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Barbour hints at Franklin extension

LOS ANGELES — Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour wouldn’t give any details but did offer up a hint that a contract extension for coach James Franklin is in the works.

“Things are moving along,” Barbour said Saturday with a little smile.

Franklin’s contract runs through the 2019 season, but with the Nittany Lions’ success in getting to the Rose Bowl this year, an extension would seem to be a foregone conclusion.

After four games this season, however, Barbour found herself fielding questions about Franklin being on the hot seat. In an exclusive interview with the Mirror following the loss to Michigan, she said unequivocally that Franklin was “not on any hot seat.”

Why did she feel the need to give him a vote of confidence at that point?

“There was a lot of chatter that was counterproductive to conditions for success for this team and community,” Barbour said. “Frankly, those decisions are going to be made by the athletic director and our president. I wanted people to know how we felt.”

One big topic of conversation this postseason has been non-conference scheduling, since Washington had one of the worst in the country but still was selected to the College Football Playoff over Penn State.

“I was certainly disappointed, and I’m good friends with the AD at Washington, so this is not a slam on them,” Barbour said. “But the committee did kind of go away from what they had been talking about in regards to strength of schedule. There’s a chatter around that. It proved out with Ohio State getting in, though, so it worked both ways.

“We’re going to stick with our non-conference scheduling philosophy — one Power 5 (opponent each season) and bring great games to Beaver Stadium.”

The Nittany Lions have  Idaho on the schedule in 2019, and the Vandals are dropping down to the FCS level. Barbour said PSU will “honor that contract” and keep Idaho on the schedule.

Barbour said Penn State’s facilities master plan update will be revealed in February.

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