Back to where it all began?
Following Penn State’s decision to part ways with head coach James Franklin after a three-game losing streak, attention has quickly turned to who might lead the Nittany Lions next. FOX Sports college football reporter Bruce Feldman provided insight on where the program is leaning in its head-coaching search on Week 8’s edition of “Big Noon Kickoff.”
“With Curt Cignetti agreeing to a new eight-year contract on Thursday to stay at Indiana, there are two names we expect to be in the mix at Penn State,” Feldman said. “There’s Mike Elko, who has done terrific work at Duke and now at Texas A&M, and he is a Northeast guy from New Jersey, but timing could be tricky with the Aggies’ playoff expectations looming. Then, there’s Nebraska‘s Matt Rhule, who is the favorite for this job.”
Rhule’s name has gained serious traction — and not just because of his coaching résumé.
“Rhule is a Penn State alum and close friends with Penn State Nittany Lions AD Pat Kraft when they worked together at Temple,” Feldman explained. “But, it’s worth noting that James Franklin had a big-game issue, and Rhule has lost 18 straight games against top-25 opponents.”
Urban Meyer expressed that Penn State likely has a “pretty good idea” who it’s going to hire after making the decision to fire Franklin, who racked up a 104-45 record from 2014-25, including six double-digit winning seasons and earning 2016 Big Ten Coach of the Year honors.
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Rhule is in his third season at Nebraska, with the Cornhuskers ranked No. 25 in the nation before losing on Friday night against Minnesota. The 50-year-old Rhule coached Temple from 2013-16, with the Owls winning just two games in 2013 and then 10 games in both 2015 and 2016. He then coached Baylor from 2017-19, with the Bears winning just one game in 2017 and then 11 games in 2019. Rhule later coached the Carolina Panthers from 2020-22. He holds a 17-15 record at Nebraska since being named the program’s head coach ahead of the 2023 season.
Rhule was a linebacker at Penn State from 1994-97 and a volunteer assistant for the program in 1998. Earlier this week, Rhule said that he’s “really happy” at Nebraska.
Meanwhile, Elko won ACC Coach of the Year honors in his first season as Duke’s head coach in 2022. Following a two-year stint with the Blue Devils (2022-23), Elko became the head coach at Texas A&M. Following an 8-5 campaign in 2024, the Aggies are 6-0 and ranked No. 4 in the country this season under Elko.
Elsewhere, Feldman said to “keep an eye” on Florida head coach Bill Napier, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze and Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell regarding potential coaching changes.
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