Already in the past month or so, Mike London, Chris Petersen and Mike Munchak have either publicly or privately denied interest in the Penn State opening, with the latter very publicly and very vehemently proclaiming Wednesday he has “no interest in being the head coach at Penn State.”
By way of our BFFs at PFT, the Fox affiliate in Philadelphia is reporting that the Nittany Lions are very interested in former Cleveland Browns and New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini. Mike Florio, citing a source with knowledge of the situation, writes “that Mangini has not been contacted directly, but that interest does indeed exist.”
“I know they are very interested [in Mangini],” Philly radio personality Mike Missanelli told the television station.
“He’s the latest flavor of the month. They will not be able to get a big name given... what is going on.”
The 40-year-old Mangini has never been a coach at the collegiate level, spending every year -- with the exception of 2011, which he spent as a TV analyst following his firing by the Browns -- since he became an assistant at the NFL level in 1996.
As for Mangini as Penn State’s head coach, I’ll say this: the football program could do a whole helluva lot worse than the NFL lifer. And, given how the search has gone over the past few weeks, the school may not have many other alternatives that are more viable if they’re looking to hire from outside the program.