There aren’t many downsides to being a great football team, but one of them is that you’re likely to get your coordinators poached. Although Penn State wasn’t great last year, it still happened to them when former offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki took an associate head coaching job at Kansas.
Now, On3 Sports insider Pete Nakos believes it could happen again with new defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn. The former Penn State player came back to his alma mater this offseason after two seasons with Big Ten rival USC as the team’s coordinator. However, Nakos believes it might be a pit stop here in Happy Valley if the defense lives up to its potential.
Lynn transformed the Trojans’ defense, allowing just 24.1 points per game in 2024 after they
gave up 34.4 points per game the year before he got there. He is a young coordinator with a lot of potential, and Nakos believes he’ll be one of the top candidates if he can have similar success with the Nittany Lions’ unit.
Head coach Matt Campbell and the players on the defense have been raving about Lynn all summer. The pieces in place at Penn State all love Lynn, and it seems like teams around the country might also share that sentiment. It would sting to see him leave after just one season, but if he does get a coaching job, it means that the defense was lights out and the team probably had a really good year.
Maybe losing another coordinator wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if all those things came to be true.
FollowNittany Lions Wire on X and Facebook.
If you purchase through our links, the USA Today Network may earn a commission. Prices were accurate at the time of publication but may change.
This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Penn State coordinator tabbed as 2027 head coaching candidate
