Penn State off-field staffer taking coordinator job elsewhere: Report
Penn State is losing a member of its off-field staff to a coordinator job elsewhere. ESPN reported on Monday that Charlie Frye will be the next offensive coordinator at Florida Atlantic. He joined the Lions last August.
Frye has a vast array of playing and coaching experience. The 41-year-old graduated from Akron, where he played quarterback, and had a brief NFL career. He spent the first four years of his coaching career as an offensive coordinator at two Florida high schools. After entering the college ranks as an off-field staffer at Florida back in 2016, Frye would later land his first offensive coordinator job at Central Michigan in 2019. He spent two seasons with the Chippewas. Then, he was the Miami Dolphins quarterbacks coach for one season in 2021. But, he was let go with the rest of the staff there when head coach Brian Flores was fired. That led him to State College, where he spent less than a year helping with game planning, self scout, and other tasks in an aanalyst role.
According to ESPN, Frye is expected to be the main play caller for FAU. He joins first-year coach Tom Herman there.
Analyst turnover will not be unique to Penn State this off-season
College football has changed in any numbers of ways over the last handful of years. One of them focuses on the creation of more off-field roles like the one Frye held. James Franklin made adding people to his support staff a focus of his new contract, which was signed earlier this year. Penn State beefed up its analysts department on both sides of the ball before the 2022 season.
While some of those staffers stay for years, most are only making a pit stop while waiting for an on-field job of their liking to open up. So, don’t expect Frye to be the last departure from that part of Franklin’s staff before the 2023 season. But, expect the leader of the Lions to be aggressive when it comes to filling any analyst vacancies he ends up having.
“It’s about manpower in recruiting,” Franklin said in March when asked about hiring more support staff. “It’s about manpower in terms of when we’re breaking down film ,and when we’re watching tape, that we have enough perspectives in the room and enough experience in the room.
“Then, it also helps you obviously in terms of manpower when it comes to game planning and those types of things.”
Penn State concludes its 2022 season when it faces Utah in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 2. Kickoff is at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN.
