ESPN’s Heather Dinich links Kalen DeBoer to Penn State opening
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ESPN college football analyst Heather Dinich went on The Pat McAfee Show this week and proclaimed that she wouldn’t rule out any coach in the country for the vacant Penn State head coaching job.
Not even, say, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer, despite DeBoer having arguably the most coveted college football coaching job in the country and despite DeBoer only being in his 2nd season in Tuscaloosa. Dinich explained that it doesn’t matter, that Penn State isn’t rushing its decision on who will replace the fired James Franklin, and that a huge name like DeBoer is fair game at this point to speculate about.
Penn State named Terry Smith as its interim head coach, so for now the guy who was previously the Nittany Lions’ associate head coach while overseeing their cornerbacks and being heavily involved in recruiting will lead the program in 2025. Dinich said Penn State is going to let Smith prove himself as a worthy candidate for the permanent job.
But Dinich wasn’t leaving any name out of the mix, including DeBoer, who struggled to a 9-4 record in his first season in Tuscaloosa but has the 6th-ranked Crimson Tide rolling right now with 5 straight wins going into Saturday night’s showdown against 11th-ranked Tennessee (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC).
Dinich threw out names like DeBoer, and even uttered names like Ohio State’s Ryan Day and Oregon’s Dan Lanning.
“Look down the stretch. Is Kalen DeBoer happy at Alabama at the end of the season?” Dinicih said. “I don’t know the answer to all these questions. Would they leave? That a part of the question.”
Here is the full clip of Dinich speculating on Penn State’s coaching future:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
