New Penn State coordinators Kotelnicki and Allen encouraged as spirited spring drills wrap up

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Upon his arrival in Happy Valley, new Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki asked each of his new players a question that would shape their goals for spring practice.

What do they want this offense to be? The Nittany Lions' answers, when combined, appear to be a recipe for success.

"They want to be explosive," Kotelnicki said. "They want to be enthusiastic. They want to be confident in what they're doing."

A year after another third-fiddle finish to Ohio State and Michigan

in the Big Ten's now-defunct East Division, Penn State is determined to get there with new leadership on all sides of the ball.

Kotelnicki is the sixth offensive coordinator in head coach James Franklin's 11 seasons at Penn State. At Kansas, Kotelnicki was part of a staff that directed a turnaround of what was the worst football program in Power Five for more than a decade.

Former Indiana head coach Tom Allean replaced Manny Diaz as the Nittany Lions' new defensive coordinator after the latter became Duke's head coach. Justin Lustig is now running Penn State's special teams.

For the last month, the new coordinators have been busy getting their first hands-on experience with a talented roster that returns most of its skill and experience from last season.

"We need to feel like coming out of spring ball that our players have a bunch of confidence and understanding of how we want to play in really all three phases," Franklin said. "Then on top of that, what are our strengths and what are our weaknesses? And be able to play to those strengths and be able to work on those weaknesses between now and the start of training camp."