The Penn State Nittany Lions clinched bowl eligibility after a thrilling 40-36 win over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in Week 14 action. The Nittany Lions have been under the guidance of interim coach Terry Smith after firing James Franklin in October.
The Nittany Lions, who have been linked to several candidates, are one of the only major programs in college football still without a permanent coach after a flurry of appointments last weekend.
Penn State Linked to $36 Million Coach After Kalani Sitake Snub
As the Nittany Lions’ coaching search dragged on, Penn State was strongly linked to BYU coach Kalani Sitake, who has led the No. 11 Cougars to an 11-1 season and the Big 12 championship game. Just as the links picked up steam, Sitake agreed to a new contract on Tuesday, reportedly worth between $9 and $9.5 million annually.
On Tuesday, On3’s Chris Low revealed on X that the Nittany Lions could turn their attention to Louisville Cardinals coach Jeff Brohm.
“Penn State will have to look elsewhere. Jeff Brohm could be next. He was already on Penn State’s list,” Low tweeted.
Brohm has led the Cardinals to an 8-4 regular season record and has a $33.6 million buyout, according to USA TODAY. He signed a six-year contract in 2022, worth $36 million.
Analyst Blasts Penn State Coaching Search
During Wednesday’s segment of “Pate State,” analyst Josh Pate blasted the handling of the Nittany Lions’ coaching search by athletic director Pat Kraft after the firing of Franklin.
“You’d better be about 98 percent sure [of having a solid target] if you’re the athletic director, or else you have screwed your program, and it’s totally inexcusable,” Pate said. “If you fire [Franklin] and you know you can go get Marcus Freeman or Mike Elko or Kalen DeBoer, fine. Tough love, tough business, go do it.
“You’re firing him out this window and out that window, you see nothing but fog. You might want to have him stick around until the fog clears up. Pat Kraft didn’t do that. If you don’t have certainty that you can upgrade from your current situation, but you flush on your current situation anyway, you’re probably not equipped to be the A.D. of a major program.”
53 days after the Nittany Lions fired Franklin, who has since been hired by the Virginia Tech Hokies, they are still no closer to appointing a head coach. Franklin has since flipped nine of the class of 2026 commits to Virginia Tech, who ranks 74th in the PFSN’s CFP Playoff metric.
