Penn State Makes James Franklin Hire Official

To the surprise of nobody...outside of a handful of people at Vanderbilt University, Penn State made it official early Saturday morning and hired James Franklin to coach the football team.

The only matter, which we reported on Friday, that slowed things down was getting the school's Board of Trustees to sign off on his salary. Which they did just after 9 a.m on Saturday.

And according to CBSSports.com's Bruce Feldman, the deal is a big one. 6-years for $27 million or $4.5 million a year.

Read more from the school their own-selves RIGHT HERE

The tradition of excellence continues: James Franklin named Penn State Football Head Coach. http://t.co/izmh08AILC pic.twitter.com/RkMSsxmuBT
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) January 11, 2014

Franklin has been one of College Football's hottest coaching commodities after leading the Commodores to 24 wins and three straight bowl games in his 3-years at the Nashville school.

He inherits a once storied football program that has suffered the past several years both before and after the Jerry Sandusky scandal and the passing of legendary coach Joe Paterno. The Nittany Lions are dealing with scholarship losses and several other punishments for the mess and to most outsiders are a few years away from returning to full strength.

The job came open after Bill O'Brien left to take the head coaching job with the Houston Texans.

Penn State will introduce Franklin to the world at 4:15 on Saturday afternoon.

According to Vandy AD David Williams, the two had a discussion at 1PM Friday afternoon. Williams said that, after a conversation he had with Franklin six hours later, it was his impression that Franklin was removing himself from the position of head coach at the university. Williams is disappointed with the decision, but is ready to move on.

Sandusky Victims to Get $60 Million from Penn State

Jerry Sandusky

Wow...okay, Penn State must have a serious amount of money tucked away in its coffers.

The school announced Monday morning, they've reached settlements with 26 of the 32 people who made sexual abuse allegations against former Assistant Football coach Jerry Sandusky. Payments for those settlements according to the school--$59.7 million.

Penn State was quick to make clear the money would not come from tuition, taxpayer funds or donations, but rather a variety of insurance policies and other self-sufficient sources.

From the school's press release: "The Board of Trustees has had as one of its primary objectives to reach settlements in a way that is fair and respects the privacy of the individuals involved,” said Keith Masser, chair of the Board of Trustees. "This is another important milestone in accomplishing that goal. I would like to thank the board’s Legal and Compliance Committee, as well as its Legal Subcommittee for its leadership throughout this process.”

University President Rodney Erickson added; “We hope this is another step forward in the healing process for those hurt by Mr. Sandusky, and another step forward for Penn State. We cannot undo what has been done, but we can and must do everything possible to learn from this and ensure it never happens again at Penn State.”

Per multiple reports, part of the agreement has a confidentiality clause in it. That clause would not allow the victims or family members to disclose how much they received from the school.

Read more from PennLive.com RIGHT HERE

In many ways, this ties up most of the loose ends in the 2009/10/11 case that saw the Nittany Lions former defensive coordinator arrested and charged with multiple cases of child sexual molestation, publicly humiliating the school and many of it's legends. Sandusky is in jail, where it appears he'll be for a very long time, the school administrators involved are no longer with the school.

No doubt the people of Happy Valley will be happy the saga has almost ended. The only curveball would be if Sandusky appeals his sentence.

Oh wait...