It's panic button time for Penn State football. Not only are top head coach candidates signing contract extensions with their current programs or announcing that they're staying with their teams, but now other schools are poaching coaches the Nittany Lions likely contacted.
A complete list of every potential head coach Pat Kraft has missed on since firing James Franklin
Penn State hasn't shied away from thinking out of the box. Before BYU head coach Kalani Sitake announced he's staying with the Cougars, it was revealed that he became the Nittany Lions' top target for a brief period.
With how the coaching carousel turned out for Penn State, Sitake won't be the only left field name thrown out there. However, no matter how tempting it is to stretch far out of the box and bring in a head-snapping hire, the Nittany Lions need to ground themselves and not make a mistake. Here's who Penn State should avoid:
Jimbo Fisher's last gig was with Texas A&M from 2018-23 as head coach, finishing his tenure with the Aggies with a 45-25 overall record. Prior to that, he coached at Florida State and held a 83-23 overall record with the Seminoles. Over his 14 years coaching, Fisher had a 128-48 all-time record.
In his final head coaching stint, Fisher proved that a good budget and high spending won't solve everyone's problems. He started at Texas A&M with a 9-4 record in 2018. Aside from 2020, Fisher never got back up to nine wins, never mind double-digit. In 2022, the Aggies finished 5-7 overall, and Fisher was fired after a 6-4 start to 2023.
Penn State needs a resourceful head coach who can use the budget wisely and rebuild a program. The Nittany Lions don't need one or two hot seasons under their next head coach just to burnout immediately after. Regardless of his success at Florida State, it's a new era of college football, and Penn State needs a head coach that can manage it.
Former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden finished his coaching career with two seasons with Las Vegas. He finished with an 22-31 record and resigned on Oct. 11, 2021 before the season ended due to reports of him using racist, homophobic, and misogynistic terms.
Gruden started his coaching career with the then-Oakland Raiders in 1998 then went over to Tampa Bay in 2002. He holds a 117-112 all-time record as a head coach spanning 15 years.
Gruden doesn't have college coaching experience. Despite his success at the NFL level, college football is a different beast. On top of the lack of specific experience at the collegiate level, Penn State doesn't need a controversial head coach. Former head coach James Franklin cleaned up the Nittany Lions' identity, and athletic director Pat Kraft should want to retain that not only for the sake of identity, but also the program's culture.
LSU fired Brian Kelly after eight games in 2025, leaving the team 5-3 on the season. Kelly started coaching at Central Michigan in 2004, jumped to Cincinnati at the end of 2006, moved on to Notre Dame in 2010, and finally ended up with the Tigers. He has a 200-76 all-time overall record over his 22 years coaching.
Kelly's inconsistency is a red flag for Penn State. Meeting expectations in the SEC is harder than meeting them in the Big Ten, but that doesn't automatically mean Kelly will succeed with the Nittany Lions in that regard. If his consistency helped get him fired, there's no reason for Penn State to look his way after firing Franklin for similar reasons.
Former LSU head coach Ed Orgeron spent six years with the Tigers, finishing 51-20 overall before getting fired in Oct. 2021. Before LSU, Orgeron also had stops at Ole Miss and USC, starting his coaching career in 2005. He holds a 67-47 all-time record over 10 years.
Similar to Kelly, Orgeron didn't meet expectations and was fired in-part due to his failure to maintain consistency from one season to the next. Orgeron also doesn't seem like a long-term fit for the Nittany Lions, which is what they're looking for.
On top of inconsistencies, Penn State needs to sustain a positive culture in the locker room and surrounding the program as a whole. Orgeron faced allegations for off-field misconduct regarding sexual assault and there were reports after Orgeron's dismissal from LSU of a toxic culture. No matter how desperate the Nittany Lions are for a head coach, culture should not be dismissed for the sake of getting someone in.