Meet the Hire Who Could Immediately Galvanize Penn State Football | STASZAK
Penn State Football stands at a crossroads.
Ohio State Football is poised for another national championship. New quarterback, new offensive coordinator, new defensive coordinator, similar results.
That’s because Ohio State has become the college football brand by which all other college brands should be judged. If you’re smart you would study what they do in Columbus and try to replicate their philosophies. Lose the ego. Ego will destroy anything in its path.
Be smart, be humble, but be relentless. Relentlessness means showing no signs of stopping, softening, or giving up. It means pursuing greatness with an unyielding pursuit of intensity, determination, and focus despite difficulty or obstacles.
After years of knocking on the playoff door but never walking through it, the Nittany Lions had reached their ceiling with James Franklin.
And, so, Franklin was fired Sunday after posting a dismal 4-21 record against top-10 opponents during his career in Happy Valley and two catastrophic losses to UCLA and Northwestern that bled out from Penn State’s latest big-game disappointment, a double-overtime loss to Oregon.
Penn State needs more than a steady hand — they need a disruptor, someone who can energize recruiting, modernize the offense, and change the conversation.
That coach exists 400 miles west in Columbus and his name is Brian Hartline, former Ohio State receiver, NFL grinder, recruiting assassin, and newly minted Offensive Coordinator of the Buckeyes.
If Penn State wants to shake up the Big Ten power structure, this is the time to make the move.
Penn State Football Needs to Call Brian Hartline
Program Builder
Brian Hartline knows what it means to wear a Big Ten helmet.
Hartline caught passes at Ohio State from 2005 through 2008, helping lead the Buckeyes to back-to-back BCS National Championship appearances.
He wasn’t the fastest or flashiest, but he was precise, a film junkie who understood spacing, leverage, and timing. Those habits carried him into a seven-year NFL career with the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns, where he logged 3,731 yards and 14 touchdowns, including two consecutive 1,000-yard seasons (2012–13).
That detail-oriented mentality now defines his coaching. Hartline doesn’t just recruit stars, he manufactures them.
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Wide Receiver U
Since returning to Ohio State in 2017, Hartline has turned the Buckeyes’ WR room into the gold standard of college football. The list of receivers he’s recruited, coached, and developed reads like an All-Pro roster:
- Garrett Wilson (Jets) – 70 rec, 1,058 yds, 12 TDs in 2021 at OSU; 2022 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
- Chris Olave (Saints) – 65 rec, 936 yds, 13 TDs in 2021; back-to-back 1,000-yard NFL seasons.
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Seahawks) – OSU single-season record 95 catches for 1,606 yds in 2021.
- Marvin Harrison Jr. (Cardinals) – 2,613 career yds, 31 TDs, 2023 Biletnikoff Award winner.
- Jeremiah Smith (Ohio State Soph.) – 76 receptions, 1,315 yards, 15 TDs as a freshman in 2024; already the most dominant underclassman receiver in the country.
Each of these players points back to one man for their development – Coach Hartline.
He’s not just a recruiter, he’s a technician, a developer, and a closer, someone who can turn raw talent into NFL-ready beasts.
Seamless Transition
With Chip Kelly leaving for the Las Vegas Raiders, Ryan Day didn’t look outside for leadership he looked down the hall. In February 2025, Ohio State officially promoted Brian Hartline to Offensive Coordinator.
That promotion is validation. Day is a championship-winning head coach, and he wants to stay that way while building on his ring-wearing resume.
Day obviously trusts Hartline to design and call plays in an offense expected to compete for a national title, and right now they’re the odds-on favorite to go back-to-back.
For Penn State, the timing is perfect.
Hartline has proven his command but hasn’t yet been tethered to Columbus by long-term stability. If he’s going to leap, this is the moment.
Why Penn State Football Needs Brian Hartline
1. Offensive Innovation
Hartline’s system blends NFL route concepts with college tempo. His units play aggressive, fast, and fearless, exactly what Penn State has lacked.
2. Recruiting Mastery
Few coaches in America can walk into a living room and sell a vision like Hartline. He’s top-five nationally in recruiter rankings almost every year, and his relationships in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida would immediately shift pipelines toward Happy Valley.
3. The Ultimate Rivalry Move
Hiring Hartline doesn’t just strengthen Penn State, it weakens Ohio State.
The Buckeyes’ recruiting and WR development edge is largely Hartline’s creation. Poach him, and you tilt the rivalry in your favor even more than already having Jim Knowles, the Buckeyes’ Defensive Coordinator from last year’s title tea,m and the Nittany Lions’ current Defensive Coordinator.
4. Culture Fit
Hartline is a grinder.
He brings walk-on energy to every room he walks into. He wasn’t a walk-on, he was a four-star recruit out of Canton Glenoak High School but he carries the same mentality of a walk-on, embodying humility and professional polish, first-in-last-out habits, and an understated swagger. He has obsessive attention to detail, a relentless work ethic, and a chip-on-the-shoulder mentality, all elements that Penn State fans respect.
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The Knock on Hartline
Critics will say he’s never been a head coach. That’s true. But he’s been in NFL locker rooms, he’s managed the highest-profile position room in college football, and now he’s calling plays for a top-five program.
You can balance youth with (he’s 38) experience. Pair Hartline with a veteran defensive coordinator, which Penn State already has in place with Knowles, and administrative support, and you’ve got a modern head coach built for the 12-team playoff era.
Nearly every elite modern coach hit the championship window by Year 3 or 4.
The Miami lineage shows how inheritance and momentum can create instant success. Kirby Smart and Ryan Day remind us that sustained dominance takes a little more patience, but even their six-year timelines fit the arc of greatness.
Franklin was given 12 seasons and every possible resource he needed to get the job done, especially over the past three seasons, and couldn’t get the Lions across the finish line.
In many ways, a decade plus two seems like way past bedtime to watch a guy compile a 4-21 record against top ten teams.
But, that’s what happens when you extend a guy to a whopping ten-year extension before he has actually done anything, (See Notre Dame/Charlie Weiss).
If you are willing to finally capitulate and write a check for close to $50 million to not coach your team, you better be willing to spend top dollar for the next guy to head your program.
Making Penn State Elite Again?
Brian Hartline isn’t just another bright young coach. He’s a former Ohio State player who fought his way to the NFL, built the best receiver room in America, and is now designing one of the sport’s most dangerous offenses.
He’s a proven developer, a relentless recruiter, and a cultural fit for a program hungry to elevate themselves into the elite conversation.
If Penn State truly wants to change its future, it’s time to steal a page and a play-caller from its biggest rival.
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It was at PRISM where Staszak produced live games and began his career as an on-air reporter.
After a couple of brief stints with CBS-3, WB-17 and WGAL-8 in Lancaster, PA, Staszak began a 12 year stretch at FOX 29 where he became the lead sportscaster in 2007. It was there that Staszak found himself in the middle of Philadelphia Phillies World Series Championship coverage that earned him an Emmy nomination for best sports reporter in 2008.It was one of five Emmy nominations that Staszak earned over the course of his career.
All told Staszak covered three World Series, two Stanley Cup Finals, an NBA Finals and one Super Bowl during his television run.
Staszak left the TV business for 97.5 The Fanatic in 2013, where he enjoyed eight years bloviating his beliefs on how a professional football team should be run.In 2018 when he fortunate enough to be the first sports talk host in the city, along with cohort Zach Gelb, to provide post-game coverage of the first Super Bowl Championship for the city’s beloved Philadelphia Eagles.
Staszak was also a writer for 97.5 The Fanatic along with 4 Philly Sports and now covers Penn State athletics for NittanyCentral.com.
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