Ranking The Top Candidates For The Vacant Penn State Head Coaching Job

When Penn State made the shock move to fire head coach James Franklin, it opened up one of the most intriguing head coaching jobs in all of college football.

Franklin led the Nittany Lions to 34 wins from 2023-25, and while his firing was not without merit, he showed that you can not only win at Penn State, but also win big.

That fact, combined with the fact that the Nittany Lions reportedly have a sizable war chest to spend on a new head coach and staff, makes the Penn State job extremely attractive.

While a number of names will likely be discussed, these are the coaches who rank among the top candidates for the job.

Top Candidates To Replace James Franklin At Penn State

If you’re going to fire a coach that just went to the College Football Playoff semifinals, you do so with the idea of hiring a new head coach with significant upside.

That rules out the possibility of interim head coach Terry Smith taking the job, even though athletic director Pat Kraft said Smith will receive serious consideration.

It also means Penn State will likely swim in the deep end with several big names. Here are the ones that are most likely to be discussed in the weeks and months to come, with one of them very likely to land the job.

Honorable Mention: Kenny Dillingham, Brian Hartline, Will Stein, Matt Campbell

For several different reasons, the four names on this list will all be tied to the Penn State job. But each of them has reasons why they’re unlikely to end up in Happy Valley.

Dillingham is perhaps the hottest young name on the coaching market after taking Arizona State to the playoffs a year ago. And while he’s currently coaching at his alma mater, the thought is he won’t be there for long. However, he has deep West Coast ties and there is some thought that Penn State might want to have a little more familiarity with its next head coach.

Stein and Hartline are two of the best young offensive coordinators in the nation and would come from elite programs. Stein is the mastermind behind the high-flying Oregon offense and has shown the ability to routinely develop quarterbacks. While Hartline might just be the best recruiter in the country and has brought a preponderance of riches to the Ohio State wide receiver room.

Then there’s Campbell, who has long punched above his weight at Iowa State and has been tied to several big jobs in recent years. However, it’s hard to wonder if he’s not just a slightly different version of what Penn State had in Franklin.

5) Eli Drinkwitz

It may have taken a few years to get rolling, but Eli Drinkwitz has the Missouri Tigers firing at full capacity in the loaded SEC.

After coming over from Appalachian State following a 12-1 season in his debut as a head coach, Drinkwitz struggled a bit in his early seasons in Columbia. However, he went 21-5 in his last two seasons with the Tigers and is off to a 5-1 start in 2025.

The question for Drinkwitz is how high the ceiling is in Missouri, and whether Penn State would offer him more resources and more opportunity. Sources have already linked the Nittany Lions to the Mizzou head coach, and the fit would seem pretty logical for both sides.

4) Joe Brady

What about the possibility of the Nittany Lions dipping into the NFL ranks?

If they do, the name that makes the most sense is Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady. In fact, Brady has even emerged as the betting favorite to land the job, according to one notable sportsbook.

The former Penn State graduate assistant served as the offensive coordinator for the historic 2019 LSU Tigers, who went 15-0 and averaged over 48 points per game en route to a national championship.

Brady is currently considered one of the top offensive coordinators in the NFL, and if he chose to return to the college ranks, he’d be a wildly intriguing candidate for the Nittany Lions.

Oh, and to add to the intrigue, the Bills are owned by Terry Pegula, a Penn State graduate and one of the program’s biggest donors.

3) Curt Cignetti

Unsurprisingly, Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti is going to find himself linked to just about every big-name coaching vacancy in college football this offseason.

Cignetti, after an impressive run at James Madison, immediately transformed Indiana into a College Football Playoff team a year ago, and now in year two, the Hoosiers might be a genuine threat to win it all, which is an obscene sentence to write.

Indiana has committed to football immensely in recent years, but does it have enough pull to fend off established power programs? We’ll find out.

Cignetti is a Western Pennsylvania native and at 64 years old, would represent a strong win-now candidate for the Nittany Lions. In all likelihood, he’s in a situation to leverage outside interest into another massive raise.

But you can guarantee that Penn State will at least make the call here and make Cignetti a notable offer.

2) Urban Meyer

You may laugh off this suggestion. But I urge you to bear with me.

While it may seem insane to think that Penn State would approach Meyer, who has not coached since 2021 and hasn’t coached in college since 2018, consider this: Meyer has won at every stop he’s ever been at at the college level.

Additionally, he notably expressed interest in the Penn State job while still at Florida, pre-Jerry Sandusky scandal.

Multiple sources have indicated that Penn State brass are extremely interested in luring Meyer back into coaching and have already put out feelers with his representatives.

Would Meyer, who currently works a stress-free gig for Fox Sports, actually be interested?

It would take a very large amount of money (which the Nittany Lions do have) and a very, very strong sales pitch from Pat Kraft. But this one is far more of a possibility than most people think, and it would allow Penn State to make a hire well before signing day and the opening of the transfer portal.

1) Matt Rhule

For better or worse, Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule is the obvious frontrunner for the Penn State job.

Rhule is a State College, Pennsylvania native (where Penn State is located). He walked on to the Penn State football team and played for the program for four years.

He then got his first head coaching job in 2013 at Temple. Who was the athletic director at Temple at the time? None other than Pat Kraft. The two have remained closed and are good friends with one another.

Rhule’s resume is a mixed bag. He helped turn around Temple, winning 10 games in each of his last two seasons at one of the nation’s toughest jobs. He then went to Baylor, where he lifted them out of the dredges of the Art Briles sanctions to an 11-3 record and a Sugar Bowl appearance in year three.

But Rhule’s brief foray into the NFL with the Carolina Panthers was a disaster, and he’s just 17-14 in two-plus years at Nebraska.

Yes, the Huskers have started this season 5-1, but they have zero top-25 victories and their lone loss came to currently unranked Michigan at home.

Rhule makes sense for Penn State for all of the aforementioned reasons. But would he really be the type of hire that elevates the program, as Kraft has said he wants to do?

Nebraska’s remaining schedule is remarkably soft. Rhule and company could conceivably go 11-1 and make the College Football Playoff with no marquee wins.

Sound familiar, Penn State fans?

Rhule is the clear favorite for the job. But there are a ton of variables between now and him being hired, and if the Huskers falter, Kraft may not be able to justify making that kind of move.