West Virginia was among the schools that opted to make a head coaching change in the days following the conclusion of the 2024 college football season. Neal Brown was fired by the school after leading the Mountaineers for the past six seasons to a record of 37-35. Two of those losses came against Penn State in the past two seasons, including this year’s season opener. West Virginia wrapped up a 6-6 regular season with a 52-15 dubbing on the road at Texas Tech, leaving the school ready to make a change rather than allow Brown a chance to coach in the upcoming bowl season.
Naturally, that has led to a number of college football writers coming up with a list of potential ideal candidates for the vacancy in Morgantown. Among the names mentioned by CBS Sports writer Tom Fornelli was Penn State offensive coordinator [autotag]Andy Kotelnicki[/autotag]. Kotelnicki is certainly no stranger to having his name floated for potential head coaching opportunities this round on the coaching carousel, and we will likely see his name pop up again before this year’s coaching carousel comes to a full and complete stop.
“Kotelnicki has been coordinating exciting and explosive offenses for years, first under Lance Leipold at Buffalo and Kansas and now not too far down the road from Morgantown at Penn State,” Fornelli wrote on CBSSports.com. “It feels like it’s only a matter of time before he gets a head coaching job. Could West Virginia lure him away from Happy Valley?”
It does feel as though Kotelnicki is on track to become a head coach, and that certainly should not be surprising given the recent trend of Penn State coordinators under James Franklin. A number of coordinators for Franklin have gone on to become head coaches including Joe Moorhead, Ricky Rahne, Brent Pry, Manny Diaz.
Kotelnicki is likely to leave Penn State at some point for a head coaching opportunity, especially if Penn State continues to have success with him calling the plays. Kotelnicki will be locked in on preparing the Penn State offense for a massive test against Oregon in this week’s Big Ten championship game, and the College Football Playoff is on the horizon.
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