Kalen DeBoer Slams the Door on Penn State Rumors: Alabama Coach Says He Is Staying Put
Kalen DeBoer is not going to Penn State. He wants to make that extremely clear.
The Alabama head coach was asked Thursday about chatter linking him to the vacant Nittany Lions job. His response was about as direct as a sitting coach can be without dropping a paid endorsement deal with the Tuscaloosa Chamber of Commerce.
“We are extremely happy at Alabama. There has never been any link, there has never been any conversation, there has never been any interest either way,” DeBoer said. “I am glad we can put that to bed right now.”
Translation: stop calling.
The rumor was always lazy. Penn State has spent six weeks failing to land a marquee replacement for James Franklin, and the names connected to the job have ranged from interesting to insulting. DeBoer landed in that mix because he is a hot name and Alabama loyalists love to circulate doomsday scenarios any time a head coach so much as glances at a different campus.
But the math never added up. DeBoer is in year two at Alabama. He inherited a program that just lost Nick Saban, the most successful coach in the history of college football, and he is already pushing the Crimson Tide back into national title contention. Alabama is 10-2 with a beat-down win over Georgia already on the resume. They could make the 12-team College Football Playoff with a loss in the SEC title game this weekend. That is not a job you leave.
Penn State, meanwhile, is a great program with a glaring problem. They are not Alabama. Recruiting in central Pennsylvania does not match recruiting in Tuscaloosa. The pay does not match. The brand does not match. Nothing about Penn State justifies a lateral move from a top-three job in the sport.
The Nittany Lions have also looked desperate during this coaching search. They fired Franklin on October 30 expecting to have their pick of candidates, and instead they have been turned down repeatedly. The Florida and LSU jobs opening up after Penn State posted the position has not helped. Penn State expected to be the belle of the ball and instead they are the last open seat at the bar.
DeBoer was never going to bail out James Franklin replacement search. The school never even made the call, per his statement, and the public denial was as much about putting the question to bed as it was about reminding fans the foundation in Tuscaloosa is sturdy.
The Crimson Tide had a bumpy first year under DeBoer. They went 9-4, missed the College Football Playoff, and looked nothing like the Saban era during stretches. There was real concern that DeBoer was in over his head. Year two has settled most of that conversation. Alabama beat Georgia. Their defense looks elite again. Jalen Milroe has developed into a legitimate Heisman conversation quarterback. The recruiting class is loaded.
DeBoer also had some pointed complaints about NIL and the modern college football landscape after last season, which led some to wonder if the job was wearing on him. None of that is going to push him toward Penn State.
Penn State now has to keep searching. If they cannot land a Group of Five star or a Power Four coordinator with momentum, they are going to head into 2026 with major roster turnover, a chaotic recruiting class, and a fan base that is going to lose patience fast.
DeBoer is staying. The Penn State job is still open. Those two facts are connected, and they should not be a surprise.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
