As Penn State fans know, good coordinators only last so long at a specific job.
Offensive Coordinator Joe Moorhead became beloved in Happy Valley but left after two seasons to become the head coach at Mississippi State.
Years later, Manny Diaz became a fan favorite for his work with the defense but, like Moorhead, only stayed for two seasons, leaving over the winter to become Duke’s head coach.
Penn State fans also know that this holds true for head coaches. Bill O’Brien will always be a Penn State icon but only stayed in Happy Valley for, you guessed it, two seasons before leaving to become the head coach of the Houston Texans.
This brings us to Andy Kotelnicki.
He came to Penn State over the offseason with great fanfare after a successful three-year run at Kansas, and so far, has lived up to the hype.
Through three games, Penn State has scored 124 points, good for an average of more than 41. In Penn State’s most recent effort, it broke a school record that had stood for almost a century.
The only downside to all of this is that, the more Kotelnicki impresses, the more schools will want him to be their head coach. It shouldn’t be a surprised to see Kotelnicki’s name appear on plenty of lists throughout the season, and he’s already been mentioned by ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg as a name to look for.
“The impact he has had on programs is profound,” Rittenberg wrote, “and soon could vault him into leading his own team. Kotelnicki, 44, helped transform Kansas under coach Lance Lepiold, as the Jayhawks ranked fifth nationally in yards per play and 18th in scoring during Kotelnicki’s first two seasons as coordinator. Kansas seemingly misses him, too, as the team is 1-3 this fall.”
Rittenberg than reported that, per an industry source, Kotelnicki is “going to be a hot name, with that he did at Buffalo and Kansas.”
Rittenberg wrote that Kotelnicki “is a Minnesota native who has spent the bulk of his career in the Midwest and could be an interesting for Big Ten, ACC or certain Big 12 jobs.”
