Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft has been very tight-lipped about his pursuit of James Franklin’s replacement. Then, on Monday, it became clear that Kraft had zeroed in on BYU head coach Kalani Sitake. As soon as those reports surfaced, BYU’s donor base activated, and by Tuesday night, Sitake had signed an extension to stay put in Provo with a raise and a significant NIL investment.
Missing out on Sitake may sting for now, but Kraft was smart not to enter a bidding war over a head coach who is uniquely valuable to BYU. Still, while that may have been a smart decision, it still leaves Penn State, the first powerhouse program to fire its head coach this season, as the only one yet to fill the vacancy.
LSU got Lane Kiffin, Florida nabbed Jon Sumrall, Auburn landed Alex Golesh, and so on and so forth. All Penn State has done is get other head coaches paid to stay put. Sitake was far from the first candidate to land a major extension; he joins a growing list that includes Curt Cignetti, Matt Rhule, Mike Elko, and Eli Drinkwitz.
So, where does Penn State turn next? It appears that Kraft will circle back to Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm, but he may not be the best possible hire on the board.
Brian Hartline and Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein emerged as the two most highly sought-after coordinators in a coaching cycle that has largely avoided first-time head coaches. Stein landed the Kentucky gig, but Hartline, Ryan Day’s recruiting ace and newly installed play-caller, is still available and would be a perfect fit in Happy Valley.
It can be scary to hire a coordinator, but remember, Kirby Smart, Marcus Freeman, Dan Lanning, and many of the best head coaches in the sport hit the ground running as first-time head coaches at a powerhouse program.
There are some ugly losses on his resume this season, and he’s not the elite recruiter that Penn State had grown accustomed to with James Franklin. However, Brohm is an elite play-caller with big-game chops, and with better resources at Penn State, he could build a championship roster with a mix of high school and transfer portal talent.
Bob Chesney is set to sign a five-year contract to become the next head coach of UCLA following the Sun Belt Championship Game on Saturday. That means there is potentially still time for Penn State to sway the Pennsylvania native away from Southern California.
With a more robust and ready-made NIL operation, Penn State is the better of the two jobs, so Chesney would have a better chance to win right away in Happy Valley. He could still change his mind, but it could be costly for Kraft.
Brent Key is coming off his most successful season at his alma mater, but the big question is how much of the team’s success is because of Key and how much falls on the shoulders of offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner. As a package deal, they’d be a great hire, but how long would it be before Faulkner leaves for a head coaching gig? If he does and it turns out he was the secret to the success, Penn State would be in trouble.
Firing James Franklin to hire his former defensive coordinator wouldn’t be the best look, but Manny Diaz could be coming off an ACC Title, even with five losses this season. Diaz is having much more success at Duke than he did in his first stint as a head coach at Miami, but that may not translate to winning championships in the Big Ten.
Brian Daboll has sent multiple kids to Penn State, and maybe that connection is worth something to Kraft and to Daboll. He’s a proven play-caller with some college experience from a short stop as Nick Saban’s offensive coordinator at Alabama, but he’d be an outside-the-box hire, and that’s putting it lightly.
The longer this drags on, the more likely it is that Penn State hires Terry Smith, which is something that Kraft should avoid at all costs. The main argument for hiring Smith is that players and coaches would stay, but the recruiting class hasn’t, and those players and coaches are all responsible for the 6-6 season and 3-3 start that got Franklin fired in the first place.