What began as a fan site’s “Wish List” to fill a coaching vacancy at Penn State spawned an internet rumor that is completely without merit and baseless, a source close to the situation said Thursday afternoon.

“Inevitably, a part of success is that when there are job openings Coach Shep will have his name tied to it,” the source said.  “It is a good sign, and the opposite of what was happening the before DeBoer’s staff went to Washington.  But he’s happy at Washington and he’s staying at Washington”

In reality moving to Penn State would be a lateral move as both Washington and Penn State finished with identical 11-2 records and were ranked 7th and 8th in the final polls.

“Someone tried putting two and two together but the math just didn’t work,” they said.  “His only connection with the Nittany Lions is that he coached in the same conference as them when he coached the receivers at Purdue.”

In fact, Shephard has been seen in the Los Angeles area recruiting for the Huskies, sending out a few offers in the past 24 hour.

“The is a story that should have never been a story–end of story,” the source said.