There has been a lot of smoke around Kalen DeBoer and the Penn State head coaching job in recent days. But, as we discussed previously, sometimes that smoke is just smoke during the coaching carousel, particularly one as wild as we have already seen in this cycle before the regular season has even come to a close.
The smoke got bigger yesterday, with a Penn State beat reporter stating that he believed DeBoer was the focus of the Nittany Lions' coaching search. That didn't indicate any interest from DeBoer's end, but it gave a little more credence to rumors that had popped up on message boards.
Leave it to prominent college football media member Josh Pate to squash those rumors on Friday. Pate posted on X that he believes Penn State has zeroed in on their preferred candidate in recent days, but that he did not expect DeBoer's name to be involved:
I do think Penn State has zeroed in on their guy in recent days. I don't expect Kalen DeBoer to be involved. https://t.co/jMDs2bjDek
— Josh Pate (@JoshPateCFB) November 21, 2025
Josh Pate doesn't believe Kalen DeBoer will be involved with Penn State search
Pate is super plugged into the industry. He's human and certainly not above reproach, so just because he's saying it doesn't necessarily mean it's true. He has his ear to the ground as well as anyone, but discerning fact from fiction this time of year is incredibly difficult, even for insiders.
It's Jimmy Sexton season - he's going to get raises for a whole hell of a lot of coaches who have no real interest in leaving their current jobs. DeBoer has set himself and Alabama up for success now and in the immediate future, no longer how things go at Jordan-Hare Stadium in a couple of weeks.
It never made sense that he would be looking for an off-ramp after less than two years on the job, despite the intense overreaction by the fanbase to the Crimson Tide's loss to Florida State in the opener. He's nowhere near the hot seat right now, and he has to believe he has a better chance of reaching his ultimate goal of winning a National Championship at Alabama than he does at Penn State.
He has recruited at a high level in Tuscaloosa. He signed a Top 5 class last year and is on the precipice of doing it again in two weeks. He's got a roster built to win now and in the future, and leaving that behind because he's struggling with the weight of this job wouldn't make much sense.
DeBoer knew what he was walking into when he replaced Nick Saban. He hasn't been caught off guard by any of it.