Rising college football coach 'in a really good position' to replace James Franklin at Penn State

ESPN analyst Greg McElroy has spent more than his fair share of time contemplating the SEC. The former Alabama quarterback has seen SEC coaches come and go. In contemplating the landscape of college football's major coaching positions on Always College Football, McElroy sees one more SEC coach on the move-- specifically, one heading to Penn State.

McElroy's take

I think Clark Lea at Vanderbilt is in a really good position to get this gig. Now, he's a defensive-minded guy. He's done a tremendously good job at Vanderbilt. I mean, absurd. He has now taken Vanderbilt to their first nine-win... regular season in Vanderbilt history.... All the different hurdles and barriers and challenges that Vanderbilt has always had, they've been crushed. The one thing that might be working against Clark Lea is the fact that James Franklin is also from Vanderbilt.
Greg McElroy

Lea's resume

Lea graduated from Vanderbilt and spent a decade and a half working his way up the coaching chain in defensive roles. He spent three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, where he was hired to replace Mike Elko, who had himself moved to Texas A&M. Lea left Notre Dame after the 2020 season and was hired at Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt's rise

In five seasons at Vandy, Lea is now 25-35. With Diego Pavia at quarterback and an offensive staff who largely followed Pavia from New Mexico State, Lea led Vandy to seven wins last season, including an upset of No. 1 Alabama. This season, Vanderbilt is 9-2 heading into the regular-season finale against Tennessee. McElroy was slightly mistake-- Vanderbilt has won nine regular-season games before, but it last happened in 1915.

Other candidates and the SEC big picture

Since parting ways with James Franklin, Penn State had an initial briefly interest in Matt Rhule of Nebraska, which was scuttled when Rhule signed a contract extension with the Huskers that included a salary increase. Since then, Penn State's search seems to have largely centered around a series of other coaches on the rise.

Missouri's Eli Drinkwitz was among the leading candidates, and Alabama boss Kalen DeBoer even got some rumor traction. Georgia Tech's Brent Key is another of the possibilities that has been publicly floated. Most recently, James Madison coach Bob Chesney has also been discussed.

If Lea does elect to move, it will continue what shapes up as a wild SEC carousel. Florida, LSU, Arkansas, and potentially Ole Miss have already entered the coach-shopping waters. Could Vanderbilt be next and will that send yet another coach-shifting echo through the SEC?

Vanderbilt's Clark Lea could be moving to Penn State, if Greg McElroy's take proves correct. | Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images