Three days into Penn State football’s national search to find its replacement for James Franklin and Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule remains seen as one of the favorites among the candidates for the position.
Asked about those rumors during a media availability with reporters on Tuesday, Oct. 14, Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola offered a rather assertive answer regarding his head coach’s name being put into conversations about the job and whether Rhule would take it.
‘That’s our head football coach and he ain’t going nowhere,’ Raiola said on Tuesday. ‘He’s staying right here. It doesn’t really matter what he says. His wife loves it here, she has her business going and all that stuff. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t. He ain’t going nowhere.’
Raiola, who is in his second season serving as Rhule’s starting quarterback, began his emphatic statement on Rhule not leaving for Penn State by mentioning that Rhule hasn’t allowed the outside noise to impact the program.
‘It doesn’t faze him at all. It’s just some people stirring stuff up and making things better than it is,’ Raiola said. ‘I couldn’t tell you, he’s as locked in as ever on this football game (against Minnesota) to get this win.’
Rhule quickly became one of the top potential candidates for the Penn State job after Franklin’s firing at Penn State on Sunday, Oct. 12. The reasons for Rhule’s name being thrown into the pool of candidates were rather simple, as he played at Penn State from 1994-1997 and has a close friendship with Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft, who hired Rhule at Temple.
‘I absolutely love it here. I want us to continue to take the steps needed for us to turn this thing into a beast. … I’m really happy here,’ Rhule said on Monday, Oct. 13 when asked about the Penn State opening. ‘I love Penn State…’
Nebraska travels to Minnesota on Friday, Oct. 17 for a 8 p.m. ET kickoff against the Golden Gophers, where the Cornhuskers will look to become bowl eligible for the second consecutive season under Rhule. The Cornhuskers will travel to Happy Valley in the second-to-last weekend of Big Ten play on Saturday, Nov. 22.
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