By Andrew McCartyShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberThe Penn State Nittany Lions are in need of a new head coach after firing longtime coach James Franklin in the midst of a losing streak that saw the team lose its coach and star quarterback to a season-ending injury.
Interim head coach Terry Smith has won his last two games and the support of his players, but it's unclear if athletic director Pat Kraft sees him as a viable long term replacement for Franklin. A number of impressive names have been tossed around like Missouri's Eli Drinkwitz, Alabama's Kalen DeBoer and Georgia Tech's Brent Key.
James Madison's Bob Chesney has also been discussed as a possible Franklin replacement - and perhaps most-linked to the Penn State program right now. However, ESPN's Greg McElroy believes there's a different coach in "good position" to land the gig.
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McElroy pointed to Vanderbilt - where Penn State plucked Franklin from.
"I think Clark Lea at Vanderbilt is in a really good position to get this gig. Now, he's a defensive-minded guy. He's done a tremendously good job at Vanderbilt. I mean, absurd. He has now taken Vanderbilt to their first nine-win regular season in Vanderbilt history," McElroy said. "All the different hurdles and barriers and challenges that Vanderbilt has always had, they've been crushed. The one thing that might be working against Clark Lea is the fact that James Franklin is also from Vanderbilt."
The Commodores came in at No. 14 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings and have only lost two games this season - to No. 9 Alabama and No. 16 Texas. Lea and company have the chance to finish the season with an exclamation point against No. 19 Tennessee.
More Football: National Champion Coach Could Join Lane Kiffin at LSU
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