Penn State football head coaching board: 5 candidates to watch as search starts
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Penn State fires James Franklin
The James Franklin era is over at Penn State.
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Penn State has been without a full-time head coach for just over two weeks after firing James Franklin, which means it’s time to dive into the Nittany Lions’ search process.
Every week we’ll rank the top five candidates (with another group of names to ponder) as the search progresses. The rankings will be based on a combination of who the program is targeting at the time, according to several sources, along with the likelihood that the candidate is a real possibility. Early in the process, the rankings will skew more toward the former. Later, it will skew toward the latter as candidates say no, take other jobs, or sign extensions with their current programs.
With that being said, here’s version 1.0 of our coaching board.
1. Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule
It is important to note that this search is very much in the early stages. Conversations are happening with candidates and agents, but there is still a month of football left to be played. That being said, nobody has more to gain over that time period than Matt Rhule. The Nebraska head coach went to high school in State College, played at Penn State and is close friends with Penn State AD Pat Kraft. He just needs to win more games to secure the job. Whether that happens remains to be seen. The Cornhuskers are 6-2 with matchups against USC, UCLA, Penn State and Iowa remaining. Winning three of those could be enough to seal the deal for Rhule. And if he only wins two, he could fall off the board completely. Either way, he’s going to be a lingering presence throughout the Nittany Lions’ coaching search due to his connections and earns the spot at the top because he is the one candidate that has a direct path to getting hired.
2. Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko
Friday night — before defeating LSU — this seemed like more of a possibility, but Penn State is going to take some big swings, and Elko is about as big as it gets right now. The New Jersey native has Texas A&M undefeated in his second season with the program and will likely lead the Aggies to the College Football Playoff. That’s what makes him both an appealing candidate, and as things stand, a potentially unattainable one. Either way, he’s a good example of what Kraft will likely look for in his next head coach — a sitting Power Four head coach who has had success in his current program who he can poach. There’s no guarantee that he will be able to land that type of candidate, but Elko certainly fits the bill. It would just take Penn State outspending a program that shoots money out of a fire hose while waiting for it to finish a likely playoff run.
3. Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer
Two and three on this list are probably interchangeable, with both representing the level of coach Penn State will attempt to get. DeBoer was oh-so-close to becoming a very realistic candidate when his team was down by eight to South Carolina in the fourth quarter Saturday. A loss there, and one more this season, could have put him on the hot seat and made him uncomfortable enough to look for a way out of Tuscaloosa. Instead, his team pulled out the win and any tension has likely eased. Either way, he will be a candidate to monitor given what has been an awkward fit at times at Alabama through two seasons. DeBoer is still a candidate the Nittany Lions will try for, even if the likelihood of landing him isn’t the greatest.
4. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman
It is important to note that just because someone is on the list, it does not mean they will be hired. But Freeman is going to get calls about every major opening in college football and that will include Penn State. He may tell the Nittany Lions no, but they will probably make him do it more than once. He’s proven to be an elite head coach, reaching the national title game by beating Penn State last year, and has recruited at an elite level with the Fighting Irish since taking over as head coach in 2021. Freeman would be a home run hire for the Nittany Lions, and really any school. But right now he’s far more likely to leave for the NFL than another college gig. Still, Penn State will try and until he signs an extension or leaves for the next level, he’ll remain a target.
5. Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm
The fifth spot could have gone to any number of candidates, but Brohm lands it because he’s a good mix of being a big swing (but not as big as DeBoer, Elko and Freeman) and being attainable. The former Louisville quarterback has been excellent at his alma mater, leading it to a 6-1 record so far with a very real chance of making the College Football Playoff in his third season as its head coach. Brohm is known for his work with quarterbacks, an attribute that will make him desirable at a place like Penn State where the play at the position has been uneven, and has a strong record of winning — which he also did at Purdue and Western Kentucky. Still, he’s not likely to be a major candidate early in the process, and is far more likely to become one once those higher on the board either fall off or sign extensions at their current schools.
Names to ponder: Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz, Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald, former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer, Duke head coach Manny Diaz, Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell
