Penn State football's coaching search is underway, and seven-time national champion Nick Saban has given his thoughts on what the Nittany Lions need in their next head coach after firing James Franklin.

With Curt Cignetti, a former Saban assistant, officially off the proverbial table after he signed a massive, eight-year extension with Indiana, Penn State's search will likely primarily focus on many of the names that have already been floated: Nebraska's Matt Rhule, Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady, and Syracuse head coach Fran Brown.

Saban, who retired after the 2023 season, laid out some of the criteria that he believes Franklin's successor, whoever it may be, should have to accomplish the Nittany Lions' ultimate goals of being perennial Big Ten and national title contenders.

“Obviously, they've got to hire somebody that has a history of having some success, who knows how to develop a program and continue to win, and to deal with success,” Saban said on the ‘Pat McAfee Show' today. “One of the things that people talk about with James Franklin is [that he] couldn't win the big game. But how many people beat those teams? People used to get on [other coaches] about not beating us, but we didn't get beat very much. … And you actually put me and James Franklin, put them in a position to do that, because they weren't in a position to do it before, and he created an expectation that really was difficult for him to live up to. But he created it.

“So the next person is going to have to do the same thing, but then learn how to deal with success and get the program over the hump. So it's going to have to be somebody who can win over the people who support the program, as well as win over the people that you need to get in the program, whether it's coaches and players, to be able to get you to that level.”

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Saban only coached against Franklin once in their respective head coaching careers; during Franklin's first year at Vanderbilt in 2011, the Crimson Tide shut out the Commodores 34-0 in Tuscaloosa. And while the two were surely at odds many times as they vied for recruits as two of the top programs in the country, Saban did what Franklin most notably and often couldn't: win the biggest games.

Who can do that and is also attainable for Penn State remains to be seen. Rhule, the most popular name in the search and a PSU alum, has proven to be an excellent rebuilder in his three college head coaching stops — Temple, Baylor, and Nebraska — but, while rebuilding the respective programs, he has compiled a 2-23 record against top-25 teams in his career, including an 0-18 combined mark at Baylor and Nebraska.