Penn State OC Andy Kotelnicki on where he'll call games from, his philosophy, more: Takeaways

STATE COLLEGE — Penn State officially introduced Andy Kotelnicki as its new offensive coordinator on Friday. The 43-year-old Litchfield, Minn., native said he grew up as a Nittany Lions fan thanks to a white helmet with a single blue stripe down the middle that his family had. His coaching journey has took him all over, most recently at the FBS level to Buffalo and Kansas, and now, State College.

“This [is] kind of one of those jobs for me, personally, but also for me professionally, to grow and expand myself and challenge myself in the world of college football,” Kotelnicki said. “I had developed a little bit of a relationship with Coach Franklin,” Kotelnicki said. “I think that might have been documented. Years ago, [Buffalo played at Penn State].

“And, when I spoke at the [PFSCA] clinic here, we developed a relationship and were able to stay in contact through the years. Knowing people is a critical process. Super sad to move on [from Kansas].I think a ton of Coach [Lance] [Leipold] and what he’s helped me to do with my career. But, the opportunity to grow individually, outside of his tree, if you will, was a huge part of this.”

Here’s what we learned.

Kotelnicki interviewed at Penn State once before

In what was a previously unknown but will now be a well-known fact, Kotelnicki interviewed for a job with Penn State coach James Franklin before. He met with the 10th-year leader of the Lions after the 2020 season when the Lions were looking for a new tight ends coach. But, letterman Ty Howle was ultimately the pick then, and Kotelnicki went with Leipold from Buffalo to Kansas as the offensive coordinator.

For this Penn State position, though, Kotelnicki was the right man for the right job at the right time.

“To be able to go [to Kansas] and grow with the people that I was there, the rest of the staff, Coach Leipold, and those players, and to come here and take some of the things that we’ve learned from that journey back over to here, it’s life. You just never know where it’s going to take you and what going to happen. The relationships that you have with people, you never know when they’re gonna be really meaningful, no matter how maybe insignificant or significant feels at the time. Next thing you know, 15 years later, that person, you’re working with them side by side and your livelihoods kind of depend on each other.”

Where will Kotelnicki call games from?

Franklin has now had six offensive coordinators during his tenure. Some, like Joe Moorhead, preferred to work from the sideline. But others, like Mike Yurcich, wanted to be in the coaches box. Where will Kotelnicki be on game days?

“I have done the press box for every game [of his many tenures as an offensive coordinator] except for I think three or four games,” Kotelnicki said. “And for me, game day is about making sure that I’m calling the best play, that I have a chance to critically reflect on what we’re doing. And, the press box is the best situation To be in the press box, I think for me, has always been, I call it a sterile environment, where you can be up there and you can think and digest without any of the emotion that’s happening.”

So, he will be upstairs.

What is his philosophy on offense?

Kotelnicki is a ball of energy. His booming voice projects control and leadership. But, not complete autonomy. He wants collaboration with the staff when making up the game plan. And, the new Penn State play caller wants to fit his system to his players instead of the other way around.

“I would tell you that it’s a multiple, pro style offense, that uses spread concepts and components,” Kotelnicki said. “And, emphasis on the word multiple because it’s about putting players in a position to be successful. The last handful of years, it’s really dawned on me as a teacher, and that’s why I got into this profession, that as long as you, as a teacher and a coach, understand what your players’ capabilities are, and more importantly,, know what their limitations are, as long as you can work around those and you have a clear definition in your mind of what those things are, you can put them on the field to be successful. Anyone.

“Ok, this player doesn’t do this? Ok, let’s not ask him to go to the field and do it. There’s really two spectrums when you think about putting together an offense or defense, righ? You have systems. And then you have people. And I think when you focus so much on a system, if you’re a person that doesn’t fit into whatever that mold and that system needs to be, it’s really hard to be successful if you don’t fit it exactly. It’s about the people, the players; what do they do well? What are they capable of? What are their limitations? And let’s focus and do things that are going to put them in positions to be successful.”

Who will coach the Penn State quarterbacks?

Back when Kotelnicki was hired, Franklin said that Penn State had not yet figured out who would coach the quarterbacks moving forward. Four of his previous five offensive coordinators led that position. How will it work now?

“There’s going to be three of us that are working quarterbacks: Myself, Coach Franklin, and [graduate assistant’ Danny O’Brien,” Kotelnicki said. “And I know Danny, who I’ve interacted with, has been there for the last couple of weeks and does a fantastic job. You have a chance for a guy who’s played professional football, the quarterback position, to interact with the quarterbacks. I think that’s a huge deal. And then Coach Franklin, being an offensive guy, to be involed, and then myself, I’ve coached quarterbacks in the past and have been able to see the whole big picture with them.

“So, it’ll be very NFL like in terms of how we interact with those guys.”

He said it

Kotelnicki made an analogy using the process of making a Dairy Queen blizzard, which can have any number of toppings but always starts with a base of ice cream, to define his approach on offense.

“In itself, it looks complicated, he said. “Because it’s messy inside. And, the person working there puts it in the machine and mixes the ice cream. But fundamentally, it’s mostly made up of what? Vanilla ice cream. So if you could equate offensive football to your favorite Blizzard, and understanding what it is going to look like, is that it’s going to look like a messy piece of deliciousness. But, fundamentally, it is composed of really just vanilla ice cream and your favorite candies.

“That is when we talk about simplicity versus complexion. So it is going to look really complex. But, really, at the end of the day, it’s just two ingredients mixed together.”