James Franklin Responds to Florida State Speculation After Willie Taggart Firing

The Florida State Seminoles opted to move on from head coach Willie Taggart after less than two seasons. With a hefty exit fee being paid to Taggart in the near future, the football program is first setting its focus on finding a high-profile replacement to help bring the Seminoles back to former heights.

One name that popped up was Penn State head coach James Franklin, who has been a frequent name mentioned in football coaching vacancies. During a press conference on Tuesday, Franklin responded to the speculation, and essentially laid them to rest.

“As you know, we work very, very, very hard at staying focused at the task at hand," said Franklin, via 247Sports. "That’s with everybody. Whenever anything comes up, we try to address it to make sure that everyone kind of understands where we’re at with everything, with coaches, with players, with recruits, with all of it. We try to stay as focused as we possibly can on the task at hand. All of those things that take away from that, we try to stay away from as much as we possibly can.”

Franklin's full focus is on his undefeated fifth-ranked Nittany Lions football squad, which returns from the bye week to face the No. 13 Minnesota Golden Gophers on Saturday.

Ironically, Minnesota head coach PJ Fleck emerged as a potential candidate for the FSU job. However, Minnesota locked in Fleck to a contract extension on Tuesday, literally and figuratively taking his name off the list.

Another name linked to the job is former Oklahoma Sooners and current Dallas Renegades head coach Bob Stoops, who has denied ever being a candidate for the Seminoles job.

With Franklin's comments, the high-profile names are dwindling for Florida State.