Penn State coach James Franklin details interim defensive coordinator plan for Peach Bowl, talks coaching search

STATE COLLEGE — Penn State coach James Franklin discussed his plans for an interim defensive coordinator for the Peach Bowl during Monday’s formal invitation news conference at Beaver Stadium. It is likely that Anthony Poindexter will take over, at least for now, following Manny Diaz’s departure to become Duke’s head coach. Diaz was formally introduced as the Blue Devils’ new leader on Saturday.

But Franklin did not specifically say that. Poindexter did, however, call the plays at the Outback Bowl to end the 2021 season after Brent Pry left for Virginia Tech. He is also currently the co-defensive coordinator. More information will come out on Friday when the Lions hold their bowl media news conference here.

“We’re very, very happy for Manny Diaz and his family,” Franklin said. “We will handle it internally, similar to how we’ve handled it on offense for the last few games of the season, and also try to balance that while also interviewing and trying to figure out what we’re doing moving forward. We’ll handle it like we have on offense the last few games of the season. And I’ll get into more specifics as we get together again.”

Andy Kotelnicki is the new offensive coordinator, of course, but he will not call plays in the bowl games, however. The Lions will continue with Ja’Juan Seider and Ty Howle as co-offensive coordinators. Much of Franklin’s focus currently is on picking his next defensive coordinator.

“Whenever you’re going to make a decision in leadership, football is unique. Some of my position coaches are coaching more players than some other sports have on their entire team. This is an attractive position. I’ve been fortunate. I’ve had three defensive coordinators and they’ve all had top 10 defenses consistently. Penn State has played really good defense for a long time. So, between the school’s history and our short time playing defense around here, this is an attractive job for a lot of coaches.”

Praise for Penn State

Diaz was extremely complimentary of his time at Penn State. It came up during the early part of his first news conference with the Blue Devils.

“I have to thank the players I had a chance to say goodbye to Thursday night. The chance to mentor those young men. They taught me so much. They aspired to be great, saw pressure as a privilege, and made it their purpose to be the No. 1 defense in the country. I’m thankful for them, the defensive staff; if there is a coaching staff that had more fun than us, I’d like to see it. And thank you to James Franklin for bringing me to Penn State and letting me be part of that culture.”

He also talked about leaving and going to Penn State.

“I think James called me an hour after getting fired. The body wasn’t even cold at the funeral. And Stephanie [his wife] encouraged me to get back on the saddle. I do believe that God steers us to where we need to be when we need to be there. And I think some of the lessons learned at Penn State made me a better man and better coach to be here now.”

And what did he learn about being a head coach from James Franklin?

“I’ve been blessed to work with a lot of great head coaches and to see James and where his program was in year 10, and the players understood what was established. Everybody knew what the core valuers were. The players could seek comfort in that. I learned a lot from that experience and the culture of those guys in that locker room.”

He said it

Diaz, on the ceiling at Duke:

“We will go as far as we believe we can go. I think how far we can go is in direct relation to what we believe we can accomplish. If we see ourselves as capable, we can accomplish anything. Even last year was an example. There was nothing we could do on the first play of the first game to finish as the No. 1 defense in the country. It was a journey.

“We don’t see a reason why we can’t be elite. We got to get the locker room to ignite that belief in what it means to be Duke.”