Todd McShay is passionate about Curt Cignetti potentially taking the Penn State job

With Penn State beginning their search for a new head coach, there's one name that keeps popping up, but would he take the job?
Indiana v Notre Dame - Playoff First Round
Indiana v Notre Dame - Playoff First Round | Justin Casterline/GettyImages

Exit James Franklin as the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions. Enter? Well, a lot of names have popped up, but there's one name that keeps finding it's way near or at the top of every list out there.

Indiana head coach, Curt Cignetti. The man who has us saying something practically unthinkable halfway through the 2025 season, "The No. 3 ranked Indiana Hoosiers".

What universe is this and what year is it in that universe, because top five rankings and Indiana football simply don't go together. But it's because of that strange synergy that Curt Cignetti might be at the top of Penn State's wish list.

Cignetti -- who worked miracles at James Madison University before taking the Indiana job -- might actually be the best fit. He's got the pedigree, the Pennsylvania native credentials, and he's a hot commodity right now.

So hot, in fact, that former ESPN insider and draft analyst Todd McShay even had to chime in on the possibility of Cignetti walking away from his masterpiece in Bloomington to take up residence in Happy Valley.

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During a segment of the Todd McShay Show, taped shortly after Penn State's embarrassing loss to Northwestern, he vehemently called for Franklin's firing (which has already happened) and then proceeded to stump for leadership at Penn State to do whatever it takes to get Curt Cignetti.

"If I'm Penn State, and I'm people at the very top, I am firing James Franklin in the next 24-48 hours, and I am making my only priority...I am bringing in Curt Cignetti."

And while the idea of "bringing in" Cignetti might sound like just opening the door and allowing him to strut into the building, even McShay admits it might be more complicated than that.

"But I also know this on good authority...I don't think he wants to leave Indiana. I think he's thrilled with Indiana. I think he wants to take this Indiana program and shove it up everyone's ass.

So is it possible that Penn State could make Curt Cignetti an offer he can't refuse? Is coaching back in his home state at a storied program like Penn State in a historic venue like Beaver Stadium, Cignetti's equivalent of the oft-quoted "dream job"?

Listen to the rest of McShay's narrative in the video above. He has some interesting takes on this situation. Honestly, the chances of luring Cignetti away from a masterful re-imagining of a program like Indiana are probably pretty slim.

But like Todd alluded to - every man has his price.

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