Penn State expected to hire Vanderbilt associate head coach Justin Lustig, per report

Penn State is expected to hire Vanderbilt associate head coach Justin Lustig, according to Adam Rittenberg of ESPN. Lustig also served as special teams and tight ends coach with the Commodores.

Lustig had been at Vanderbilt after arriving from Syracuse in 2021. He was a special teams coach with the Orange beginning in 2017 before adding the role of assistant head coach in 2019. He also helped coach outside receivers and running backs.

Lustig was nominated for the Broyles Award given to the nation’s top assistant coach while with Syracuse in 2018. He coached kicker Andre Smyzt, who won the Lou Groza Award that season. Smyzt set an ACC record with 30 made field goals, just one shy of tying the FBS record, as a redshirt freshman. He went on to become the all-time leading scorer in Syracuse history.

At Vanderbilt, Lustig helped the Commodores to ranks 41st and 44th in ESPN’s Special Teams Efficiency in 2023 and 2022, respectively. Long snapper Wesley Schelling became the first Vanderbilt player to be named first team All-SEC in six years in 2022 under Lustig’s direction. Then this past season, punter Matthew Hyball finished as a finalist for the Ray Guy Award and was the Commodores’ first All-SEC punter since 1996.

Vanderbilt was one of 20 teams with multiple blocked punts and finished 11th in net punting in 2023.

Lustig was a former defensive back at Bucknell in his playing days before graduating in 2000. He got his start as an defensive backs coach at Division III Christopher Newport in 2001 before going on to coach cornerbacks at Villanova in 2023.

Additionally, Lustig has coached at Eastern Illinois (2006-08), Louisiana-Lafayette (2009-10) and Ball State (2011-15) in his career. He was also a head coach at Division II Edinboro University in 2016.

Given his previous experience, it would make sense if Justin Lustig took on a special teams role with Penn State. The Nittany Lions are coming off of 10-3 season and lost special teams coordinator Stacy Collins to Boise State this offseason.

USA Today releases James Franklin’s final coaches’ poll of 2023 college football season

The college football season has come to an end, and with that, the final rankings have come out. That includes the USA Today Coaches Poll, which released its final rankings for individual coaches to end the year. That includes Penn State head coach James Franklin.

There are plenty of interesting decisions throughout Franklin’s rankings. That includes his decision to rank Georgia and Alabama ahead of Texas, where he ranked Penn State, and where he placed each individual Big Ten team in these rankings.

So, here is the final Coaches Poll ballot from James Franklin for the 2023 college football season:

1. Michigan
2. Washington
3. Alabama
4. Georgia
5. Texas
6. Oregon
7. Florida State
8. Missouri
9. Ohio State
10. Mississippi
11. Penn State
12. LSU
13. Arizona
14. Notre Dame
15. Oklahoma
16. Tennessee
17. Iowa
18. Louisville
19. Oklahoma State
20. West Virginia
21. North Carolina State
22. Liberty
23. SMU
24. Tulane
25. Kansas State