The Penn State coaching search is far from over, but the candidates are more narrow now than they were the day PSU fired James Franklin.
AD Pat Kraft making that decision with six games left in the regular season left a lot of room for potential targets to help or hurt their causes before season’s end.
Let’s see how these guys did this week, and if they helped or hurt their causes to be Penn State’s next guy.
Chesney has won at every level he’s coached, and James Madison kept winning Saturday, beating Marshall 35-23 at home.
Unlike some other candidates, where losing would make it less likely for their team to make the College Football Playoff and thus more likely to be available to Penn State, the only way for Chesney to be attractive to Penn State is if James Madison wins.
JMU is now 8-1 overall and 6-0 in the Sun Belt
Verdict: Helped
Mike Elko, Texas A&M
Elko is the opposite of Chesney in that Penn State fans who want him to be the next head coach should root for A&M to lose, not make the Playoff, and thus free up Elko for the month of December.
No. 3 A&M pounding Missouri on the road isn’t helping that cause.
Verdict: Hurt
Kalen DeBoer, Alabama
See above, only with Alabama beating LSU.
Verdict: Hurt
Hartline is the only assistant coach included in this list because his name has gained enough traction to where it’s warranted. Ohio State was expected to pound Purdue, and it did scoring 34 points along the way.
So Penn State fans who want Hartline won’t feel any worse about him after this performance.
Verdict: Helped
Ryan Silverfield, Memphis
Silverfield seems more likely to go to Arkansas than Penn State, but what the hey, we’ll include him anyway. It’s been an interesting few weeks for Memphis, with a bad loss at UAB followed by a good win against South Florida (more on USF later). This weekend ended up being a bad one, with the Tigers falling 38-32 to Tulane at home, a big blow to their College Football Playoff hopes.
If Penn State and Silverfield were a match, it would be optimal for Memphis not to make the Playoff. But since they probably aren’t, we’ll put this one in neutral.
Verdict: Neither
Manny Diaz, Duke
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Diaz is a natural candidate for the position because, well, he was Penn State’s defensive coordinator just two years ago. He left Penn State to take over the program at Duke, where he went 9-4 in Year 1.
This year, Duke is 5-4, but right in the mix for the ACC at 4-1.
This weekend, Duke lost to UConn, and although that loss won’t stop Duke from competing for the ACC title, it’s hard to argue that a coach didn’t hurt his stock by losing to UConn.
Verdict: Hurt
Clark Lea, Vanderbilt
After big wins over LSU and Missouri, Vandy almost lost to an Auburn team that just fired Hugh Freese. An overtime loss to Auburn wouldn’t have been a great look for Lea, but it also would have knocked Vandy out of the Playoff picture. So call this one a wash.
Verdict: Neither
Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri
One of Penn State’s earliest candidates lost badly to Elko and A&M.
It’s hard to fairly judge any of Missouri’s setbacks going forward because of the injury to former Penn State QB and current Missou starter Beau Pribula, which has forced true freshman Matt Zollers into action. Nobody is going to think less of Drinkwitz as a coach because he lost the No. 3 team in the country with a backup QB.
Verdict: Neither
Matt Campbell, Iowa State
Campbell is a guy at least one major analyst has endorsed for the Penn State job. It hasn’t been a great season for Iowa State, which started in the Top 25 but has since lost four games. But the Cyclones got a win at TCU to improve to 6-4, and since Iowa State won’t be in the Playoff, fans who’d want Campbell should want that result.
Verdict: Helped
Jeff Brohm, Louisville
This is the most interesting one. On the one hand, Penn State probably isn’t impressed by a coach losing to Cal at home as a three-touchdown favorite. On the other, Louisville is now a game back in the ACC title race and far less likely to make the Playoff, meaning that the timing wouldn’t be an issue to Penn State hiring Brohm is both parties want this.
So I’m gonna say Brohm helped himself in the Penn State coaching search, albeit unintentionally, if he wants to be the next Penn
Verdict: Helped
Alex Golesh, South Florida
South Florida has played itself right into the mix for the Group of Five’s automatic College Football Playoff bid. Golesh has turned the program from a 1-11 team in 2022, before he got there, to a team that could well win 11 games in 2025.
Like with many candidates in the Penn State coaching search, Golesh making the Playoff would complicate the process. South Florida improved its chances to do that, so we’ll put this in the “more” category.
Verdict: Helped
