Meet Penn State football’s entire 2025 staff: New staffers, new titles, recruiting and support personnel, and more

The Penn State football staff is set for the 2025 season. The headline addition is new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. Associate head coach and cornerbacks coach Terry Smith is the longest-tenured staffer. He’s also one of many lettermen on the list, some of whom are newcomers this fall.

Below, we introduce you to everyone who has a hand in this year’s Penn State team, from the on-field coaches to support staff and much more. Here’s James Franklin’s 12th staff in State College.

Meet the Penn State position coaches

Smith is the only staff member who has been on Franklin’s staff for a 12th consecutive seasons. Penn State has one new coordinator for the fifth straight season. Here’s the rundown.

Head coach – James Franklin (12th season)

Offensive coordinator – Andy Kotelnick (second season)

Defensive coordinator – Jim Knowles (first season)

Special teams coordinator/outside linebackers and nickels coach – Justin Lustig (second season)

Associate head coach/defensive recruiting coordinator/cornerbacks coach – Terry Smith (12th season)

Assistant head coach/co-offensive coordinator/running backs coach – Stan Drayton (fifth season)

Co-offensive coordinator/tight ends – Ty Howle (sixth season)

Offensive line coach – Phil Trautwein (sixth season)

Co-defensive coordinator/safeties – Anthony Poindexter (fifth season)

Receivers coach/offensive recruiting coordinator: Marques Hagans (third season)

Defensive line coach: Deion Barnes (third season)

Quarterbacks coach: Danny O’Brien(second season)

Linebackers coach: Dan Connor (first season with this title; second season in position)

Who are the Nittany Lions’ graduate assistants?

Penn State reports just one this year: Kevin Ceh. He is in his third year as an assistant with the offensive line.

Two others who held this title a year ago are back. But, they are now in the next section.

Penn State analysts

Penn State will have 14 analysts in 2025. Last year, we tracked it at 15, and it was 12 in 2023. In 2022, it had 10. New this year is the program that associates most of the people in this department with the positions they assist with. Newcomers have a * next to their name. And, the list is in alphabetical order:

Matt Colangelo: Special teams analyst* (from Villanova)

Mark Dupuis: Assistant wide receivers coach

Shane Eachus: Defensive analyst* (from Georgetown, is part of the Jim Knowles coaching tree)

Greg Gattuso: Senior defensive analyst (Lions letterman comes after a long stint as Albany’s head coach)

Andrew Jackson: Assistant defensive line coach* (Comes from West Virginia)

Jordan Lucas: Assistant cornerbacks coach

Trace McSorley: Assistant quarterbacks coach* (Comes after NFL playing career ended)

David Parker: Offensive analyst

Bill Queisert: Assistant offensive linecoach

David Rocco: Assistant tight ends coach

Allen Tucker: Speical teams analyst* (Comes from Troy)

James Urban: Senior offensive analyst

Charles Walker: Assistant running backs coach

Brent Zdebski: Defensive analyst

Charles Walker: Offensive analyst/running backs

Meet the Lions’ recruiting staff

Longtime James Franklin staff member Andy Frank leads this group as the General Manager of Personnel and Recruitment. His right-hand man is ace recruiter Kenny Sanders. This department looks fairly similar to how it did a year ago. The lone newcomer is former Malcolm X Shabazz High School (N.J.) head coach Naz Oliver.

Here’s the recruiting department staff 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

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

Naz Oliver – Recruiting coordinator* (replaces Khalil Ahmad)

Alan Zemaitis – Recruiting coordinator for personnel

Rashad Elby – Associate director for player advancement and revenue sharing strategy

Karsyn Kehler – Assistant recruiting coordinator for operations and visits

Rashad Rich – Assistant recruiting coordinator for personnel and recruitment

Football administration staff

If you see Penn State coach James Franklin on game day, there’s a good chance Kevin Threlkel and/or newcomer Tristian Iannone are in the area, too. That duo makes up two of the seven key members of this staff.

Kevin Threlkel – Associate athletic director, Chief of Staff

Ben Kerr – Director of Football Operations

Will Reimann – Director of Football Research and Strategy

Tristian Iannone – Director of External Operations* (replaces Destiny Rodriguez)

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

Sports performance staff

Chuck Losey is the university’s associate athletic director for performance enhancement for football.

Alvin Futrell – Associate 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 -Director of Football Nutrition

Andrew Nelson – Director of Performance Science

Dan Vasey – Assistant Director of High Performance

Player development and video staffs

Penn State now has multiple 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

Brett Arnold – Associate Director of Player Advancement & Revenue Sharing Strategy

Lauren Geppert – Director of Player Engagement

Jordan Hill – Director of Player Development

Jevin Stone – Director of Coaching Technology

Blake Yunker – Assistant Video Director

Meet the Penn State sports medicine staff

Penn State has six people in this department, according to its media guide. It is unchanged from a year ago.

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 and Academic Counselor Martin Solomon. His staff is as follows:

Todd Kulka – Associate Director of Football Academic Services and Academic Counselor

Jovahn Sturdivant-Garner – Assistant Director & Academic Counselor

Tre Tiggs – Academic advisor

Jessica Martin – Associate director, Learning Specialists for Learning Services

Nicole Rao – Assistant Director of Learning Services & Learning Specialist

Kydani Dover – Director of Learning Services

Rachel Holena – Learning specialist

Penn State staff for support, equipment, communication, and content

This is the final group listed, but it’s also an extremely important one. This group handles everything from uniforms and helmets to media relations, social media, and more.

Ben Herman – Assistant athletic director, Equipment Operations

Austin Cruz – Director of football equipment

Juan Perez – Assistant Director of Football Equipment

Greg Kincaid – Assistant athletic director, football communications and content

Kristina Petersen – Senior associate athletic director, strategic communications

Paul Marboe – Assistant director, strategic communication

Julia Beretta- Assistant director, strategic communication

Riley Joslin – Director of football social mediaand player branding

Zhanee Anderson – Football graphic designer

Hunter Neel — Football graphic designer