After Penn State fired James Franklin, one name trending for the wrong reasons was Urban Meyer.
A fake post on social media had many people believing the FOX Sports contributor and former Ohio State coach would be taking over in Happy Valley. The Instagram account patrickwcutler_official claimed Meyer would be taking on the position.
“Urban has a great reputation, has never cheated once in his life and done nothing but led teams to national titles everywhere he has gone," the parody account claimed Penn State's President said. "He’s literally the Jesus Christ of college football coaches.”
Like all of the trending fake posts, Penn State President "James T. Kimmel" was involved. At first glance, this one was obvious to spot as being satire. However, it was spread around social media with people believing Meyer was Penn State's new head coach.
What's real out of the situation is that Franklin was fired after 12 seasons with the Nittany Lions. He's owed the second-largest buyout in college football history at $48 million.
Franklin is one of five Power Four coaches out midway through the 2025 season, a crazy turn of events for Penn State after coming into the season as the 2nd-ranked team in the country.
Terry Smith will serve as interim head coach until the end of the season.
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