Kalen DeBoer shoots down rumors linking him to Penn State job: 'There's never been any conversation'

Second-year Alabama head football coach Kalen DeBoer made it clear he and his family are happy in Tuscaloosa and have no interest in other coaching opportunities. DeBoer’s declaration comes amid various rumors and reports linking him to the still-open Penn State job.

“We’re extremely happy at Alabama, … we’re extremely happy here, love the challenge, love the grind, love this place, and there’s never been any link, there’s never been any conversation, there’s never been any interest either way (with Penn State),” DeBoer said during Thursday’s SEC Championship head coach press conference from Atlanta. “So I’m glad we can put that to bed right now.”

This weekend, DeBoer leads the ninth-ranked Crimson Tide (10-2, 7-1 SEC) into the 2025 SEC Championship Game against No. 3 Georgia (11-1, 7-1 SEC) at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday inside Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It’s a rematch of a regular-season game Sept. 27 that Alabama won 24-21 in Athens.

Given their current place in the Top 10 of the penultimate College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday, both SEC Championship teams are widely expected to be in the CFP’s 12-team field. That is, of course, aside from a significant reversal by the selection committee.

Speculation surrounding DeBoer and Penn State picked up late last month following a report from Centre Daily Times‘ reporter Jon Sauber naming DeBoer as the Nittany Lions’ primary target in its ongoing coaching search. Penn State appeared to move on to BYU‘s Kalani Sitake, but the Cougars’ coach elected to stay in Provo and signed a new contract extension late last week, sending the Nittany Lions back to the drawing board.

Paul Finebaum blasts reporting linking Kalen DeBoer to Penn State opening

During an appearance on last week’s McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum called out Sauber’s reporting connecting DeBoer and Penn State. Finebaum did not hold back.

“I know this would be a good time for me to get on a soapbox and give a manifesto on the absolute pathetic state of sports reporting and journalism, but I think that’s already been done. But it just doesn’t take anything nowadays,” Finebaum said. “It just takes hearing something somewhere.

“You can’t even blame message boards anymore, because I haven’t seen one so long, I don’t really know what they look like. But, it’s just somebody putting something out, and then somebody asking you guys a question or me, and then somebody reporting it as, ‘Oh, Kalen DeBoer’s leaving.’ … I have never heard one ounce of concrete information that indicates Kalen DeBoer is going anywhere.”

Since his initial report, Sauber has downgraded DeBoer to No. 2 on Penn State’s head coach targets list, trailing Georgia Tech‘s Brent Key. However, the question remains: Where did the idea of DeBoer leaving Alabama originate in the first place?

Tensions were lukewarm in Tuscaloosa last season after Alabama failed to make the 2024 College Football Playoff in DeBoer’s debut campaign. And while the Crimson Tide are favored to be in this year’s CFP field, there were rumblings about DeBoer’s future ahead of last week’s Iron Bowl game vs. Auburn.

Of course, even if DeBoer were interested, it wouldn’t be easy for Penn State to poach him from Alabama. DeBoer is earning $10.25 million a year from Alabama, not including bonuses. Meanwhile, former Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin made $8.5 million last season before his midseason firing.

— On3’s Grant Grubbs contributed to this report.