Off-the-wall James Franklin replacement keeps coming up for Penn State

Many of Penn State’s top candidates to replace James Franklin as the program’s head coach have already been taken off the board. Curt Cignetti and Matt Rhule have both signed contract extensions to stay put long-term, leveraging the Penn State opening for a pay raise, and Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm is reportedly doing the same. 

So, with a shrinking pool of candidates that was limited from the beginning, and multiple other national powerhouse jobs open in the same hiring cycle, Penn State may need to think outside the box for its next head coach. One name that has started to gain traction in the past week is now-former New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll. 

On Friday, Bruce Feldman of The Athletic mentioned Daboll as a wild card and hinted that there seems to be a mutual interest. Faced with the option of taking a step back and becoming an NFL offensive coordinator or returning to college as a first-time head coach, Daboll may prefer the latter. 

Brian Daboll is an emerging candidate for the Penn State job

Daboll was fired on Monday after the Giants fell to 2-8 in his fourth season with the franchise. After leading Daniel Jones to the playoffs with a 9-7 record in 2022, Daboll authored a 6-11 season in 2023 and posted a 3-14 record in 2024. Though his development of first-round rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart appeared promising this year, the Giants moved on from Daboll after another blown fourth-quarter lead. 

The first time Daboll was sighting in New York following his dismissal, he was seen in a Penn State sweatshirt, sparking the conversation around his candidacy for the job. Daboll's son, Christian, went to Penn State and worked with the football team as an equipment manager. His daughter, Haven, is currently enrolled at University Park.

Rather than simmering down, that talk has only gained steam throughout the week, and now it seems that Daboll needs to be seriously considered as a candidate to take over in Happy Valley.

While much of his career has been in the NFL, the 50-year-old Ontario native, who grew up in Western New York and played college football at the University of Rochester, began his coaching journey at William & Mary in 1997 as a volunteer assistant, became a graduate assistant at Michigan State from 1998 to 1999, and returned to the collegiate ranks in 2017 as the Alabama offensive coordinator and quarterback’s coach. 

Daboll replaced Lane Kiffin in Tuscaloosa after the embattled former head coach reignited his head coaching career at FAU in 2017. Daboll stayed for one season, guiding Jalen Hurts and true freshman Tua Tagovailoa to a national championship before returning to the NFL as the offensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills. 

While he has ties all over the sport, much of Daboll’s development came in New England under Bill Belichick, who recently made the jump to college coaching. Hopefully, if Daboll heads to Happy Valley, the transition will go a bit smoother than Belichick’s start in Chapel Hill.