Penn State Football has been aggressive in finding itself a new head coach after firing James Franklin. But after a month, candidates are starting to dwindle, which is why it seems like every name is a possibility.
The Penn State football head coaching position is one of the more coveted openings in all of college football. So the longer the Nittany Lions don’t get an answer on who their coach is, the rumors are going to be flying.
Which is why Alabama fans were so surprised to hear their coach Kalen DeBoer as a name that Penn State has been looking toward.
But he’s not just a name in a crowd, according to The Centre Daily Times Penn State beat reporter, Jon Sauber, DeBoer has emerged as the university’s number-one candidate to be its head coach.
In reality, the likelihood of DeBoer going anywhere is extremely slim. So slim, that you’d need a microscope to find any chance of it happening – yet any sized possibility is still a possibility.
You have to wonder where this DeBoer and Penn State discussion came from though.
“...the Alabama head coach is much more likely now than he was last week after the Crimson Tide lost to Oklahoma. If they lose to Auburn to close out the season, likely guaranteeing they miss the playoff, the tension will be high in Tuscaloosa,” Sauber writes.
In his piece, Sauber goes on to say that Georgia Tech coach Brent Key is another option and that Key would be more likely to take that job over DeBoer.
However, Sauber later spoke with Ryan Fowler of Tide 100.9, an Alabama radio station, and he suggested that DeBoer has been at the top of Penn State’s list all along.
"He's been one of Penn State's top targets from the beginning," Sauber said. “I think it was, early on, a little bit pie in the sky, of course, Alabama's close game with South Carolina, there was a chance it could have picked up there … It didn't, and then the loss to Oklahoma nudged the door open a little bit. I still think Alabama would have to miss the playoffs to make this a real possibility … He's been the top target since early on; I know they have a lot of respect for him and what he's done in his career, and he's someone that they think would be an excellent coach here at Penn State."
Sauber’s analysis doesn’t seem to far out of the ordinary, considering when Penn State fired James Franklin, DeBoer was white hot after falling in Week 1 to Florida State. And when the program was initially looking for coaches, Nebraska’s Matt Rhule, Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, and most recently Texas A&M’s Mike Elko were the top candidates.
Cignetti signed a hefty extension in Bloomington the second the rumors came out, and Rhule was given a two year extension. And just recently, Elko signed a six-year extension to stay in College Station.
Nonetheless, Penn State’s starting to scramble as it continues to cross off names on its list, going after candidates that seemed unattainable at one point.
When DeBoer left the University of Washington for Alabama’s head coaching job, he made it clear that there weren’t many jobs he was going to leave Seattle for.
And we’ve seen throughout his two years as Alabama head coach the way he’s had to shift his mindset to compete in the SEC.
Not only that, upon Alabama’s Week 1 loss, and panic started to grow, it was reported that DeBoer had a $70 million buyout on his contract. Would Penn State even consider dishing out even close to that kind of money?
And for the final nail in the coffin, On3's Chris Low, who was first to break the Nick Saban retiring news, seemingly shut down the rumors.
Unless Alabama is already considering moving on from its head coach, which is highly unlikely, don’t expect DeBoer to be going anywhere.