Penn State football coaching hot board: Here are nine potential candidates to replace James Franklin, who was fired on Sunday.
Penn State football is looking for a new coach for the first time in more than a decade.
Who can the Nittany Lions eventually land after their stunning collapse and firing of James Franklin on Sunday?
They certainly may take the rest of the fall to find their fit. Longtime assistant and former Nittany Lions receiver Terry Smith will lead the team on an interim basis over the final six regular season games.
Frankin, 53, was in the middle of his 12th season at Penn State and had led the Lions to a 37-11 record and a College Football Playoff semifinal appearance over the last four seasons. But his last three games, all losses, derailed the nation's No. 2 team and sent it spiraling.
The Nittany Lions will be looking for just their fourth head coach since 1966, when Joe Paterno took over.
Here are nine potential candiates to replace Franklin as the new Penn State coach:
Curt Cignetti, Indiana head coach
Curt Cignetti, 64, has turned perennial Big Ten bottom-level Indiana into a national championship contender in just two seasons.
Would he be open to returning to Pennsylvania, where he was an assistant at Pitt and in charge at IUP, leading it to three Division II playoff appearances?
Cignetti played quarterback at longtime Penn State rival West Virginia, where his father, Frank, coached.
Matt Rhule, Nebraska head coach
Matt Rhule, 50, may be the best "Penn State fit," having played under Paterno as a walk-on linebacker and having worked under PSU athletics director Pat Kraft at Temple.
Rhule's Owls stunned the Nittany Lions in the 2015 season opener at Lincoln Financial Field. And he'll bring his Cornhuskers to Beaver Stadium next month.
Rhule, a former NFL coach, has won in college, leading Temple, Baylor and now Nebraska, where he's 5-1. He's a proven program-builder and rejuvenator. Can he be a national championship-caliber finisher?
Manny Diaz, Duke head coach
Manny Diaz already owns Penn State success as its star defensive coordinator in 2022-23.
But probably more importantly, he's earned success as a major college head coach, first at Miami and now at Duke, where's 13-6 in his second season.
His standout East Coast recruiting rep and aggressive coaching style raise his bar here.
Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri head coach
Eli Drinkwitz, 42, has made a big splash at Missouri the past three seasons and may looking for a blue-blood program upgrade.
He's won 10 games or more the previous two seasons and has the Tigers firmly in the top 20 with former Nittany Lion quarterback Beau Pribula.
He was named SEC Coach of the Year in 2023 after going 11-2 with a landmark victory over Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.
Clark Lea, Vanderbilt head coach
Could the Nittany Lions raid Vanderbilt for their leader again?
Franklin, of course, joined the Nittany Lions after a startling three-year run with Vandy.
Lea beat Alabama in his impressive 9-4 season last year − the Commodores' first winning season since Franklin − and has them poised for another succesful run.
Alex Golesh, South Florida head coach
Alex Golesh, 41, is one of the nation's top rising program leaders.
He's coached at Ohio State, Illinois and was successful leading offenses at South Florida and Tennessee.
He's hot at USF this year, too, with a 5-1 record and victories over Florida and Boise State.
Will Stein, Oregon offensive coordinator
Would the Lions hand over the keys to their program to a first-time head coach?
Will Stein certainly has become a coordinator star at 36 under Oregon's Dan Lanning and may be ready to lead his own program.
In less than a decade he's risen from the high school ranks to leading one of the top offenses in college football the past three seasons.
Lance Leipold, Kansas head coach
Lance Leipold, 61, is one of the most versatile, proven coaching candidates.
He won national titles on the Division III level, coached Mid-American Conference Buffalo to league championship games and has lead a resurgence at downtrodden Kansas.
Leiopold also was a coaching mentor to Andy Kotelnicki, Penn State's current offensive coordinator.
Joe Brady, Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator
Joe Brady, a former graduate assistant at Penn State, has risen the coaching ranks swiftly and has lead offenses for two NFL teams (Buffalo, Jacksonville).
He flashed onto the coaching scene in 2019 after earning the Broyles Award as college football's top assistant. He helped LSU to a national title as a receivers coach and passing game coordinator.
Frank Bodani covers Penn State football for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Penn State football coaching hot board to replace James Franklin
Category: General Sports
