Penn State co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach Anthony Poindexter had been rumored to be a potential candidate for Virginia Tech’s defensive coordinator. However, the Penn State assistant is staying in State College even after the hiring of Ohio State’s Jim Knowles as the next PSU DC, according to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger.
Penn State co-DC Anthony Poindexter, a key figure in the Knowles hire, is expected to remain on staff under a new contract, sources tell @YahooSports.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) January 26, 2025
In line to be DC before Knowles’ interest, Poindexter supported the hire and spoke to Knowles this week https://t.co/QkQVcqc0lX pic.twitter.com/XvjEAZGe72
In his report, Dellenger mentions that Poindexter was in line to be Penn State’s next defensive coordinator before PSU received interest from Knowles. Dellenger also mentioned that Poindexter had interest from other Power 4 programs for coordinator vacancies, with SI’s Mike McDaniel reporting previously that the Hokies had spoken with Poindexter.
Given the fact that VT’s DC job was open throughout the playoffs, it does seem like Poindexter was a target who they were waiting for an answer from. This search has been hard to glean much of any insights from, but the combination of reports seems to point towards Poindexter at least receiving some consideration.
So where does that leave the Hokies at? Well it’s unclear who else is exactly involved but Ohio State safeties coach Matt Guerrieri has been a name brought up some to me as has Ohio State secondary coach Tim Walton. I do think VT had some conversations with Tim Banks given his ties to Brent Pry, but the Tennessee DC unsurprisingly turned down lots of other P4 interest and remained in Knoxville on a new deal.
At this point, it does feel like Pry has missed on some of his bigger swings. Any claims of Pry’s DC hire being his first choice seem very likely to be false.
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