Penn State's coaching search hits a snag as Kalen DeBoer firmly dismisses any interest in the vacancy, citing deep contentment with Alabama.
The Penn State Nittany Lions are just about the only team left in the cycle of firings in college football that have yet to find their next leader. It’s not clear who may even be the favorite. But if anyone thinks it may be Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer, they’d be mistaken. According to Mark Schlabach of ESPN, DeBoer has said he doesn’t have interest in any other jobs.
He'd been linked to the vacancy at Penn State after amassing a 19-6 record in two seasons with the No. 9 Crimson Tide, replacing the hardest person to replace in all of college football in Nick Saban. He spoke about how happy he was with the program he’s at on Thursday ahead of their SEC Championship matchup with the Georgia Bulldogs.
"We're extremely happy here, love the challenge, love the grind, love this place,” DeBoer said.
“There's never been any link, there's never been any conversation, there's never been any interest either way. So I'm glad we can put that to bed right now."
Well, that debunks that. The search at Penn State began on Oct. 12 when they fired James Franklin following a 3-3 start. They had made it to the semifinals of the College Football Playoff just last season. Despite that recent track record of success, it hasn’t appeared to make the opening any more attractive.
In fact, multiple current coaches linked to the opening have agreed to contract extensions to remain with their current program, including BYU’s Kalani Sitake, Vanderbilt's Clark Lea, Louisville's Jeff Brohm, and Georgia Tech's Brent Key.
It makes sense why DeBoer would want to stick with a team in contention for a national title, despite having a huge spotlight of scrutiny on him through his start at Alabama. But the program is competing for a championship in just his second year. Why throw that all away and leave the SEC to start over elsewhere? A win against the Bulldogs could be a potential berth as a top four seed with a bye, as Georgia is currently the No. 3 team.
For the Nittany Lions, the options are getting scarcer by the day. Two months later, and they seem no closer to naming their next leader than when they fired Franklin, who is now the head coach of the Virginia Tech Hokies. Athletic director Pat Kraft may be stuck with no other options outside elevating current interim coach Terry Smith if they aren’t able to identify a better option and act fast.