Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1512721
J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 4 2 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M oritized turnover avoidance. As anyone who has watched a Penn State prac- tice session can attest, the Lions devote considerable time and effort to ensuring that they keep giveaways to a minimum. Kotelnicki will fit right in with that mantra. He also focuses hard on drive efficiency. "Ball security is a huge emphasis," he said on the "Coach and Coordina- tor" podcast. "We have [at Buffalo] the 10 commandments of ball security. We talk about taking care of the football. And then, when you talk about game planning, we want to talk about mak- ing football finite. There are so many third-and-shorts or third-and-longs or fourth downs, and having a plan for those situations and having our guys understand what those are [is impor- tant]. You only have so many down- and-distance calls. "You have an open script package of plays that people install early in the week. We go into a game, and we want to stay balanced on our possession. When we're coming off the sideline to run a play, we don't have a lot of tendencies. That's what we're trying to do, and sus- tain drives. How many times are you getting a first down when you start a drive? It's an indicator of winning. "It comes down to installing through- out the week, making sure our guys un- derstand the system, and having good players. It doesn't have to be harder than that." • RPOs aren't going away: Buffalo used a lot of wide-zone run schemes during the Leipold era, and Kansas has done so, too. RPO concepts are present in the film from both schools. "We've been running RPOs for a while," Kotelnicki explained. Recalling his ear- lier days as an offensive coach, he said, "It was zone left, bubble right, where the quarterback read the outside linebacker, which seems really simple compared to what it is nowadays. We do it quite a bit. It's a way for people to run option football without having to run the football." • He likes to work fast: One thing is clear looking at stats from both Buffalo and Kansas: His offenses like to go at tempo and run a lot of plays per game. He has historically called more runs than passes, but not so many that the balance is way out of whack. • He can sum up his approach suc- cinctly: "My favorite word is distortion," Koltelnicki said. "Whatever you can do to distort the defense and create grass and create reads for defenders, you have to be able to do it. "You always have to keep it in the forefront of your mind: How are we distorting the defense? How do you let your guys execute? I think distorting things, making defenders cover a lot of area and be option-sound, allows an of- fense to go." ■ Before he was fired in November, Mike Yurcich was the longest-serving offensive coordinator of the James Franklin era at Penn State, having been on staff since 2021. PHOTO BY DANIEL ALTHOUSE THE ANDY KOTELNICKI FILE PERSONAL Age: 43 Hometown: Litchfield, Minn. College: Wisconsin-River Falls, '04, B.S.; Western Illinois, '06, M.S. Family: Wife, Lindsey; son, Maximus; daughter, Joy COACHING EXPERIENCE 2024-present: Penn State (offensive coordinator) 2023: Kansas (associate head coach/offensive coordinator) 2021-22: Kansas (offensive coordinator) 2015-20: Buffalo (offensive coordinator) 2013-14: Wisconsin-Whitewater (offensive coordinator/recruiting coordinator) 2011-12: University of Mary (offensive coordinator) 2010: Wisconsin-River Falls (assistant head coach/offensive coordinator) 2007-09: Wisconsin-River Falls (offensive coordinator) 2004-06: Western Illinois (special teams, tight ends, offensive line) 2003: Wisconsin-River Falls (offensive coordinator)