When Penn State fired then-head football coach James Franklin, everyone immediately turned to Matt Rhule as his most likely successor. However, a potential sleeper candidate has recently emerged in Texas A&M head football coach Mike Elko.
Rhule made the most initial sense as a Penn State alum and the recent savior to Nebraska's football program. But Elko may be a better overall candidate who should genuinely consider the job, according to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg.
“Elko, who has gotten Texas A&M off to an 8-0 start, certainly would fit the PSU program, given his roots and how he spent the first 15 years of his coaching career in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic or Midwest,” Rittenberg wrote. “Elko might be deciding between two well-resourced programs. The difference is that Penn State has accomplished way more on the field than Texas A&M has and is now clearly striving for national titles. Elko is certainly motivated to, as he put it this season, break down doors.
“Being the coach to elevate a historic underachiever is enticing. Elko has also followed college football for decades. He knows that outside Ohio State and Michigan, Penn State has had fewer barriers to success over the years, including no rival like Texas in the same state.”
Elko has only been at Texas A&M for two seasons, but he was with Duke for the same amount of time before that. He is the exact type of coach that a struggling Penn State team needs, but the price would have to be right.
Mike Elko joins Penn State's growing list of HC candidates
After beginning the season as national title contenders, Penn State's 2025 campaign could hardly have gone worse. The Nittany Lions are just 3-4 after nine weeks and in danger of missing a bowl game entirely.
Few programs are in a worse position than Penn State, but its vacant head coaching position remains one of the most lucrative opportunities in the country. Only LSU, which recently fired Brian Kelly, could potentially offer a higher salary with more resources.
Elko's recent emergence as a potential candidate could quickly make him the school's top option. Indiana's Curt Cignetti, Louisville's Jeff Brohm, Iowa State's Matt Campbell, USF's Alex Golesh and Duke's Manny Diaz join him in the rumor mill.
Either Cignetti or Elko would be the best-case scenario, but both are content with their current positions. Cignetti has the most ties to the area, having spent six seasons as the head coach of Division II program IUP.
