the new head coach tomorrow. According to writer David Jones (Pennlive.com) that's not a certainty as Vanderbilt Athletic Director David Williams is still trying to convince Franklin to stay in Nashville. According to Jones, the chances are very slim that Franklin does turn down Penn State and that it would take in the neighborhood of 4.5 million a year to even think about it.All in all, the reality is that Franklin will be the next head coach and that the majority of the fanbase got what they wanted. Franklin is a true Pennsylvania guy, growing up in Langhorne, playing football at Neshaminy. He then went on to play quarterback for the Warriors at East Stroudsburg University, where he was a Division 2 Player of the Year nominee in 1994. Then he went on to be an assistant coach at Kutztown and East Stroudsburg before he started his stints as a Division 1 football coach.Before getting the Vanderbilt job in 2011 his most prolific jobs were offensive coordinator at both Kansas State (06-07) and Maryland (08-10).In my opinion, with Franklin you get the best of both worlds. You get a guy that isn't associated with the Paterno regime and a guy that has strong Pennsylvania roots. O'Brien had no ties to Pennsylvania, thus making a jump to the NFL a lot easier than a guy who has family and a sense of home pride throughout the region.Also, to make something clear when I say I think Penn State needs to stay away from a "Paterno" guy that doesn't mean Paterno's legacy is stained or that he should be forgotten. It just means that Penn State needs to move on and go in a new direction as they did with O'Brien.Franklin now has the task of bringing the Nittany Lions back to prominence and with his charisma and work ethic it seems he is the right man for the job. After all, he did take Vanderbilt to three straight bowl games for the first team in their history, so who knows what he can accomplish with the resources he'll have in Happy Valley.One thing is for sure, it will certainly be interesting to see how it all unfolds.