$45 million college football coach strongly denies interest in Penn State job

Penn State defensive players on their knees | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Penn State football's head coaching job remains open as other major programs are gettin' hitched. The SEC was particularly busy this finale weekend of the regular season as five programs found new leadership while another school, Kentucky, opened their job up. The Nittany Lions remain on a vigilant hunt but did get an resolute answer from one potential target early this week.

According to what reporting and odds are out there in a rather tight-lipped search, BYU's Kalani Sitake is one name with some steam, while Louisville's Jeff Brohm is perhaps a possibility. Bob Chesney at James Madison was a rumored candidate but has now taken the UCLA job. Another hopeful possibility was Tennessee's Josh Heupel.

A successful head coach with the Volunteers, Heupel admittedly hasn't had his very best seasons over the last two years and got Tennessee to a College Football Playoff but lost convincingly against Ohio State in that appearance just last season. Nonetheless, he didn't appear on the hot seat, but his name had been linked to the job "in several reports."

According to On3, who spoke with Heupel himself, the Tennessee coach is staying put in Knoxville and has no interest in discussing a Penn State opportunity.

"Tennessee coach Josh Heupel told On3 on Monday he’s not a candidate at Penn State and is committed to taking the Vols to even greater heights," Pete Nakos wrote. He added the following quotes from Josh Heupel:

“I wouldn’t want low expectations. That’s part of why I want to be here,” Heupel told On3. “We’ll win big.”

Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel | Randy Sartin-Imagn Images

That's sort of a strange phrase to answer with by Heupel, who says he wouldn't want "low expectations." Is that an assumption that Penn State's expectations aren't as great as that of Tennessee? Obviously, the Volunteers have national title contention in their hopes, but that hasn't been a consistent feature of their program in decades.

Penn State can't brag of national championship trophies either, but at the very least, PSU did fire James Franklin because he failed to live up to title expectations and a No. 1 preseason ranking just this season. And that's also a dude who won 34 games over his previous three seasons heading into a make-or-break 2025.

As for Heupel, he's situated just fine in the Volunteer State. He's already making a $9 million salary that's on par with just about any coach in the land outside of five or six of them. After re-upping through January of 2030 ahead of this year, Heupel has a deal worth $45 million coming his way so long as he remains in an Orange pullover.