With the firing of James Franklin as Penn State head football coach, attention now turns to: Who’s next?
The expectations for the job are high, with Franklin’s replacement being tasked with beating the top tier Big Ten teams and winning a national championship.
Here are six possible candidates for the job, as assistant coach Terry Smith takes over the team on an interim basis.
Matt Rhule, Nebraska
The Cornhuskers are 5-1 this season as their rebuild continues, but the hook here is that Ruhle, a Penn State graduate, was the head coach at Temple (2013-16) when now Penn State athletics director Pat Kraft held that position at Temple.
Curt Cignetti, Indiana
The hottest coach in college football right now, Cignetti has worked wonders with the Hoosiers. They are ranked third in the country after a 30-20 victory over Oregon this past Saturday. As a side note, Kraft is an Indiana graduate.
Manny Diaz, Duke
Another familiar name for Nittany Lions fans, Diaz was Penn State’s defensive coordinator in 2022 and 2023. In his second season as Duke’s head coach, Diaz is 13-6 over two seasons and took the Blue Devils to the Gator Bowl last season.
Mike Elko, Texas A&M
Got his first heading coaching job at Duke in 2022, going 9-4 and winning the ACC Coach of the Year award. Now in his second season at Texas A&M, the University of Pennsylvania graduate has the Aggies 6-0 this season and ranked fourth in the country.
Matt Campbell, Iowa State
Campbell has been a head coach since 2012, starting at Toledo and then going to Iowa State in 2016. He has a career record of 104-68 and has taken his teams to 10 bowl games. He is a graduate of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio, the same school that Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni went to.
Jeff Brohm, Louisville
A former NFL quarterback, Brohm has a long history of professional and college coaching experience. the 54-year-old has been a head coach in college since 2014 (Western Kentucky) and after coaching six seasons at Purdue, has been at Louisville since 2023. He has an 89-53 career record and has taken his teams to eight bowl games.
Sports editor Tom DeSchriver contributed to this story
James Franklin’s shelf life at Penn State reached its expiration date [opinion]
Source: Berkshire mont
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