A person who has worked with James Franklin for more than a decade looks like he’s moving on.
According to a report by Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports, Michael Hazel, Penn State’s senior director of football operations, is leaving State College to work with recently departed Nittany Lions defensive coordinator Brent Pry, who is the new head coach at Virginia Tech.
SOURCE: Michael Hazel, Penn State’s Sr. Dir. of Football Ops, is leaving to be chief of staff for Brent Pry at Va. Tech. Hazel came to PSU fm Vandy w/ James Franklin & played a key role behind the scenes particularly in how PSU was able to keep putting together excellent staffs.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 3, 2022
Hazel has worked with Franklin since his days at Vanderbilt. He was Vandy’s Director of Football Operations in all three of Franklin’s years as head coach. When Franklin moved to Penn State, Hazel came with him as director of football operations and stayed in that role for five seasons until being promoted to senior director of football operations.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.His job responsibilities include being in charge of overseeing the program’s external operations and facilities, and he’s also in charge of setting up Franklin’s public appearances.
Hazel also is the liaison between high school coaches and Penn State’s marketing and strategic communications. In 2020, Hazel was rewarded for his work by being named FootballScoop Operations Director of the Year. He was a finalist for that honor in both 2015 and ‘16.
Pry was Franklin’s last Vanderbilt-era assistant to leave Penn State. Now, it looks like he’s taking another piece of that part of Franklin’s career from him.
