Next Penn State Football Coach Odds: Who Will Lead The Nittany Lions Next?

By Christopher Boan Dec 3rd, 2025 10:23 AM EST

The Penn State football program has moved on from James Franklin. (USA TODAY)

Penn State fired coach James Franklin after 12 seasons and replaced him with Terry Smith as interim boss. The move came after the Nittany Lions suffered back-to-back-to-back Big Ten losses to Oregon, UCLA, and Northwestern. What are the latest Next Penn State Football Coach odds?

The internet spent weeks wondering how Franklin may spend his buyout, which could have reached $49 million depending how long he stayed away from coaching. But he didn't wait around, taking the Virginia Tech head coaching job this week, and PSU negotiated a $9 million settlement with Franklin after the Hokies hired him.

Penn State was No. 2 in the preseason college football AP Poll. Its precipitous fall from grace shocked college football observers, never mind futures bettors who backed the Lions to with the national championship or Big Ten.   

We thought the head coaching job in Happy Valley remained one of the most coveted positions among the 136 FBS schools. Franklin took over as PSU head coach in 2014. The school has only had three full-time, official head coaches since 1966.

But with the Lane Kiffin saga (and super agent Jimmy Sexton) dominating the carousel - it seems the Penn State search is a bit lost in flux. Where will they go from here?

Next Penn State Football Coach Odds

Here are the latest Next Penn State Football Coach odds set by Bookies.com. These hypothetical odds are for entertainment purposes only and are not available at any licensed U.S. sportsbook. Kalshi opened its “Next Penn State Coach Market” weeks ago.

The Lions carry both a championship pedigree, and a long-established pipeline to the NFL. Given the Lions' new deal with adidas, NIL money shouldn’t be much of a problem. Never mind what Franklin’s replacement may cost.

Next Penn State Football Coach Odds: Top Candidates

After Penn State whiffed on their quest to land BYU head coach Kelani Sitake earlier this week, it looks like another Power Four coach could be on the market for the Nittany Lions.  

That’s because former Purdue and current Louisville Cardinals head coach Jeff Brohm is our clubhouse leader to take over at Penn State, with +500 odds of being the Nittany Lions next coach.  

Brohm is currently earning just under $6 million to coach the Cardinals in the ACC, well below the $8 million a year that Penn State paid Franklin, which could speed things up for the Nittany Lions if they choose him.  

Another name to remember is recently fired New York Giants coach Brian Daboll, who has no direct tie to Penn State, but has served as an NCAA assistant under Nick Saban as Alabama’s offensive coordinator and QB coach in 2017.  

Daboll (+600) ranks ahead of our other Penn State candidates, including current interim head coach Terry Smith (+800), Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel and Brent Key of Georgia Tech (+1250 each).  

In Heupel’s case, the former UCF head coach signed a five-year extension with UT in August, though his $9 million a year salary wouldn’t be a deal-breaker for Penn State’s backers in all likelihood.  

Key earned $4.15 million as the Yellow Jackets’ coach this year, leading Georgia Tech to the program’s most regular season wins (nine) since 2014.  

Who Else Could Get Penn State Job?  

Outside of those candidates, keep an eye on a handful of Penn State longshots, including names like Manny Diaz of Duke and Houston’s Willie Fritz, who both are listed at +1750 to replace Franklin.  

Diaz’s current deal in Durham isn’t publicly available as Duke’s a private school, though Fritz is in the middle of a five-year, $22.5 million deal in the Space City, meaning he’d be an attainable target for Kraft and company if they’re interested.  

Keep an eye on other candidates like Matt Campbell of Iowa State and Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady (+2500 each), while other names like Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer and former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden are all extreme long shots for the job.  

Campbell has won 72 games in 10 years at Iowa State, including a 3-4 record in bowl games, while Kingsbury went 35-40 as the head coach at Texas Tech from 2013 to 2018.  

Brady notably helped guide LSU to an undefeated 15-0 season in 2019, serving as passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach with the Tigers when they won the CFP under then-head coach Ed Orgeron.  

DeBoer earns $10.250 million a year in Tuscaloosa and would be an extremely expensive target, while Gruden’s been out of coaching since the Raiders fired him in 2021.  

For now, what we know is that Penn State has gone more than 50 days without a full-time head football coach, with the pressure amping up on Kraft and his associates to finish the job in State College sooner rather than later.  

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