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I'm surprised it was so fast. He could have taken his time.

It's been 2 months since there was a vacancy and he needed a job.  Plenty of time.  IMO. 

They also negotiated the buyout from $49 million to $9 million, but waiving the offset

Could you explain or provide a link?

Whose buyout, which way?

Blacksburg is a good place fan base is rousing also.Just haven't had much to pull for - much like Browns Fans

You and @SuperMario and a few others might appreciate this:

I grew up in the Cleveland area.  I was thinking about it a while back in reference to something on here and I really wasn't much of a cfb fan until I started at Ohio State in the fall of 1993. I was always an Ohio State guy but I was just a LOT more interested in the Browns.

Well, I realized something.  The Browns were actually better than the Buckeyes when I was growing up. That sounds INSANE given how woeful the Browns have been and how good the Buckeyes have been but hear me out:

I was born in 1975 so I have no personal recollection of any of Woody's teams and I was too young to be interested in Ohio State's NC near miss in 1979.

I turned 5 before the 1980 football season and the Browns had their best run of the last 60+ years in the 1980s when I was 5-14. They made the playoffs seven times in those 10 years including five straight years from 1985-1989. That five year run included three AFC Championship games including one at Cleveland Municipal Stadium (the Drive).

When the Browns won the AFC Central Division in 1989 it was their fourth Division Championship in five years and their fifth straight playoff appearance. In the ~35 years since they've only made four playoff appearances and that 1989 AFC Central Championship remains the most recent for the franchise.

The great run by the Browns in the 1980s coincided with the most pedestrian decade the Buckeyes have had since probably the 1930s. After almost winning the NC in his first season upon taking over from Woody, Earle Bruce led the Buckeyes to a 9-3 record every year for six straight years then went 10-3 when they played an extra game in 1986. That was capped by middling years in the transition from Bruce to Cooper.

I think he's talking about Franklin.  He had an off-set, essentially he was required to "look" for work, and if he found a job whatever the new job paid would be off-set from what PSU owed him.  Looks like instead they just gave him $9 MM and they both told each other to F off. 

This

You and @SuperMario and a few others might appreciate this:

I grew up in the Cleveland area.  I was thinking about it a while back in reference to something on here and I really wasn't much of a cfb fan until I started at Ohio State in the fall of 1993. I was always an Ohio State guy but I was just a LOT more interested in the Browns.

Well, I realized something.  The Browns were actually better than the Buckeyes when I was growing up. That sounds INSANE given how woeful the Browns have been and how good the Buckeyes have been but hear me out:

I was born in 1975 so I have no personal recollection of any of Woody's teams and I was too young to be interested in Ohio State's NC near miss in 1979.

I turned 5 before the 1980 football season and the Browns had their best run of the last 60+ years in the 1980s when I was 5-14. They made the playoffs seven times in those 10 years including five straight years from 1985-1989. That five year run included three AFC Championship games including one at Cleveland Municipal Stadium (the Drive).

When the Browns won the AFC Central Division in 1989 it was their fourth Division Championship in five years and their fifth straight playoff appearance. In the ~35 years since they've only made four playoff appearances and that 1989 AFC Central Championship remains the most recent for the franchise.

The great run by the Browns in the 1980s coincided with the most pedestrian decade the Buckeyes have had since probably the 1930s. After almost winning the NC in his first season upon taking over from Woody, Earle Bruce led the Buckeyes to a 9-3 record every year for six straight years then went 10-3 when they played an extra game in 1986. That was capped by middling years in the transition from Bruce to Cooper.

This is really interesting on a lot of levels:
1) Just to go back and think about the 80's Browns. They were electric on so many levels and the NFL was a different league and time in pro sports. So many of the Browns players were on the team in the fall and worked normal jobs in the off-season so it made them more relatable humans. My cousin and my aunt lived in Brook Park in a condo project and a couple doors down from Eddie Johnson. He would always come out and play catch with the kids and was simply an awesome dude. He was also far from wealthy. Imagine an NFL player in the league for 10 years not being wealthy? From that, we as a family were lucky to meet a lot of the players back then because of it.

2) Really interesting to hear your dynamic of the strength of your Browns fanhood, especially during the down times of OSU because that is a similar reflection of a lot of people becoming strong Indians fans when the Browns dipped and the timing was electric there as well. As much as it was a slugfest as a Cleveland sports fan that had a lot of heartbreak, there has also been a decent ride if you were a Browns, Indians, Buckeye, Cavs fan.. Browns in the 80's and despite the heartbreak of the 90's and disappearing it lead the Indians amazing teams of the 90's and then from their ownership sale and cheapskate dolan's leading to their fall off, the Buckeyes then picked up in the early 2000's to heal that and win a title.. Buckeyes have been pretty strong since, but had a couple tough championship moments but that's when lebron was starting to make some runs in Cleveland. 

Cleveland fans have not had an abundance of titles, but there's been at least one good team to really dive into for the last 40 years.. definitely not the Browns since returning in '99 but the Buckeyes have certainly filled that gap for a long time. 

