Less than two months after guiding Penn State to its first College Football Playoff appearance, James Franklin was relieved of his duties, stunning the sport and triggering one of the most intriguing head-coaching vacancies of the cycle.
What started as a wide-open search has gradually narrowed, and an unlikely name now sits atop the list: Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer.
The connection first surfaced in November when Jon Sauber of the Centre Daily Times reported that Penn State had identified the Crimson Tide head coach as a primary target almost from day one.
“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.”
Since then, Penn State has reportedly been rebuffed by several sitting Power Four coaches, including BYU’s Kalani Sitake, Louisville’s Jeff Brohm, and Nebraska’s Matt Rhule. Other names such as James Madison’s Bob Chesney (widely expected to take the UCLA opening), ex-Giants head coach Brian Daboll, and current interim Terry Smith have also been discussed, but none have generated the momentum surrounding DeBoer.
On Wednesday—coinciding with the chaos of the early signing period—veteran broadcaster Tim Brando added fuel to the speculation, implying Penn State may be deliberately dragging out the process while keeping DeBoer in reserve.
“The longer the @PennStateFball job remains open, the longer Bama fans need to come to grips with the fact that he may get ahead of their posse and take that job! There’s no way in my mind they would have let today go by without a Head Coach, without having contingencies in place,” Brando said.
Despite guiding Alabama to the SEC Championship Game in just his second year at the helm, questions about DeBoer’s long-term fit in Tuscaloosa have persisted in some corners.
Those whispers, combined with Penn State’s aggressive pursuit and substantial financial resources, have kept the possibility of a blockbuster move to Happy Valley very much alive as the search enters its most critical phase.
