Yesterday, we shared our thoughts on who we would pick to be Penn State’s next head coach if we were in charge. Today, we are predicting what Pat Kraft will do. The question today is *who* will Penn State hire?
Lando: Eli Drinkwitz
Drinkwitz’s name has been mentioned the most more recently, and he seems to be a decent recruiter who wins a lot of games. Whether he can win big games consistently is really the difference, and I haven’t seen enough of that for me to be super thrilled at this point. Then
again, I’m not the one making the decision…
Colin Murphy: Eli Drinkwitz
Eli Drinkwitz: Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and it seems like a lot of the smoke recently has been around Missouri’s head coach. I like Drinkwitz overall. It took a few years for him to get going, but Missouri went 21-5 in 2023 and 2024 and beat Ohio State in the 2023 Cotton Bowl. He is clearly a good coach with a bright future, but Brohm’s track record against top five teams makes him a more attractive option for a Penn State program that is starving for high-profile wins.
Bennett: Eli Drinkwitz
Drinkwitz: At this point, it just seems the safest and most logical choice. Sometimes, that simplest and safest play does actually work well. I understand the “can’t win the big one” mentality, but that is at Missouri in the SEC. He’s shown the ability to recruit really well – including taking a coveted QB out of Penn State’s backyard. I like what his offense does. Let’s see what he can do with resources.
Eli Moreta-Feliz: Eli Drinkwitz
Stupid Eli Drinkwitz because our AD seems to be doing a great job of getting every coach paid at their current school instead of this one and “was not satisfied” with Urban Meyer’s responses on NIL instead of saying “hey you can have the job as long as you agree to have a GM for the NIL side.” Kill me now.
Tim Aydin: Kalen DeBoer
As much as the folks who are parroting Eli Drinkwitz’s name are probably going to be correct, I am feeling like too much of a non-conformist and will go with a guy who I feel is suddenly back in play after an upset loss at home to Oklahoma. Alabama currently sits with two losses with the natives growing restless, and a third loss could very well knock the Crimson Tide out of the CFP. There’s rumors that he feels like a fish out of water down in Tuscaloosa, especially following the legendary Nick Saban, and PSU would be a perfect landing spot for a guy who’s produced some prolific offenses at all of his previous head coaching stops and took Washington to the national title game just a couple short years ago.
Patrick Koerbler: Bob Chesney
Truthfully, I have no idea and this pick could very much just be the flavor of the week, but call it a hunch that the Chesney buzz this week felt different. I think how he has James Madison playing the last few weeks combined with his impressive personality is the perfect mix for a candidate that will rise up the board the more serious the search gets. And while Pat Kraft maybe didn’t anticipate going the G5 route originally, sometimes you have to look in places you didn’t expect to find the “right” candidate.
