USC remains a high-profile coaching gig, and the Trojans currently have a vacancy after firing Clay Helton early in the season.

On the Dan Patrick Show, ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum was asked who should be the coach that USC should go for. Finebaum said that USC should go after Penn State head coach James Franklin. Finebaum went on to elaborate on why Frankin would be a good hire for USC.

“I think that he checks a lot of boxes in the sense that he is a very good CEO, which means he’ll bring in a top-flight staff,” said Finebaum. “This program needs to be run like a big-time operation, which it hasn’t been.

“I think some of the problem is, they’ve had inept athletic directors there in the past, they don’t anymore. They hired Mike Bohn from Cincinnati. James Franklin is very smooth, and I expect that program to come back big.”

Franklin has accumulated an overall record of 65-29 (40-24 in B1G) in 8 years as Penn State’s head coach. USC is looking for its fourth permanent head coach since Pete Carroll left for the Seattle Seahawks after the 2009 college football season.