All the Coaches Who Have Declined Penn State's Interest and What Insiders Are Saying
Penn State was one drive away from playing for the national championship last season.
And now the program is becoming something of a punchline in the college football world.
The Nittany Lions fired James Franklin in October following three straight losses to Oregon, UCLA and Northwestern. They seemed to be making an early move before the coaching carousel warmed up in an effort to get ahead of the process and find a replacement prior to the early signing period.
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That has been anything but the case as their recruiting class falls apart and other high-profile programs such as LSU (Lane Kiffin) and Florida (Jon Sumrall) have settled on their new choices. What's more, plenty of coaches have been connected to Penn State only to not join the perennial Big Ten power.
Here's a look at the names who have been connected to the Penn State opening and won't be making the move to Happy Valley:
- Kalani Sitake
- Curt Cignetti
- Jeff Brohm
- Matt Rhule
- Kalen DeBoer
- Pat Fitzgerald
- Bob Chesney
- Eli Drinkwitz
- Clark Lea
Ralph D. Russo and Bruce Feldman of The Athletic reported on the situation and noted the Nittany Lions "had some type of contact with" Pat Fitzgerald before he chose Michigan State, Bob Chesney before he chose UCLA, former New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll and Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Al Golden.
They also reported there was "chatter" surrounding Louisville's Jeff Brohm, Missouri's Eli Drinkwitz and Vanderbilt's Clark Lea. However, Penn State might have just been a leverage play there, as Drinkwitz and Lea signed extensions with their schools, while Brohm is discussing one with Louisville, per CBS Sports' Brandon Marcello.
According to Russo and Feldman, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer was also seen as a possible candidate if the Crimson Tide struggled down the stretch of the 2025 campaign. However, they reported he "has no interest."
Instead, Sitake's name was "the only one" that "gained enough traction" to be seen as a serious candidate.
Yet he came to terms on an extension to stay at BYU despite those apparent discussions with Penn State.
There are now many more question marks than answers surrounding the Penn State job, as there has been since the early days when Indiana's Curt Cignetti and Nebraska's Matt Rhule were seen as candidates.
It made sense at the time considering Cignetti has quickly established a typically downtrodden Indiana program into a national powerhouse in the same Big Ten, while Rhule played at Penn State with an obvious connection to the team.
At this point, it is difficult to see anything but a lengthy rebuilding project ahead for whoever the Nittany Lions hire. The early signing period opened Wednesday, and Cody Nagel of CBS Sports noted 24 commitments backed out of Penn State's 2026 recruiting class with 11 of them joining Franklin at Virginia Tech.
"People are saying, 'Oh, well, Franklin's flipping all these recruits,'" Franklin said, per Marcello. "Well, it's the kids that I know and have relationships with. It has nothing to do with a previous school. It has nothing to do with hurt feelings or any of those types of things. They're the players I know. They're the players that I have longstanding relationships. And although they committed for the academics and the school, it's also about the relationship with the head coach."
As of Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. ET, Penn State's 2026 recruiting class is ranked No. 135 and right behind UAB in 247Sports' composite rankings.
Perhaps keeping interim coach Terry Smith, whom Nagel reported has received "real backing" inside the Penn State locker room following three straight wins to close the regular season and become bowl eligible, could help provide some immediate stability for the program.
But things have gotten quite messy for the Nittany Lions.
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.jpg?w=600 "Heisman candidate goes undrafted, accepts camp invite")