This is really interesting on a lot of levels:
1) Just to go back and think about the 80's Browns. They were electric on so many levels and the NFL was a different league and time in pro sports. So many of the Browns players were on the team in the fall and worked normal jobs in the off-season so it made them more relatable humans. My cousin and my aunt lived in Brook Park in a condo project and a couple doors down from Eddie Johnson. He would always come out and play catch with the kids and was simply an awesome dude. He was also far from wealthy. Imagine an NFL player in the league for 10 years not being wealthy? From that, we as a family were lucky to meet a lot of the players back then because of it.

So different back then.  

Anyway, Browns in the 1980s:

• 1980:  11-5, won the AFC Central, lost at home to Oakland in the Divisional Round of the Playoffs on Red Right 88.  Note that the Raiders went on to win the SuperBowl and Cleveland was a <30 yard FG from beating them 15-14 or 13 yards from beating them 19-14.  Rutigliano always said that he had told Sipe to "Throw the ball into Lake Erie" if it wasn't wide open".  Oh well.  FWIW, I was five.  I don't actually remember the Red Right 88 game, I just remember it being talked about a lot when I was a kid.  
• 1981:  5-11, missed playoffs.  
• 1982:  4-5 (strike shortened season), lost playoff first round at Raiders.  
• 1983:  9-7 missed playoffs.  Still a decent season.  
• 1984:  5-11 missed playoffs, fired Rutigliano and hired Schottenheimer. 
• 1985:  8-8, won the AFC Central, lost divisional playoff at Dolphins.  <--From here on I distinctly remember these seasons/games.  
• 1986:  12-4, won AFC Central, won Divisional playoff vs Jets, lost AFC Championship Game vs Broncos on the drive.  
• 1987:  10-5, won AFC Central, won divisional playoff vs Colts, lost AFC Championship Game at Broncos on the fumble.  
• 1988:  10-6, lost Wild Card vs Oilers.  
• 1989:  9-6-1, won AFC Central, won Divisional playoff vs Bills, lost AFC Championship at Broncos.  

It is insane to me how far they fell.  In the five years from 1985-1989 the Browns won the Division four times, made five straight playoff appearances, won three playoff games, and made three AFC Championship Game appearances.  In the 36 years since (I'm counting 2025 because at 2-8, they aren't making the playoff this year) they have ZERO Division titles, four playoff appearances, two playoff wins, and no AFC Championship Game appearances.  

I mentioned that the Buckeyes were in the midst of their 9-3 every year phase.  Those seasons did vary somewhat but it is a trade-off.  In 1980 they started 9-1 then lost The Game and their Bowl.  The good part of that is that it makes for an exciting season right up until the end.  The Buckeyes were #5 heading into The Game and in the thick of the NC race.  The bad part is that the season ends on a sour note so there isn't much excitement looking forward.  Conversely, the very next year the Buckeyes lost two games in early October and started 8-3 but won The Game and the bowl.  The bad part is that there isn't much excitement during the season because the Buckeyes were basically out of it by mid-October.  The Buckeyes dropped out of the poll entirely after the second loss (only 20 teams back then) and snuck back in for one week before the third loss dropped them out again, then beating Michigan got them back into the poll.  The good part is that after winning The Game and the bowl there was a ton of excitement looking forward to the following season.  

I covered 80 and 81:

• 1982:  Started 2-3 then ran off 7 straight wins
• 1983:  Losses spread out (one in Sep, one in Oct, one in Nov)
• 1984:  Lost twice in Oct, won The Game, went to the Rose Bowl and lost to USC
• 1985:  Started 8-1 and climbed to #3 then lost back-to-back to UW and M and won a consolation Citrus Bowl over BYU
• 1986:  Started 0-2 and dropped out of the poll completely then ran off 9 straight wins and climbed to #7 before losing The Game and winning a consolation Cotton Bowl over aTm.  
• 1987:  This season is mostly remembered for Earle Bruce winning The Game AFTER he was fired.  That is a fun memory but it sometimes gets forgotten that he was fired for good reasons.  The Buckeyes went to Ann Arbor at 5-4-1 and having lost three straight to MSU, UW, and Iowa.  
• 1988:  Cooper's first season was a sub .500 disaster.  
• 1989:  Started 2-2 and didn't climb back into the poll until November (25 teams by 1989).  They were 8-2 and #20 heading into The Game, and lost that but only dropped one spot because it was a close loss on the road and Michigan was 9-1 and #3.  Lost the bowl and finished barely ranked (#24).  

The most exciting tOSU seasons of the 1980s were 1980 and 1985 and both ended nowhere close to the NC.  They really weren't seriously in the NC race other than those two and even those two it was illusory.  By contrast the Browns spent the bulk of the 1980s absolutely in the hunt.  Twice they had their Super Bowl invitations all but engraved only to find ridiculous ways to lose to the Broncos.  I remember watching the AFC Championship in 1986.  When the Denver kick returner screwed up and stepped out only to get tackled at the freaking 2 yard line the party started.  All the Browns had to do was prevent a 98 yard drive in the waning moments and . . . they didn't.  I remember watching the 1987 AFC Championship Game it and we all thought we had gotten revenge from the previous year.  Cleveland had a drive going as the clock was winding down.  If you are too young to remember, Beyner fumbled at the 2 just before going into the end zone.  On the angle on TV we didn't see the fumble and we all thought that he had scored.  That was painful.