Penn State has again started talking with a candidate in its coaching search.
Per John Brice of FootballScoop, Penn State has reengaged talks with ex-New York Giants HC Brian Daboll.
This isn’t the first time Daboll’s name had surfaced as a candidate.
Not long after the Giants fired Daboll early last month, the Athletic reported that Daboll was a candidate for the job, and later in the month, Daboll got an endorsement from one of his former bosses, Nick Saban.
Indeed, Daboll helped Saban win a national championship in the 2017 season, the year he ran the Alabama offense.
Daboll parlayed that experience into a job coordinating Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, where he was successful enough to become the Giants head coach.
How his tenure in New York began— he was named NFL Coach of the Year after his first season in 2022– is a reason some Penn State fans are excited about the possibility of him taking over the program.
How it ended— with a pink slip in the middle of his fourth season— is a reason some are worried.
WHY DABOLL MIGHT WORK
There’s a lot to like about Daboll. He’s an offensive mind, and Penn State hasn’t had a consistently great offensive mind since Joe Moorhead, who left after the 2017 season. There aren’t a lot of coaches who have a Super Bowl and a national championship, and Daboll has five of the former and one of the latter. He coached with Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots for 11 total seasons across two stints, spending most of that time as receivers coach (2002-06) and tight ends coach (2013-16).
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.His time with the Giants didn’t end well, but Pete Carroll’s time in the NFL didn’t go great the first time, either. He ended up leading USC to a decade of dominance.
But…
WHY DABOLL MIGHT NOT WORK OUT
Daboll being fresh off a firing makes his name not an attractive one to plenty of Penn State fans. But even if he had won consistently with the Giants— well, he’d still be employed, but just work with me here, ok?— there’s still be the question of how he’d adjust to the college game.
Daboll has been a football coach for 29 seasons.
Of those 29, three have been at the college level.
Of those three, one of them was a volunteer assistant role (William & Mary, 1997) and another was a graduate assistant for Saban at Michigan State (1998-99).
College football is way different from where it was even in 2017. It’s fair to question how Daboll would adjust.
Here is Daboll’s full career file.
- 1997: William & Mary (volunteer assistant)
- 1998-99: Michigan State (GA)
- 2000-01: New England Patriots (defensive assistant)
- 2002-06: New England Patriots (receivers coach)
- 2007-08: New York Jets (quarterbacks coach)
- 2009-10: Cleveland Browns (offensive coordinator)
- 2011: Miami Dolphins (offensive coordinator)
- 2012: Kansas City Chiefs (offensive coordinator)
- 2013-16: New England Patriots (tight ends coach)
- 2017: Alabama (offensive coordinator)
- 2018-21: Buffalo Bills (offensive coordinator)
- 2022-25: New York Giants (head coach)
