In December, Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki was reportedly West Virginia’s pick for its head coaching gig, but he declined the offer.
Posting the iconic “I’m not leavin” clip from “The Wolf of Wall Street” on X, Kotelnicki confirmed his return to Happy Valley for a second season as the Mountaineers went with Jacksonville State’s Rich Rodriguez.
Kotelnicki drew head-coaching buzz as he led Penn State’s offense to 33.1 points per game, highlighting his creativity and versatility.
With stark expectations for 2025 and more interest likely to follow, will he continue to renew his membership?
Avery Hill: Kotelnicki should go
Had Kotelnicki kept his name in the hat for a bit longer last year, it’s likely he would have had a mountain of teams ready to make him their new head coach.
The problem is, there weren’t many good jobs out there. In the offseason, only five Power Four schools made a coaching change, the most attractive being North Carolina, who zeroed in on legendary coach Bill Belichick.
This season, that’s likely to change, since the following coaches are expected to be in the hot seat: USC’s Lincoln Riley, Florida State’s Mike Norvell, Oklahoma’s Brent Venables, Maryland’s Mike Locksley and Auburn’s Hugh Freeze — some of many highly attractive jobs.
Between the resources and opportunity to man his own program, it’s a no-brainer that Kotelnicki should take one of these jobs if they were to open up.
James Franklin has always tried to figure out a way to keep his coordinators for a while, but as evidenced by brief stints from former coordinators like Tom Allen, Manny Diaz and Ricky Rahne, it’s not realistic in today’s day and age.
Offensive Coordinator Andy Kotelnicki speaks to reporters in the Lasch Football Building on Thursday, June 5, 2025 in University Park, Pa.
Alexandra Antoniono
His coordinating counterpart, Jim Knowles, is expected to stay at Penn State for the long-run, but his situation is different. Knowles, who has 37 years of coaching experience, was Cornell’s head coach from 2004-09 and isn’t worried about elevating in the coaching tree anymore.
Kotelnicki, on the other hand, secured his first coaching job in 2004. Regardless, there’s a chance that Kotelnicki misses out on a prime year to hop in the job market.
Penn State returns its stars Drew Allar, Nick Singleton, Kaytron Allen and a majority of the offensive line. Adding wide receiver transfers to the mix, it’s obvious James Franklin and company are pushing all of their pieces to the middle of the table with aims of winning a national championship.
The dream isn’t far-fetched, but it also might be their only chance. With many top Nittany Lions expected to enter the 2026 NFL Draft, there’s no guarantee Kotelnicki has the desirable pieces to put together a year in 2026 or beyond that gets him attractive jobs.
His inability to balance aggressiveness — or lack thereof — in key moments raised plenty of eyebrows. I don’t think it’s enough to prevent him from getting top jobs in the upcoming offseason, but maybe with less projected talent the following years, it becomes a major red flag.
Either way, many coaches get one head coaching shot, Kotelnicki’s likely to get two. He shouldn’t pass it up.
Offensive Coordinator Andy Kotelnicki speaks to reporters in the Lasch Football Building on Thursday, June 5, 2025 in University Park, Pa.
Alexandra Antoniono
Lexie Linderman: Kotelnicki should stay
Penn State has given Kotelnicki the spotlight and opportunity to build his resume and eventually become a head coach in college football. However, that shouldn’t be until at least the 2027 season.
The Nittany Lions are clear national title contenders this season, and a large part of that is thanks to Kotelnicki’s creative play calling and offensive scheme. But it’ll only be his second season in Happy Valley, and he hasn’t yet proved success at a high level while lacking elite talent.
So far, Kotelnicki has had Tyler Warren, Drew Allar, Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen at his disposal, and while his top weapon, Warren, is gone to the NFL, he’s set to have three new wide receivers this season.
After the 2025 season, though, all of his talent will be gone. At Kotelnicki’s hands will be a bunch of inexperienced players who haven’t seen much game action, giving him a real test and chance to show teams looking for a head coach that he can succeed against the best in the nation with unproven guys.
Additionally, another year-plus at Penn State could land Kotelnicki an even better opportunity than a collegiate head coaching position. He might opt to potentially do what Chip Kelly did this offseason — jump from offensive coordinator in college to the NFL.
Of course, Kelly has loads more experience than Kotelnicki and has been a head coach twice in the big leagues, but it’s not out of the question for the Nittany Lions’ offensive play caller, and an extra season at Penn State could lead him down that path.
The other aspect of Kotelnicki potentially leaving is what jobs would be available. There’s a few coaches on the hot seat entering this season like Lincoln Riley at USC and Brent Venables at Oklahoma — both of which would be lucrative openings.
But it’s impossible to know what will happen in 2025. Riley and Venables could bounce back from poor 2024 seasons to keep their jobs. Outside of those two, there aren’t many other illustrative programs with coaches on thin ice, so there might not be anywhere for Kotelnicki to even go.
All in all, another year at Penn State would open up a lot more doors for Kotelnicki, and it would be wise of him to wait before jumping into a head coaching job.
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