Shortly after WAPT 16 in Jackson, Miss. reported Tuesday night that Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen is close to signing a deal to replace Joe Paterno as head coach at Penn State, Mullen refuted the claim according to Brandon Marcello of the Clarion-Ledger.
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@bmarcello
Brandon Marcello Mullen calls WAPT report that he's close to Penn State deal "most irresponsible reporting that I've ever heard of." (via @rick_cleveland)
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@bmarcello
Brandon Marcello FWIW: Source close to MSU program strongly refuted WAPT report to me when it surfaced as well. More on ClarionLedger.com soon.
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Penn State announced the formation of its search committee just this past Monday, so such swift action would be pretty surprising. That's says nothing of what Penn State and Mullen's interest in each other might be, but these kinds of deals typically take a bit longer than a day or two to come together.
It's worth noting that it took the university two weeks to name Patrick Chambers as the replacement for former men's basketball coach Ed DeChellis over the summer. Given that, it'd be pretty odd for the search committee to chart a course for the football program, the golden goose of athletic department revenue, less than two days after its formation.
Stay tuned for all the latest updates on the Penn State coaching search here at SB Nation Pittsburgh.