Six Names to Know in the Penn State Football Coaching Search

Penn State’s 2025 preseason expectations were as high as they’ve ever been. The Nittany Lions were deemed national-title favorites by sportsbooks, fans and the media. However, just six games into the season, Penn State fired head coach James Franklin and began a national search for his replacement.

Penn State Athletic Director Pat Kraft said in a statement that he is “confident in our future and in our ability to attract elite candidates to lead our program.”

Here are some names Kraft should, and likely will, consider.

Matt Rhule

Arguably the hottest name on Penn State’s search list is Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule. The former Penn State linebacker has extensive ties to the program, and to Kraft, and has helped rebuild Nebraska, ranked 25th in the AP poll.

Rhule and Kraft spent four years together at Temple, where Kraft was the athletic director and Rhule was the head football coach. They celebrated together on the field at Lincoln Financial Field in 2015, when Temple beat Penn State 27-10.

"We’re really like brothers. He really did help [me get the Penn State job]," Kraft said. "We talked about it a lot. When [former Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour] made her decision to step down], [Kraft's wife] Betsy looked at me and she said, 'That’s the one, right?' because Matt and I talked about it.”

Rhule has a career 64-57 record as a college head coach, including a 2-23 record against AP top-25 teams, as noted by CBSSports’ Brad Crawford in July. But Rhule made Temple, Baylor and Nebraska competitive, and like Franklin, is a program-builder. Still, is that what Penn State needs right now?

Curt Cignetti

The biggest splash hire for Penn State might be Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti.

Cignetti is in his 43rd season as a coach and 15th as a head coach, the last two at Indiana. He was the recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach at Alabama under Nick Saban from 2007-10.

In just two seasons at Indiana, Cignetti is 17-2 with two AP top-10 wins (one more than Franklin had in his 11 1⁄2 seasons at Penn State) and a College Football Playoff berth. Additionally, he was the first Division I head coach to start 8-0 or better in consecutive seasons at different schools (James Madison 2023 and Indiana 2024). Cignetti completely turned around one of the worst FBS programs in just one year.

He also signed a new eight-year, $72 million contract last November after the Hoosiers’ 10-0 start in 2024. The 64-year-old is a Pittsburgh native and coached at Pitt. Hiring Cignetti could speed Penn State’s potential rebuild, since he has demonstrated a skill for quickly building rosters through the transfer portal.

Manny Diaz

Kraft hired Manny Diaz in December 2018 to be the Temple head coach. Diaz worked for Kraft for 18 days before leaving for Miami. Presumably that’s smoothed over after Diaz spent two years as Franklin’s defensive coordinator.

Now, Diaz is the head coach at Duke, but with his ties to Kraft and the program, he could be hearing from the Nittany Lions’ athletic director for an interview.

Diaz is 13-6 in his two seasons at Duke, including a nine-win season in 2024. He did some great things with Penn State’s defense in 2022-23 and was hugely popular among players. Plus he knows Kraft, knows the culture and is familiar with the recruiting scene.

Will Stein

Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein was a former walk-on quarterback at Louisville from 2009-12 before starting his coaching career as a graduate assistant with the program. He then coached at Texas, and UTSA before becoming Oregon’s coordinator in 2023.

Stein is known as one of the best offensive minds in college football and put up 75 points and 893 total yards against Penn State the past two seasons. Whether it’s Penn State or not, Stein will have a head coaching opportunity lined up for him in the near future.

Joe Brady

Joe Brady, who has spent the past six years in the NFL (four as an offensive coordinator), is an offensive-minded coach who could lift the Nittany Lions with a fresh approach.

Brady has been coaching since 2013, which includes a two-year stint as a graduate assistant at Penn State for Franklin (he worked on the 2016 Big Ten title team). In his college career, Brady is best known for being the passing game coordinator for LSU’s historic 2019 team.

Brady, 36, is young but experienced, having been an OC for two NFL teams. The questions are 1) does Brady want to return to college football and 2) does Penn State want to wait until potentially February to hire the Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator? Another interesting dynamic: Former Penn State trustee, and athletics donor, Terry Pegula owns the Bills.

Urban Meyer

Urban Meyer, the current FOX college football analyst who won national championships at Ohio State and Florida, initially was a candidate to replace Joe Paterno. While Meyer, 61, hasn’t shown any interest in returning to coaching, Penn State is an enticing destination if he has a change of mind.

In 17 years as a head coach, Meyer won 85.4 percent of his games and three titles but hasn’t coached since announcing his retirement in 2018.

Meyer’s college football resume is otherworldly and the luxurious opportunity in State College might tempt him to return. But does either party have the stomach for it?