West Virginia still circling Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki

When James Franklin hired offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki away from Kansas to replace Mike Yurcich last season, he was hoping for the exact offensive transformation that led to Penn State going blow-for-blow with No. 1 Oregon in the Big Ten Championship Game on Saturday night. The 43-year-old Kotelnicki is considered to be one of the most innovative offensive minds in the country and as such, he’s being pursued for Power 4 head coaching jobs. 

The team in hot pursuit of Kotelnicki’s services is the one he debuted his revamped Penn State offense against in Week 1, West Virginia. The Nittany Lions beat the Mountaineers 34-12 in Morgantown in the first week of the regular season behind a three-touchdown performance from Drew Allar. Allar’s resurgence in his second year as Penn State’s starter, after arriving in Happy Valley as a highly-touted first-star in 2022, is one of the biggest feathers in Kotelnicki’s cap as he takes his first true spin around the head coaching carousel. 

Multiple reports have linked former WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez back to Morgantown after winning a Conference USA title at Jacksonville State this past weekend. Rodriguez led the Mountaineers from 2001-07 before leaving to become the head coach at Michigan in 2008. Rodriguez has 18 years of head coaching experience to Kotelnicki’s zero, but the Penn State OC is continuing to gain steam in the coaching search. For the proof, we turn to college football super fans. 

There are government agencies that can’t track flights as well as the fanbase of a college football team waiting for a new head coach to be hired. With that being the case, a flight from the State College airport to Morgantown West Virginia began to surface on social media today. 

With Kotelnicki being a finalist for the job, it’s possible that this flight was for an interview, not to sign a contract, but Penn State fans should prepare themselves for the reality of a College Football Playoff run without their beloved offensive coordinator. It's also possible that Kotelnicki wasn't even on the flight and it was for some other reason entirely. This is all speculation, but it's not hard to connect a few dots.