NSN’s Penn State Head Coach Hot Board 2.0

Check out the latest edition of the Penn State head coach hot board here.

It’s time for the second version of NSN’s Penn State football head coach hot board.

Penn State needs a new head football coach after firing James Franklin early Sunday afternoon.

Over the next however many days/months until Penn State hires a new head coach, there will be plenty of hot boards discussing who Penn State might hire.

Here is our second one, where we will start by addressing the people who weren’t named in our first one.

NSN’s Penn State Head Coach Hot Board 1.0

TERRY SMITH

This remains highly unlikely at best, but Kraft did say that the Penn State interim coach was “absolutely” a candidate for the job, so Smith must at least be mentioned.

Unless Penn State runs the table or gets close to it, it’s almost certain that Penn State will go after somebody else.

MARCUS FREEMAN

It’s been reported, so it needs to be addressed. There’s no reason for Freeman to leave Notre Dame so soon after making the national title game, but if Penn State is thinking big, there’s no reason not to consider him.

KALEN DEBOER

Another trip to fantasy land. DeBoer is rolling at Alabama, which is ranked No. 6. Unless things go south, he ain’t leaving. The only reason DeBoer is on this list is because, at this point in the search, Penn State might as well be thinking of everybody.

SHANE BEAMER

Beamer is a name that doesn’t have a lot of traction yet, but as a guy still in his 40s with five years of head coaching experience, he does have some appeal.

With his record currently being 16-20 in that conference, he probably wouldn’t be that appealing to Penn State fans.

WILL STEIN

The first assistant (not counting Smith) on our hotboard. Penn State fans should know all about Stein, since he runs the offense that started Penn State’s downfall. The 36-year-old doesn’t have any head coaching experience and has only been a full-time college offensive coordinator for three seasons.

But he’s made a huge impact in that short time at Oregon. In 2023, he helped Bo Nix become a Heisman finalist, and did the same with Dillon Gabriel last year.

Now, Nix and Gabriel were each successful college starters before going to Oregon, but Dante Moore was unproven before this season.

Up until a rough outing this past weekend, Moore was a Heisman favorite, and he has plenty of time to play his way back into contention.

Penn State fans want somebody who can develop a QB, since many feel they failed Drew Allar. Stein’s track record makes him an attractive candidate.

BRIAN HARTLINE

Speaking of offensive minds still in their 30s, Hartline is a guy who is going to be a head coach one day, and there’s a compelling argument for him to fit at Penn State.

Hartline has a national championship ring, which not a lot of people can say, and there’s nobody better at developing receivers.

But it’s fair to question if Penn State should go after a guy who, at this point, is best known as a position coach. When he was running the Ohio State offense in 2023, Kyle McCord didn’t become a star and he was replaced by Bill O’Brien, and then Chip Kelly the next offseason.

Now, he’s 6-0, and first-year starting QB Julian Sayin has been fantastic, so maybe he does know what he’s doing as a coordinator, too.

LANE KIFFIN

Wouldn’t this be something? The odds of Kiffin coming to Penn State are slightly higher than those of DeBoer or Freeman, since Ole Miss probably isn’t a better job than Penn State. But Kiffin fitting into the State College culture is hard to imagine.

Now, let’s go back to who was on Version 1.0.

MATT RHULE

Rhule has been the elephant in the room since Franklin was fired. A lot of Penn State fans don’t want Rhule, citing his poor record against ranked teams (2-23) as evidence that he’d be a worse version of the man Penn State just fired. But three undeniable factors make Rhule a realistic candidate:

1. His connection with AD Pat Kraft, who he worked with at Temple
2. The fact that he played at Penn State
3. He’s won enough that Penn State should at least consider him.

Rhule turned around Temple (2013-16) and Baylor (2017-19) and now has Nebraska 5-1 and ranked.

Since we published our first hot board, Rhule addressed the Penn State rumors.

“I love Penn State,” Rhule said. “I met my wife there. My alma mater. A fan since I was born. I probably had a Penn State shirt when I was born.”

“I love Pat Kraft. Really sad to see Coach Franklin go,” Rhule said. “When you think about what he did for my Alma Mater, the program was in peril. James takes over a program in disarray and gives stability and excellence.”

With that said…

“I’m not going to talk a lot about job openings when they come,” Rhule said. “This is what happens when you win. We won at Temple, and I dealt with it all the time. I’m not going to talk about those things ever. I’m not going to talk about my contract here. I absolutely love it here.”

