Report: Penn State’s Anthony Poindexter is leading candidate at Virginia
The momentum could be building for Penn State to lose another defensive coach to a head coaching opportunity elsewhere. Anthony Poindexter has gone from being a candidate on Virginia’s radar to a possible leading candidate for to fill the head coaching vacancy in just a matter of days.
Penn State is already looking to find a new defensive coordinator after Brent Pry left his position to become a head coach at Virginia Tech. Poindexter, who had been the team’s co-defensive coordinator, was believed to be the top in-house option to take on the role in Happy Valley. But a chance to return home to Virginia appears to be materializing for the Virginia alum.
According to The Daily Progress, Poindexter is now the leading candidate for the Virginia job. There is no timeline for when any decision will be announced by Virginia, but recent press conference quotes from James Franklin suggested Penn State is preparing for its Outback Bowl matchup with the possibility of missing more than just Pry on the assistant coaching staff.
Poindexter is a Virginia native and he played his college football for the Cavaliers. He also got his coaching start with the Virginia program as a graduate assistant in 2003 and an assistant coach serving various roles from 2004 through 2013 ranging from running backs coach to defensive backs coach, to safeties and special teams coach. He is much a Virginia man as they may come. If Virginia wants someone to take over their program who truly understands everything the program is about and what challenges it has in the ACC, then Poindexter would seem to make plenty of sense.
Whether or not Poindexter ultimately leaves Penn State for a chance to coach his alma mater, the ACC Coastal Division will see a good amount of new faces in 2022. Pry will be the new head coach at Virginia Tech. Miami just released Manny Diaz in favor of Mario Cristobal from Oregon (where former Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead left to become the new head coach at Akron). And at Duke, David Cutcliffe retired at the conclusion of the regular season.
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