Penn State Football: Could Terry Smith Make Staff Changes This Week?
Penn State Football’s 2025 season has become an abject disaster, with the Nittany Lions now losing four in a row and failing to register a Power 4 win for the first two months of the season.
Athletic director Pat Kraft already fired former head coach James Franklin, promoting Terry Smith to interim head coach.
After game one of the Terry Smith era, Penn State still fell short of a victory, 25-24 to Iowa.
With Penn State already losing two of their best players for the season (Drew Allar and Tony Rojas) and heading to Columbus to face No. 1 Ohio State before returning home to face number two Indiana, Penn State’s season could go from bad to worse before the Nittany Lions get any relief.
Before those games, however, Penn State has a bye week to prepare for the Buckeyes.
During the bye week, could Terry Smith make any staff changes to spark the team in the remaining part of the season? Here’s a case for a few changes that could be made.
Potential Penn State Football Staff Changes to Watch During Bye
Andy Kotelnicki, offensive coordinator
Penn State’s offense has been a complete disaster for most of the season.
Despite returning four starters along the offensive line, two starting running backs, and a three-year starter at quarterback, the Penn State offense failed to live up to even a bit of its potential through seven games.
Now, with Drew Allar sidelined for the season and the offense still feeling too “gimmicky” and inconsistent against Iowa this past Saturday, a case could be made for Penn State interim head coach Terry Smith to move on from Andy Kotelnicki before the season ends.
Even before Penn State head coach James Franklin was fired a week ago, Franklin noted Penn State’s offense has “not been as productive as we expected to be.”
With Franklin gone, Kotelnicki’s offense did not improve at Kinnick in Iowa City.
Kotelnicki’s play calling was still inconsistent, playing a two-quarterback system breaking up any momentum now starting quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer could build and leading to an injury to backup quarterback Jaxson Smolik.
Smith dismissing Kotelnicki before heading to Columbus to take on the Buckeyes would likely rank as the most likely staffing change to spark Penn State down the stretch. Ty Howle would likely take over play calling duties if Kotelnicki were to be dismissed this week.
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Marcus Hagans, wide receivers coach
Penn State brought in three transfer portal wide receivers this offseason to spark the passing game and to give Drew Allar weapons.
After seven games, however, all three transfer receivers are averaging under 40 receiving yards per game and have not lived up to the expectations from the offseason.
Through the past few years, Penn State has not been able to develop receivers at the level needed to elevate the passing game, as Penn State has failed to produce over 250 passing yards in 21 of the past 23 games with Kotelnicki calling the offense.
If Kotelnicki is not on the chopping block this week, Marcus Hagans could be the sacrificial lamb for the offense, as the receivers have failed to live up to any expectations during his tenure as Penn State’s wide receivers coach.
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Jim Knowles, defensive coordinator
This move is the least likely out of any this week. The transition to Knowles defense has been extremely rough for Penn State’s defense this season.
Penn State ranks 90th in the nation in rushing defense, an area where the Nittany Lions have thrived the past three seasons before Knowles took over the defense.
Penn State also ranks 68th in sacks and 40th in tackles for a loss, another area where Penn State has thrived recently, especially under Manny Diaz in 2022 and 2023.
James Franklin convinced Knowles to leave Ohio State for a nation best $3.1 million contract for a coordinator this offseason, which is why it is unlikely Knowles would be dismissed before a new head coach is hired this offseason.
However, Penn State is certainly not getting the benefit of the highest paid defensive coordinator in college football through seven games.
If Terry Smith is to make any staffing changes this week, one of these three would likely be the most likely. With games against the top two teams in the country coming up after the Nittany Lions bye week, the team could use any injection of confidence and energy that it can get.
A staffing change by Terry Smith could give the Nittany Lions some kind of boost heading into the final five games of the season that could help the Nittany Lions salvage an otherwise extremely disappointing season.
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