Virginia close to hiring Penn State assistant as head coach, per report
Penn State will be losing a second defensive assistant to another ACC school. According to Jerry Ratcliffe, Virginia is expected to hire Penn State co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Anthony Poindexter as the next head coach of the Cavaliers.
Poindexter was previously at Virginia as an assistant from 2003-13 at several different positions before taking the defensive coordinator and safeties coach at UConn in 2014. After three years at Uconn, Poindexter spent three seasons at Purdue in the same position from 2017-20.
In his only season at Penn State, Poindexter, along with defensive coordinator Brent Pry, helped create the 7th-ranked scoring defense in the nation (16.8 points allowed per game). If reports hold true, Poindexter will be at Virginia, while Pry will start as the head coach of Virginia Tech in the 2022 season.
Penn State will be looking for a major overhaul of the defensive staff starting in the off-season for the 2022 season. Poindexter is expected to finish the season at Penn State as they take on Arkansas in the 2022 Outback Bowl.