As Ole Miss and LSU wait to hear what decision Lane Kiffin makes on Saturday, several other college football teams are getting closer to filling their head-coaching vacancies.
Among those is Penn State, which is seemingly the only premier school with a head-coach opening that hasn’t been linked to Kiffin over the last month.
The Nittany Lions would presumably like to find their successor to James Franklin sooner rather than later given the fact that their 2026 recruiting class has been taking blow after blow lately.
In recent days, Penn State lost several four-star commits including offensive tackle Marlen Bright, tight end Pierce Petersohn, and running back Messiah Mickens, who have all committed to Franklin and Virginia Tech.
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In total, Penn State has lost 19 commits in the month-plus since it fired Franklin.
The popular pick among analysts and sportsbooks to land the Penn State job is James Madison head coach Bob Chesney, but according to On3’s Pete Nakos there’s another name fans should keep an eye on.
“The Nittany Lions continue to keep their coaching search as low-profile as possible,” Nakos wrote. “Nick Saban said earlier this week that former New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll would be an ‘outstanding hire’ for the Nittany Lions. Sources have said there has at least been some informal contact with Daboll and Penn State.”
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Saban recently gave Daboll, who’s seen his odds of landing the PSU job take a small jump up to 10% according to Kalshi, a ringing endorsement on “The Pat McAfee Show,” all but making the case why PSU should hire the former Giants HC.
“I love Brian,” Saban said. “He did a great job here for us as our offensive coordinator. We won the championship with him calling the plays. He’s been in the Super Bowl several times with Bill Belichick and won.
“He’s a very good coach, he’s a bright guy, he’s a good recruiter, he relates well to the players, he’s a good teacher, he’s got a good offensive mind, he’ll be able to put a good staff together. I think that would be an outstanding hire.”
If Daboll isn’t Penn State’s guy, Nakos believes there’s two candidates that could be considered the frontrunners.
“Sources continue to also bring up James Madison head coach Bob Chesney’s name,” Nakos added. “Interim head coach Terry Smith is another realistic candidate.”
