Penn State football will pick Andy Kotelnicki to be its next offensive coordinator: Report
Penn State is set to hire its sixth offensive coordinator of the James Franklin era. The Nittany Lions are expected to hire Kansas associate head coach and play caller Andy Kotelnicki to replace Mike Yurcich, who was fired before the end of the regular season, according to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic. Blue-White Illustrated’s Nate Bauer reported Tuesday that the Minnesota native was emerging as Franklin’s top target.
Entering conference championship weekend, Kansas’ offense is fourth in the Big 12. Kotelnicki directed an explosive bunch that was inside the top 30 this fall in plays of 20 or 30 yards or more from the line of scrimmage. It also averaged 434 yards per game, which was the 29th most during the regular season at the FBS level.
What kind of offense does Kotelnicki run?
“I don’t have a name for it,” Kotelnicki told The University Daily Kansan. “If I’m gonna give the elevator pitch, I think I’ve said this before, I’ll tell you it’s a multiple pro-style offense that uses spread concepts. Emphasis on multiple, emphasis on pro-style in the sense that we use a lot of different personnel groupings and put them in positions to be successful, just like you see on Sundays.”
Meet expected Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki
Kotelnicki has spent much of his coaching life with current Jayhawks head coach Lance Leipold. They were together at Division-II powerhouse Wisconsin-Whitewater for two seasons before spending six together at Buffalo. Then, they both went to Kansas for the past two seasons.
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Franklin sought to bring someone with experience directing an offense that was explosive, successful with a variety of different personnel and talent, and that is capable of fitting what Penn State currently has on its roster. Koltelnicki has had success at multiple levels. He has been an offensive coordinator since 2006 after playing center at Wisconsin-River Falls. He morphed his offense in 2021 to fit Kansas star quarterback Jalon Daniels. It helped his candidacy for the Broyles Award, which he was nominated for in 2022.
“The defense will never know what formation we’re in pre-snap,” Daniels told reporters this year. “They’ll never know how we’re going to end up for real because of how much stuff and how much detail Coach K puts into the offense.”
In short, this planned hire seems to check all the boxes Franklin sought to mark off before making a pick. At Kansas, he even found a way to utilize two quarterbacks being on the field at the same time. Which will, of course, be something Penn State aims to do next year and beyond.
Kotelnicki and his wife, Lindsey, have a son, Max, and daughter, Joy.
