Heather Dinich: Penn State confident ‘they’re going to get the right guy’ amid frustrating coaching search

Penn State’s search for its next head coach has stretched into December, and while frustration is mounting publicly, ESPN’s Heather Dinich says the mood inside the program remains far more optimistic. 

Appearing on Get Up Wednesday, Dinich reported that BYU’s Kalani Sitake was “one of two coaches” atop the Nittany Lions’ board, and despite Sitake opting to remain in Provo, Penn State leadership isn’t panicking: “My sense is that there’s still confidence, definitely within the program, that they’re going to get the right guy,” Dinich said. 

She added that while the current recruiting class has taken a hit, which is a common reality during coaching transitions, Penn State believes its financial firepower gives the next coach the ability to quickly rebuild through the transfer portal: “Penn State has the money, more money than most programs, to get the players after they get the right guy,” she explained.

Still, the patience message from inside the building stands in stark contrast with the growing criticism outside it. Nobody has been louder than ESPN’s Paul Finebaum. Also on Get Up, Finebaum blasted the pace and optics of the search, calling it “a disaster” and “pretty embarrassing.” 

With schools across the country making hires at rapid speed, Finebaum argued that Penn State’s inability to close a deal, despite firing James Franklin early in the cycle, has damaged both momentum and perception: “They had all the money in the world,” Finebaum said. 

“They had the best class in the country coming into the season, and James Franklin still found a way to screw it up. … When you’re now heading into the first weekend in December without a coach, it’s pretty embarrassing.”

Alas, Penn State’s goal in moving on from Franklin midseason was to gain a head start in what was expected to be a frenzied coaching carousel. Instead, several of the top candidates, including Sitake, have decided to stay put or sign extensions, while other major programs have already secured their next leaders. 

As a result, athletic director Pat Kraft finds himself navigating shrinking options and increasing pressure to avoid a long-term misstep. Even so, Dinich maintains that inside Happy Valley, belief hasn’t wavered. 

Penn State still thinks it can land the right coach, rebuild their roster and reassert itself in the Big Ten. But with each passing day and each missed target, the gap between internal confidence and external skepticism grows wider, and Kraft’s margin for error narrows ever so slightly.