Penn State Football hires Ty Howle as tight ends coach

Penn State Football head coach James Franklin announced Ty Howle as the team’s new tight ends coach on Friday morning.

Howle is replacing Tyler Bowen, who is headed to the Jacksonville Jaguars for the same role. Bowen held the position for the past three years and is a big reason why Pat Freiermuth is a projected early round pick in this spring’s NFL draft.

Howle is a former Nittany Lions offensive line man from 2009-2013, and was a team captain in 2013. He will turn 29-years-old shortly before the 2021 season, making him the youngest member of Penn State’s coaching staff.

He was acting as an offensive analyst for the team in 2020 and prior to that was the offensive line coach, and eventually co-offensive coordinator at Western Illinois. He, like Bowen, is a former offensive lineman and former coach at the position.

Howle is the first in-house promotion that Franklin has made since 2017, when he made tight ends coach Ricky Rahne the offensive coordinator after Joe Moorhead’s departure following the regular season.

Replacing Bowen will not be easy. He was arguably Penn State’s top recruiter and had turned Penn State’s tight end group into a well-known brand.

The effects of Bowen’s departure can already be felt as 4-star 2022 TE Holden Staes announced his de-commitment from the Nittany Lions just an hour before Howle’s hire was made official. He is now tasked with keeping Penn State’s other tight end commit, Jerry Cross, in the fold, and possibly finding a replacement for Staes.

Keeping up the standard that Bowen created will not be easy, but Franklin certainly trusts Howle considering how important the 2021 season is to Franklin and his future. Luckily for Howle, he walks into a talented room, headlined by red-shirt sophomore Brenton Strange and sophomore Theo Johnson.