Penn State coach James Franklin has made plenty of moves with his complete staff ahead of the 2023 season. The current era of college football means replacing anyone from a coordinator to a graduate assistant, analyst, strength staff member, or someone in another part of the massive operation is a rite of passage every offseason. For the most part, the Lions return plenty of familiar faces. But, there are some new names to know, as well.
Below, we introduce you to everyone from the on-field coaches to support staff and much more.
Meet the Penn State on-field staff
Led by Franklin, who enters year 10 in State College, eight of the program’s on-field full-time assistants are back for at least second season. Many have been at Penn State longer. Here is the full rundown:
Head coach – James Franklin (10th season)
Offensive coordinator – Mike Yurcich (third season)
Defensive coordinator – Manny Diaz (second season)
Special teams coordinator/outside linebackers and nickels coach – Stacy Collins (second season)
Associate head coach/defensive recruiting coordinator/cornerbacks coach – Terry Smith (10th season)
Assistant head coach/co-offensive coordinator/running backs coach – Ja’Juan Seider (sixth season)
Co-offensive coordinator/tight ends – Ty Howle (fourth season)
Offensive line coach – Phil Trautwein (fourth season)
Co-defensive coordinator/safeties – Anthony Poindexter (third season)
Receivers coach: Marques Hagans (first season)
Defensive line coach: Deion Barnes (first season)
Here are the Lions’ graduate assistants
Penn State has one returning graduate assistant and three newcomers. However, one of them, Danny O’Brien, was on the staff last year as an analyst and will now serve in this capacity.
“I think he’s a rising star in the profession,” Franklin said in July. I really do. We work really hard at following the rules.
“So by being able now, under the new GA provisions, to move him from an analyst to a GA, allowing him to coach and kind of be able to take those restraints off of him, is going to be not only valuable for Danny and his development, but for our quarterbacks and really for our offense.”
This year’s GAs are as follows:
Offense: Danny O’Brien (first year, will have QB focus) and Kevin Ceh (first year, will have offensive line focus)
Defense: Torrence Brown (first year; Lions letterman will have defensive line focus); Bryce Jones (second year, will have defensive backs focus)
Penn State analysts
Penn State will have 12 analysts in 2023. Last year, it had 10. The newcomers are former FCS coordinator Ola Adams, Lions letterman Calvin Lowry, former PSU graduate assistant David Parker, one-time Boise State kicker Erich Sachse, and previous Duke defensive coordinator Robb Smith.
Here’s the full rundown:
Ola Adams: Defensive analyst
Dan Connor: Defensive analyst
Gabe Infante: Defensive analyst
Rick Lyster: Defensive analyst
Frank Leonard: Offensive analyst
Calvin Lowry: Offensive analyst
David Parker: Offensive analyst
David Rocco: Offensive analyst
Robb Smith: Offensive analyst
Charles Walker: Offensive analyst
Eric Raisbeck: Special teams analyst
Eric Sachse: Special teams analyst
Meet the Lions’ recruiting staff
All under the direction of Andy Frank, Penn State has three more recruiting department staffers than it did in its 2022 media guide. There are four new faces total after one departure from last year’s group. The newcomers are legendary WPIAL coach Bob Palko, former Colorado and Syracuse recruiting department staffers D.J. Bryant and Khalil Ahmad, respectively, and Brett Arnold, who comes from Delaware.
Here’s the list:
Andy Frank – General manager of personnel and recruitment –
Kenny Sanders – Director of player personnel
Caleb Tyler – Director of recruiting content
Bob Palko – Director of high school relations
Khalil Ahmad – Recruiting coordinator for personnel and recruitment
D.J. Bryant – Recruiting coordinator for personnel and recruitment
Catherine Kennedy – Recruiting coordinator for operations and visits
Chris Mahon – Recruiting coordinator for personnel and recruitment
Alan Zemaitis – Recruiting coordinator for personnel and recruitment
Brett Arnold – Assistant recruiting coordinator for personnel and recruitment
Rashad Elby – Assistant recruiting coordinator for personnel and recruitment
Rashad Rich – Assistant recruiting coordinator for personnel and recruitment
Shannon Wellman – Assistant recruiting coordinator for operations and visits
Sports performance staff
Chuck Losey is the university’s associate athletic director for performance enhancement for football. The sports performance staff consists of the following members at Penn State:
Alvin Futrell – Assistant director of performance enhancement
Jeff Earls – Assistant director of performance enhancement
Jon Fleury – Assistant director of performance enhancement
Tyrone Smith – Assistant director of performance enhancement
Leanne Louden – Football performance dietician
Josh Nelson – Assistant athletic director for football high performance
Dani Summers – Mental health case manager
Player development and video staffs
Penn State has five people across these two departments. The first focuses on anything from NIL to community service initiatives, player interactions with fans, schools, and the like, and engagement opportunities. The latter is obvious: It runs the film operation for the program.
Dann Kabala – Director of Football Player Relations
Will Flaherty – Director of Player Development and Community Relations
Lauren Geppert – Director of Player Engagement
Jevin Stone – Director of Coaching Technology
Joe Loosemore – Assistant Video Director
Meet the Penn State sports medicine staff
Penn State has six people in this department, according to its media guide.
Andy Mutnan – Head athletic trainer
Raymond Champagne – Football athletic trainer
Tesa Johns-Bostick – Football athletic trainer
Matt Peragine – Football athletic trainer
Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli – Director of Athletic Medicine
Dr. Gregory Billy – Team physician
Academics staff
This is another department whose name says it all. Penn State football has eight staff members in this area, led by Director of Football Academic Services Todd Kulka. The rest of the rundown includes:
Jovahn Fair – Assistant director of football academic services
Gabby Runge – Academic counselor
Cheryl Anderson – Assistant director of learning services
Nicole Rao – Assistant director of learning services
Jessica Martin – Learning specialist
Jacob Reeder – Learning specialist
Bridget Kisslak – Administrative support assistant
Penn State staff for support, equipment, communication, and content
We wrap up here. This group handles everything from administrative duties at Penn State to the obvious equipment needs, lettermen relations, news releases, media availabilities, team and recruiting graphics, social media, and much more.
Heidi Erb – Executive assistant to the head football coach
Angie Hummel – Administrative support assistant, business and finance
Wally Richardson – Director of the Football Letterman’s Club
Ben Herman – Senior director of football equipment
Austin Cruz – Director of football equipment
Greg Kincaid – Assistant athletic director, football communications and content
Kristina Petersen – Senior associate athletic director, communications and content
Paul Marboe – Assistant director, strategic communication
Matt Rudisill – Assistant director, strategic communication
Riley Joslin – Director of football social media
Zhanee Anderson – Football graphic designer
Zach Osborne — Football graphic designer