“I want to continue to take the steps needed to turn this place into a beast,” Rhule said.

CURT CIGNETTI

There’s no hotter coaching name in college football right now than Cignetti, who has taken Indiana from the pits of the Big Ten to national championship contention in less than two years.

Unlike Rhule, hiring Cignetti wouldn’t polarize the Penn State fanbase.

With that said, he’s right at retirement age (will be 65 next year) and there’s not much reason for him to want to leave what he’s building at Indiana, especially with Mark Cuban’s wallet.

Cignetti hasn’t addressed any speculation yet.

MATT CAMPBELL

Campbell has been a hot name for years, but he just doesn’t seem to have a desire to leave Iowa State.

Not even last year, when Campbell led Iowa State to its first-ever 10-win season— even winning the legendary Pop Tarts Bowl— did he leave, and now he’s in Year 10.

Campbell is only 45 years old, so he’s a guy who could lead Penn State for two decades if he wanted.

Campbell was one of the names mentioned by national college football analyst David Pollock as a potential fit.

“I think Matt Campbell is a really, really good one,” Pollock said. “He’s done it at Iowa State, where he’s done it with less talent. He wins close games and always puts good offense and discipline on the field. They’ve struggled fresh off a Colorado loss, and that’s not a good place to be. Probably a couple of years ago, the name was hotter, but he’s still a heck of a football coach.”

MANNY DIAZ

Like with Rhule, the connection here is obvious.

Not only did Diaz coach at Penn State, but he did so during Kraft’s tenure, leading elite defenses in 2022 and ‘23, which helped him to become the head coach at Duke before the 2024 season.

Diaz went 9-4 in Year 1 at Duke and is currently 4-2 with a 3-0 ACC record.

He’s a defensive mastermind with years of Power 4 head coaching experience, having also run Miami from 2019-21. But it’s fair to question if hiring a guy who worked with Franklin is the best way to move on from him.

Kraft was also the one who hired Diaz for his incredibly brief run as head coach after the 2018 season. Diaz and Duke have a clash with No. 12 Georgia Tech Saturday. If Duke wins, it will be ranked, and the Diaz hype train will pick up steam.

CLARK LEA

“If he can turn Vanderbilt into a winner, imagine what he could do at Penn State?”

That’s the attitude that got Franklin hired 11 years ago. Could lightning strike twice?

Like Franklin, Lea took over an awful program in Nashville, and also like Franklin, he made Vandy relevant again.

With that said, it’s hard to say that Lea has proven enough at Vanderbilt to warrant a job as big as Penn State.

He did lead Vandy to its first winning season since the Franklin era last year, and is off to a 5-1 start this year.

But with four ranked teams left on the schedule, it’s conceivable that Vandy finishes 7-5, with a sixth loss coming in the bowl game.

Would two straight seven-win seasons be enough to get the Penn State job?

Although there’s a lot to like about Lea, who will be 44 in less than a month, it’s fair to wonder if he’s done enough to deserve such a promotion.

JOE BRADY

The second-leading receiver in Penn State history endorsed Brady for the job. As great an offensive mind as he is, the 36-year-old Bills offensive coordinator has never been a head coach in his life.

With that said, he’s the betting favorite to land the Penn State job.

Penn State has had bad luck with quality offensive minds since Joe Moorhead left. If Brady comes, he could well break that cycle. At the very least, it would get fans excited.

ELI DRINKWITZ

Since we published our first hotboard, NSN has confirmed that Drinkwitz is a candidate.

Drinkwitz had a lot to say about his name floating around when asked Monday afternoon.

But he never said “I’m not leaving Missouri,” so take that for what it’s worth.

He’s 42 and has made Missouri one of the best programs in the SEC. He also has Beau Pribula, who plenty of Penn State fans wouldn’t mind seeing coming back.

It also might not be the worst thing for Penn State to move from a program builder to an offensive guru, which Drinkwitz is.

URBAN MEYER

Meyer is one of the greatest college football coaches who has ever lived. It’s documented that Meyer was a candidate for the job after the 2011 season.

Of course, that didn’t happen. Meyer went to Ohio State, won a national title, and won seven of eight games against Penn State.

The first question to ask regarding Meyer’s interest in coaching Penn State is if he wants to return to coaching at all. He hasn’t coached since 2021 and hasn’t coached at the college level since 2018. Since then, NIL and the transfer portal have changed the game.

Does Meyer want to return to coaching at all? If not, then the point is moot.