Penn State adds veteran offensive analyst to football staff
Penn State has added another analyst to its football staff in former Boston College and Colorado State staffer Frank Leonard.
Leonard had been a member of Steve Addazio’s staff for the past decade, joining him originally at Temple back in 2012. He then followed Addazio to Boston College before taking up the title of recruiting coordinator at Colorado State this past season. Leonard has previous experience coaching tight ends and offensive linemen, and will now help with the offensive side of the ball at Penn State.
Overall, Leonard has worked as an assistant for nearly 40 years now, including more than 30 at the college level. He spent the 1990’s working at UConn and Richmond before joining the New England Patriots as a scout in 2004. Leonard got back into coaching two years later, coaching the tight ends at Kansas State from 2007-2008. He then spent three seasons coaching the same position in the NFL with the St. Louis Rams. When that ended after the 2011 season, he joined Addazio at Temple in 2012.
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Leonard is now the fourth new analyst to be confirmed this month for James Franklin’s staff. Two weeks ago, it was confirmed that former NFL linebacker Dan Connor had joined the staff to work with the defense. The former Chuck Bednarik Award winner spent six years in the NFL before retiring in 2013. He’s been coaching at a variety of levels ever since, most recently as the defensive coordinator at Widener.
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Two other notable additions to the staff were Rick Lyster and Gabe Infante. Lyster played football Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. He then served as an assistant strength and conditioning coach coach at Lafayette before joining Monmouth’s staff as a defensive assistant for one season. From there, he spent three seasons at Georgia Tech as a graduate assistant, 2015 to 2017, before joining Army’s staff as a defensive quality control coach. His most recent stop as at Miami, where he worked with Manny Diaz.
Just like Leonard, Infante will work with the offense. He should be a name familiar to fans, as he was previously the head coach at St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia. In nine seasons, Infante totaled a 91-23 record, winning four PIAA state championships. He was named the U.S. Army Bowl National Coach of the Year in 2017. Infante is expected to help out Penn State on offense.
