Support Mounts for Penn State to Hire Brian Daboll

By Jordan SiglerShareNewsweek is a Trust Project member

Penn State interim head coach Terry Smith has pulled off two straight wins before the Nittany Lions are set to finish the regular season at Rutgers on Saturday.

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If PSU defeats the Scarlett Kights, the program would become bowl eligible.

Amid a strong end to the season under Smith, Nittany Lions players have advocated for the administration to make Smith the permanent head coach. Smith has argued that the longer the job remains open, the more likely it is that PSU will lose recruits to Virginia Tech for 2026 after James Franklin was hired last week.

Brian Daboll, New York Giants has been linkd to Penn State in college football

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PSU plans to interview Smith this week, per Brandon Marcello of CBS Sports.

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Amid the push for Smith, support appears to be mounting for former New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll.

During Monday's episode of the "ESPN College GameDay" podcast, Pete Thamel suggested Daboll could be in play for PSU.

“There's no obvious choice there," Thamel said of Penn State. "I even heard like former New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll's got some support. I read someplace from some players and, you know, he did a good job at Alabama. (He was Nick Saban's) coordinator one year. So a little bit of college experience there in fairly recent years.”

Daboll was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach of the Crimson Tide in 2017, when Alabama won the national title.

Daboll, 50, has no head coaching experience at the college level. His stint with the Giants was his first job as an NFL head coach.

Daboll went 20-40-1 in New York during four seasons with the team. The Giants made the playoffs for 2022, his first season with the team, when New York went 9-7-1. The Giants upset the Minnesota Vikings in the wild card round that year, but lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in the divisional round.

Daboll would be an intriguing hire for PSU. But right now, the locker room appears to want Smith.

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