Who Will Be Penn State’s Next Head Coach? Four Names PSU Needs to Call

The best job of this year's college football coaching cycle is officially open. That was Joel Klatt's take after Penn State's decision to fire James Franklin on Sunday.

"Penn State is the apple of the cycle. This is going to be the best job. The reason is that the support is there," Klatt said on his podcast, "The Joel Klatt Show." "The athletic director is fantastic. They're just putting in nine figures-plus into that stadium, which is already one of the best environments in college football. You have a history of success, you have a legacy, you have a tradition, you have all of these things there at your disposal.

"You can win a national championship up there."

But as Penn State might have the best resources available for any head coach vacancy in the coming months, it has to be careful with its next hire, too. Before the team's underwhelming 3-3 start this season, Franklin consistently had the Nittany Lions as a Big Ten contender, winning at least 10 games in six of the last eight seasons (excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 season).

That's why Klatt believes Penn State's next hire has to fit a specific mold.

"There has been this ceiling, this cap, on where they've played over the last 10 years with James Franklin, like Georgia with Mark Richt," Klatt said. "Do you want to bring somebody in who can take you to the next level, right? Not just totally rebuild it and do all these things.

"I think it should be a true, best-candidate-possible type of search. You don't want to go after just an offensive guy. You don't want to go after just a defensive guy. You don't want to go and put yourself into a corner and pick somebody just based on parameters that you're setting for yourself."

So, who fits that mold? Well, Klatt thinks there are just four coaches whom Penn State should call, breaking them down into three different categories (The Big Swing, Bring Them Home, Take From Your Rival).

Cignetti has become the Belle of the Ball in college football coaching over the last two seasons, drastically turning around Indiana in just a year and a half to lift the Hoosiers from the Big Ten's basement to a College Football Playoff team. After Indiana's upset win at Oregon on Saturday, Klatt doesn't think there's a better candidate for the Penn State job than Cignetti.

"I don't think there's a hotter name in college football right now than Curt Cignetti, because of some of the other big names that you could potentially go after," Klatt said. "One, I don't think that they would fit. Or two, I don't think they would leave."

As Klatt pointed out that Cignetti is a Pennsylvania native, he also recognized that there are a pair of obstacles that Penn State would likely face in trying to poach him from Indiana.

"Who knows if he would leave Indiana? I'm not sure," Klatt said. "I think it depends on the level of support that they get. Right now, at least, the news is, if you're reading some of these articles that support is substantial at Indiana."

Cignetti received an eight-year, $72 million extension in the middle of his first season at Indiana in 2024, with the deal nearly tripling the total value of his contract. In terms of program resources, billionaire and Indiana alum Mark Cuban recently told CBS Sports that he donated a "big number" to the program following its College Football Playoff loss last season.

On top of Indiana's continued investment in Cignetti, Saturday's win over Oregon strengthened the Hoosiers' chances to make the CFP. If Indiana is in the CFP, any schools looking to hire Cignetti would be in a bit of a bind.

"There is a chance that Cignetti wouldn't even be available until January in this situation, and that's probably not what Penn State is going to want," Klatt said. "They obviously want a guy that can hit the ground running early in December."

In terms of coaches who have ties to Penn State, Diaz and Rhule are the top two candidates to replace Franklin, according to Klatt. Diaz was Penn State's defensive coordinator for two seasons (2022-23), elevating the Nittany Lions after a disappointing 2021 season and coaching the likes of Joey Porter Jr., Chop Robinson and Abdul Carter. He's 13-6 at the halfway point of his second season at Duke, following an underwhelming three-year tenure at Miami (Fla.) where he went 21-15.

"[Diaz] is doing a really good job at Duke," Klatt said. "I think that Manny Diaz is going to get a call in this situation.

"A guy that just had a lot of success as the defensive coordinator at Penn State, and now is doing a really good job at Duke. It's Manny Diaz."

Rhule, meanwhile, played linebacker at Penn State in the 1990s (1994-97) and went to high school in State College, Pennsylvania. But Klatt pointed to Rhule's track record as a college head coach as to why he's such a strong candidate for the Penn State job.

"[Rhule] is a very good coach and on a trajectory right now to maybe overachieve at a place that's been hard to win for 20 years," Klatt said. "Obviously, there's a relationship there. … So I think that's going to be a call."

Now in his third year at Nebraska, Rhule has helped the Cornhuskers get out to a 5-1 start in 2025. Last season, Nebraska was bowl eligible for the first time since 2016 as Rhule has worked to bring it back to Big Ten title contention.

Prior to his Nebraska stint, Rhule recorded two straight 10-win seasons at Temple over his four-year tenure before becoming Baylor's head coach in 2017. After taking over as Baylor’s head coach in the wake of the school’s sexual assault scandal, Rhule rebuilt the program and led the team to 11 wins by his third year.

In what might be viewed as an outside-the-box hire, Klatt thinks that Hartline might be one of the strongest head coach candidates out there who currently isn't a head coach.

"[Hartline] has seen [what it takes to build a national championship team] like a Dan Lanning [at Georgia] and a Kirby Smart [at Alabama]," Klatt said. "He's been around it. He knows what it takes. He just hasn't been a head coach yet.

"I know Buckeye fans are screaming right now for me bringing up that name."

Hartline is arguably the best assistant coach in the country. Since he became Ohio State's wide receivers coach in 2018, Hartline has helped the program land and develop several NFL wide receivers, including Jaxson Smith-Njigba, Chris Olave, Emeka Egbuka, Garrett Wilson and Marvin Harrison Jr. Current Ohio State wide receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate seem poised to join that group of first-round talent, with the former emerging as a Heisman candidate in his sophomore season.

"I think Brian Hartline is going to be an incredible head coach, and he will be a head coach at some point in his career," Klatt said. "I don't know if it's right now. I don't know what level of job he's going to ultimately get. But I do know one thing, this guy is the best recruiter at his position group over the last 10 years, and it's not close. He's also the best developer of talent that we've seen. And he's seen it. He has been around it."

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