Penn State head coach James Franklin was under the unenviable task of having to replace his defensive and offensive coordinators this offseason. But after filling those roles, Franklin was thrown into a position where he needed to replace his special teams coordinator as well. Now, it appears Franklin has his next special teams coordinator.
[autotag]Justin Lustig[/autotag], who has been the special teams coordinator at Vanderbilt, is expected to be named the next special teams coordinator at Penn State. Matt Zenitz of 247Sports was one of the first to report the news on Monday.
Lustig will replace Stac Collins, who opted to return to Boise State after two years with the Penn State program. Lustig spent the past three seasons at Vanderbilt and was a Broyles Award candidate while with the Commodores.
The Pennsylvania native has coached a Lou Groza Award winner (Andre Szmyt at Syracuse) and Ray Guy Award finalist (Matthew Hayball at Vanderbilt), so his track record seems promising for the future of Penn State special teams development.
Penn State has added Andy Kotelnicki from Kansas to fill the role of offensive coordinator following a late in-season staff change to remove Mike Yurcich. Penn State has also hired former Indiana head coach Tom Allen to fill the defensive coordinator role after Manny Diaz left to become the head coach at Duke.
Follow Kevin McGuire on Threads, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.