Penn State Football 2024 Forecast: Does James Franklin Have a Playoff Staff?

Franklin hired three new coordinators in one of his busiest offseasons with the Nittany Lions.

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin on the sideline during the 2023 Peach Bowl in Atlanta. / Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

For the first time since becoming Penn State’s head football coach, James Franklin hired three new coordinators. He filled those positions with Kansas’ Andy Kotelnicki on offense, Tom Allen, Indiana’s former head coach, on defense and Vanderbilt’s Justin Lustig on special teams. That's significant turnover for a staff looking to capitalize on an expanded playoff field after back-to-back 10-win regular seasons.

There’s also significant pressure on the incoming group. Manny Diaz turned Penn State’s defense into one of the country’s best before leaving for Duke. On the flip side, Franklin fired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich late last season, leaving fans eager for more offensive production. Let’s wrap up our Penn State football 2024 forecast with a look at the coaching staff.

The New Guys

Kotelnicki should bring an exciting offense to Penn State. He turned Kansas, a considerably smaller program, into a top-10 rushing offense on a team that won nine games just two years removed from finishing 2-10. His offense will feature tons of creativity, often via pre-snap motion and unique formations. It’s his first stop away from Kansas head coach Lance Leipold’s staff since the two joined forces at Wisconsin Whitewater in 2013. It will be interesting to see how he and Franklin gel.

Allen, meanwhile, is long removed from acting as a coordinator or position coach, having served as Indiana’s head man since 2017. He said he’s happy to be isolated from the big-picture responsibilities head coaches carry these days, focusing instead on his bread and butter of coaching defense. The Lions will play a lot of 4-2-5 sets (four linemen, two linebackers and five defensive backs) under Allen. 

The group will be aggressive and emphasize turnovers, but it seems unlikely that Allen will blitz at the extremely high rate Diaz did. Regardless, Allen had Indiana operating as one of the country’s most improved defenses several years ago, and Franklin is confident his new coordinator still has that skill set in his wheelhouse.

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The Alphas

Franklin has built an incredibly strong base of assistants in Happy Valley. And while his staff experienced annual turnover, the core pillars remain in cornerbacks coach Terry Smith and running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider. With hot recruiting streaks and some NFL production, safeties coach Anthony Poindexter, tight ends coach Ty Howle and offensive line coach Phil Trautwein are alphas, too, but we’ll focus on the first two.

Smith has his work cut out for him this year with a young group at cornerback, though there’s a ton of potential and high hopes after he turned guys like Joey Porter Jr., Daequan Hardy and Kalen King into NFL Draft picks. Seider, meanwhile, has a resume that speaks for itself, having recruited two of the Big Ten’s top backs in Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton and having no shortage of high-level prospects behind them. Both have had opportunities to leave but remain loyal to Penn State. Franklin should be thrilled with that.

The Coach You Don’t Know Yet

He started to receive tons of buzz as a graduate assistant last season, but Danny O’Brien is a name to know in Penn State’s quarterback room. Though technically not a full assistant coach, O’Brien holds the “quarterbacks coach” title as Kotlenicki is listed solely as the offensive coordinator. O’Brien is a true football junkie, as quarterback Drew Allar said, who watches tons of film and is a great presence in quarterback meetings and activity. He will man the sidelines on Saturdays with Kotelnicki in the booth.

A Question Mark

Franklin chose to fire wide receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield after three fairly stable years, seeking stronger recruiting, particularly in the transfer portal. He brought in former Virginia wide receivers coach Marques Hagans, who may not be on the hot seat but has some pressure to put together a stronger group in 2024.

Penn State’s receiver debacle of 2023 is well-documented, and the team’s leading receiver — KeAndre Lambert-Smith — is one of three scholarship receivers who left via the transfer portal this offseason. Such a shakeup may be a good thing for Hagans’ group, but it’s clear he needs a portal addition and/or this year’s freshmen to break through.

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Can Penn State Win the Big Ten With this Group?

Yes. Despite the new faces at important places, this Penn State coaching staff should inspire confidence. Kotelnicki and Allen are proven names in their roles and appear determined to tailor their schemes toward the players rather than force a scheme on them. Penn State’s position coaches are as strong as ever, too, leaving just one big question remaining: can the Nittany Lions get over the hump in big games under Franklin?

The Penn State Football 2024 Forecast Series

A new look for Linebacker U.

Lingering questions at wide receiver

A secondary ready to take flight

How the defensive line will crunch again

At tight end, a game-changer returns

An important season for the running backs

Why we should be talking more about special teams

Reshaping Penn State's best offensive line since the 1990s

How offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki could deploy his quarterbacks

Max Ralph is a Penn State senior studying Broadcast Journalism with minors in sports studies and Japanese. He previously covered Penn State football for two years with The Daily Collegian and has reported with the Associated Press and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Follow him on Twitter (X) @maxralph_ and Instagram @mralph_59.