Penn State’s Coaching Search Hits a Timing Crunch as Kalen DeBoer’s Season Rolls On
As the dust settles from another dramatic Iron Bowl, plenty of eyes in Happy Valley weren’t just watching for SEC fireworks-they were scouting a potential future. With James Franklin officially out at Penn State, the coaching search is in full swing, and Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer has emerged as a name of interest. But after Alabama’s win over Auburn, any potential pursuit of DeBoer just got a whole lot more complicated.
Let’s break it down.
From the moment Franklin was let go, DeBoer’s name started popping up in conversations across the Penn State fanbase. The connection makes sense on paper.
DeBoer is a proven winner, an offensive mind with a track record of success, and someone who’s climbed the coaching ladder quickly. But he’s also currently sitting at the helm of one of college football’s most high-profile programs-and he’s not done yet.
Alabama’s recent loss to Oklahoma had sparked some online chatter that maybe, just maybe, the door to DeBoer leaving could crack open. That buzz only grew louder when a local Penn State beat reporter identified DeBoer as a top target.
The logic? If Alabama were to fall short of the College Football Playoff, the timing could work in Penn State’s favor.
A quicker exit from postseason contention might have made DeBoer more accessible.
But that scenario didn’t play out.
Instead, Alabama pulled off a win in the Iron Bowl, keeping its Playoff hopes alive and punching its ticket to the SEC Championship Game. That’s a major wrinkle for Penn State’s timeline.
The Nittany Lions are facing a tight window: the early signing period runs from Dec. 3-5, the SEC title game is set for Dec. 6, and the first round of the College Football Playoff kicks off just a couple of weeks after that, on Dec. 18-19.
And let’s not forget the transfer portal opens Jan. 2-16.
That’s a lot of calendar pressure for a program that needs to move quickly.
So where does that leave DeBoer in this coaching carousel?
It’s not a hard no-but it’s definitely a harder path now. If Penn State is serious about DeBoer, the logistics just got trickier.
Hiring a coach deep in a championship run means navigating around game prep, recruiting obligations, and the ever-chaotic portal season. And while it’s not impossible, it does require a level of coordination and patience that most programs would rather avoid during this critical stretch.
Bottom line: DeBoer’s still coaching meaningful football, and Penn State’s clock is ticking. Whether those two timelines can align remains the big question.