Check out our head coach hot board version 2 for the updated list of candidates for Penn State football’s head coaching job.
For the next days, weeks and maybe even months, the Penn State coaching search will dominate headlines, and Nittany Sports Now can confirm that a candidate has emerged.
Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz would make sense for Penn State, and NSN wrote as much in its first Penn State head-coaching hot board.
A day later, NSN can confirm that he is indeed a candidate.
This, of course, was all made possible by Penn State firing James Franklin Sunday afternoon in the middle of what many feel is the most disappointing season in program history.
Three weeks ago, Penn State was No. 3 in the country.
Now, it’s looking for a coach.
THE DRINKWITZ FILE
Here’s the file on Eli Drinkwitz.
After spending his first five seasons as a high school assistant, Drinkwitz began his college coaching career at Auburn in 2010 as quality control coach, and in his first season, Auburn won a national championship. After two seasons on Gene Chizik’s staff, Drinkwitz followed Auburn OC Guz Malzahn when he became the head coach at Arkansas State, where he stayed for two seasons and rose to the ranks of co-OC in 2013. From there, Drinkwitz went with Brian Harsin— who took the Arkansas State job when Malzahn left to become Auburn’s HC— to become Boise State’s tight end coach.
In 2015, he became the offensive coordinator, and then had the same position for three seasons at NC State.
Before the 2019 season, Drinkwitz got his first head coaching job, taking over at Appalachian State.
He did so well there (12-1) that Missouri came calling.
Since then, Drinkwitz has led the Tigers to become a contender, finishing in the top 10 in 2023 and winning 10 games in 2024.
He’s done it all while establishing himself as an offensive guru.
BEAU KNOWS
Photo by Matt Lynch, Nittany Sports Now
A big benefit to hiring Drinkwitz would be that he could bring Beau Pribula with him. Penn State fans know Pribula well, what with him being a quarterback for three years. Now, he’s Missouri’s starter, leading the team to a 5-1 start and No. 16 ranking.
Pribula has one more year of eligibility, and grew up as a Penn State fan from York, PA.
If Drinkwitz got the job, why wouldn’t Pribula come back?
