STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State has officially hired Andy Kotelnicki from Kansas as its new offensive coordinator. The board of trustees met Friday afternoon in an executive session to formally approve the contract.
Here are some initial thoughts on what to know about Penn State’s new offensive coordinator:
1. What was Penn State willing to pay?
A program source told The Athletic that Kotelnicki agreed to a four-year contract at Penn State in which his total compensation — base and supplemental pay combined — will start at $1.6 million for next season. Those figures increase to $1.7 million, $1.8 million and then $2 million in the fourth season.
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Kotelnicki had signed a five-year contract with Kansas last December in which he was elevated to associate head coach and was making $1 million annually with a $100,000 per year retention bonus, per the Kansas City Star.
A five-year contract like he had for a coordinator was certainly unusual, but the relationship between Kotelnicki and Kansas head coach Lance Leipold — they have coached together since 2013 at Wisconsin-Whitewater — was what Penn State had to negotiate against. Franklin had identified his guy and Penn State was able to come up with an attractive offer to get the deal done.
Typically, Penn State’s offensive coordinators have been on contracts that spanned three or four years. A four-year deal also speaks to Penn State’s commitment to Kotelnicki, who is viewed as someone who, if all goes well with this job, could launch himself into a head coaching job in the coming years.
We got our guy. 🤝
Welcome to Happy Valley, Coach @Kotelnicki! #WeAre | https://t.co/6zLQaBIAWg pic.twitter.com/xAlC2gwbn6
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) December 1, 2023
2. The numbers of his offenses tell the tale
The Nittany Lions think so much about explosive plays that they have it plastered on the side of the football building as one of the keys to winning. But James Franklin and anyone who watched the Penn State offense in 2023 knew it wasn’t explosive enough. Kotelnicki’s Kansas offense fits the explosive description. So too have his other offenses before arriving in Lawrence.
The direct comparison between Kotelnicki’s offense the last two years at Kansas and Penn State’s under Mike Yurcich is jarring, according to TruMedia’s explosive play rate (runs of 12-plus yards and passes of 16-plus yards):
- 2023: Kansas 9th (16.4 percent), Penn State 118th (9.8 percent)
- 2022: Kansas 9th (16.1 percent), Penn State 51st (13.1 percent)
Franklin used to speak often during Joe Moorhead’s tenure about Penn State having a goal of 16 percent of the team’s plays going for explosive gains. Kotelnicki’s offenses at Kansas — a program that, until 2022, hadn’t been to a bowl game since 2008 — have hit that mark the past two seasons.
The Jayhawks’ offense under Kotelnicki averaged seven yards per play over the past two years, good for sixth in the FBS behind Oregon, LSU, USC, Georgia and Washington. That’s elite company. (Penn State is 51st.) What’s more impressive is that Kotelnicki’s offense did it this season largely without starting quarterback Jalon Daniels, who played in only three games because of an injury.
Another key metric Franklin said he was looking for was efficiency on third downs. This season, Kansas is 13th in the FBS in third-down conversions (48.1 percent). Penn State is 59th (40.9 percent).
Franklin has mentioned several times the importance of success on opening drives of games. During the past two seasons, Kansas’ three-and-out rate on opening drives was 20 percent (44th in FBS) while Penn State’s was 40 percent (126th), per TruMedia. The Jayhawks ranked 12th in yards per play, 19th in yards per drive and 29th in points per drive on opening possessions; Penn State ranked 123rd, 121st and 98th, respectively.
Kansas stunned then-No. 6 Oklahoma 38-33 in October. (Jay Biggerstaff / Getty Images)
3. Creativity is a plus
Franklin hired someone who has been an offensive coordinator for 18 seasons. That stretch has included time at Wisconsin-River Falls, the University of Mary in North Dakota and two D-III national titles in two seasons at Wisconsin-Whitewater. Kotelnicki’s creativity has been a constant, from those D-III stops to Buffalo and Kansas in the FBS.
It’s part of the reason why Kansas’ offense has been fun to watch.
During Kotelnicki’s time at Whitewater, they’d go into each game with at least one trick play in their back pocket. If they didn’t need it, it would go unused. If they did — and this is what excited those who played for him — Kotelnicki wouldn’t hesitate to pull it out. Those “weird, crazy formations” as former Whitewater quarterback Matt Behrendt described it, were the byproduct of Kotelnicki’s creativity and his willingness to trust that his players would execute. He’s constantly tinkering and retooling his offense, and that creativity should be a welcomed sight for a Penn State offense that felt stale and rudderless for much of this season.
“You see what Kansas is doing with two quarterbacks and stuff and I feel like that’s what Andy lives for. He’s a football nerd, a football junkie,” Behrendt said. “He loves coming up with these schemes and new trick plays. … We didn’t have to use them too often, but when he did they worked.”
Any new life Kotelnicki can give this roster, which has more talent than he’s ever had to work with, should be entertaining to watch.
GO DEEPERHow Kansas' offense is terrorizing defenses: 'Let's get crazy'4. How does Penn State shuffle the rest of the staff?
At Kansas, Kotelnicki was the associate head coach and offensive coordinator. His background is as an offensive lineman and he has previously coached the tight ends. The way coaching responsibilities will be split on Franklin’s staff moving forward will be something to keep an eye on.
Running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider and tight ends coach Ty Howle are likely to continue with their interim play-calling duties through the bowl game while Kotelnicki uses that time to get familiar with Penn State’s personnel. Graduate assistant Danny O’Brien has been coaching the quarterbacks since Yurcich’s firing. Drew Allar and Beau Pribula have raved about O’Brien and James Franklin has said he believes O’Brien is a rising star in the profession, making his status an interesting storyline to watch.
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Undoubtedly there’s going to be a learning curve for Kotelnicki here as well. After working with Leipold since 2013 at Wisconsin-Whitewater and then climbing the coaching ranks with him at Buffalo and Kansas, a lot is about to change. Getting adjusted and acclimated to how Franklin’s program is run and how they’ll go about game planning here in a new-look Big Ten will all be part of this process.
(Top photo of Drew Allar and Nick Singleton: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)
