Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1540433
N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 5 2 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M One possible drawback to pursuing Dill- ingham, at least as far as Penn State is con- cerned, is that he's originally from Arizona and has no ties to the Northeast. The closest he's coached to Happy Valley was his stop at Memphis. CLARK LEA Vanderbilt head coach 2025 salary: $3.7 million Lea left Notre Dame after three years as de- fensive coordinator and took the Vanderbilt job in 2021. The 43-year-old Lea, who also played fullback at Vanderbilt, has a 21-34 re- cord with the Commodores. In the past two years, however, he's been 7-6 and started 5-1 in 2025, currently ranked No. 17 nationally. He was the 2024 SEC Coach of the Year. Lea spent time at Wake Forest and Syracuse as an assistant before landing with the Irish in 2017. MATT RHULE Nebraska head coach 2025 salary: $8.5 million Rhule isn't exactly a native son, but he's pretty close. His family moved to the State College area when he was a teenager, and he played linebacker for the Nittany Lions under Joe Paterno in the 1990s. After his playing days, Rhule spent a year as a volunteer assistant with the Lions before branching out and coaching on both sides of the ball at Buffalo, UCLA, Western Carolina and finally Temple. He went to the New York Giants for a year before returning to Temple as head coach in 2013. While with the Owls, he became close with Kraft, who was in the school's athletics administration at the time. Rhule is now at Nebraska after a stop at Baylor and an unsuccessful two-year stint as head coach of the NFL's Carolina Panthers. He's 17-14 with the Cornhuskers, including a 5-1 start and No. 25 ranking entering Week 8. Given his ties to Penn State and Kraft, Rhule's name will very much be a part of this search. Indeed, when he was asked about Penn State at his weekly press conference prior to the Cornhuskers' game against Min- nesota, he did little to quell speculation that he would have interest in the job. "I absolutely love it here [at Nebraska]," he said. "I want us to continue to take the steps needed to turn this thing into a beast. Players all across the country want to come here. We have the best facilities, we have elite fans, and I'm just looking at the future. "But again, I love that place [Penn State]. I love Pat, I love James Franklin, and I'm sad that came to an end. I wish him the absolute best, but I'm really happy here, and I'm ex- cited to get going this week on Minnesota." G5 Up-and-Comers ALEX GOLESH South Florida head coach 2025 salary: $2.5 million A hot name thanks to a 5-1 start with USF this season (the No. 19 Bulls have only lost to Miami, now the No. 2 team in the AP poll), Golesh is 19-13 in his third season at South Florida. Before that, he was a hot name as an offensive coordinator at Tennessee. Golesh also had stops at UCF, Iowa State, Illinois and Toledo as an assistant. Before he arrived at USF in 2023, the Bulls hadn't been bowl- eligible since 2018. RYAN SILVERFIELD Memphis head coach 2025 salary: $2.25 million Silverfield took over for Mike Norvell after the latter took the job at Florida State in 2019. His first game as the Tigers' head coach was against Penn State in the 2019 Cotton Bowl. Memphis won 10 games in 2023, then 11 in 2024, and it is 6-0 and ranked No. 22 in the AP poll to start the 2025 season. He is 48- 21 at that level. A native of Jacksonville, Fla., Silverfield coached on both sides of the ball in the NFL (Minnesota Vikings, 2008-2013; Detroit Li- ons, 2015) and was centered on the offensive line before joining the Memphis staff in 2016. JON SUMRALL Tulane head coach 2025 salary: Unlisted (estimated $3 million) Sumrall won a pair of conference titles in his first two years as a head coach, guiding Troy to back-to-back Sun Belt titles in 2022 and '23. He won 12 and 11 games, respec- tively. Sumrall left for Tulane at the end of his second year and is 14-6 with the Green Wave in a season and a half. A defensive coach, Sumrall had previous stops at Kentucky, Ole Miss and San Diego, in addition to serving as an assistant at both Troy and Tulane. He's originally from Texas. Hot Coordinators D'ANTON LYNN USC defensive coordinator 2025 salary: $2 million A former Penn State defensive back, Lynn was in the mix for the team's defensive coor- dinator job under Franklin the past two times it was open. He went from UCLA to USC in 2024, and he's been a big part of the Trojans finding an identity on the defensive side of the ball. Before going back to college, Lynn spent several years in the NFL as an assistant. He's the son of Washington Commanders assis- tant Anthony Lynn, who was the head coach of the Chargers from 2017-20. WILL STEIN Oregon offensive coordinator 2025 salary: $1.75 million Penn State is 0-2 against Oregon's newest offensive whiz, 36-year-old Louisville native and former Cardinals quarterback Will Stein. The Ducks plucked him from Texas San Anto- nio, where he was co-offensive coordinator in 2022. After quality-control stints at Louisville and Texas, Stein went back to the high school ranks at Lake Travis (Texas) High. He signed an extension last year to make him one of the more well-compensated coordinators in the Big Ten. Wild Card URBAN MEYER Former Ohio State head coach When Penn State had an opening to fill after Paterno's tenure was up in 2011, Meyer was certainly a name heavily considered. Instead, he went to Ohio State and won a national championship with the Buckeyes in 2014. Meyer has been out of coaching since a forgettable NFL stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars that lasted less than a year, but he's unquestionably one of the most successful college football head coaches this century, and he's always had a mutual respect for the Nittany Lions. It's a name that doesn't make a ton of sense, but if you're Kraft, it's worth putting out a feeler. ■ A 1997 Penn State graduate, Matt Rhule was 17-14 as head coach at Nebraska heading into the Cornhuskers' game at Minnesota on Oct. 17. PHOTO COURTESY NEBRASKA ATHLETICS