Uncertainty has permeated the air inside the Lasch Building for the last two weeks.
The folks who work there don’t know where they will be in a month or two or if Penn State’s next head football coach will employ them.
When a college or pro head coach is fired, like James Franklin was on Oct. 12, it affects hundreds of people in and around a team.
Most coaches understand that it comes with the territory and accept it. Others don’t. For all of them and their families, it stings.
“The one thing that we all have very much in common now is the uncertainty of the future,” offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki said. “The future’s always uncertain. We all know that. When something like this happens, the uncertainty is magnified.”
Amid all of the unknown, the Nittany Lions are preparing to face the top two teams in the country the next two weeks.
Once upon a time, in August, the questions this week were going to be about whether Penn State could finally end an eight-game losing streak to Ohio State and establish itself as a national title contender.
Now, the Lions are being asked how they’ll be able to concentrate on the next five games while also mulling their futures.
“The message is – and our players have done a great job with that – whatever you want for your future as a player or as a coach,” Kotelnicki said, “the best thing you can do is be very present and do a hell of a job with what you’re doing today, with what you’re doing in today’s practice, tomorrow’s practice and the next day.”
Penn State’s football program will look very different in January, or sooner. No one knows how many coaches and staff members will be kept. No one knows how many current players will place their names in the transfer portal.
The only thing certain is that change is coming.
The Lions’ recruiting class of current high school seniors has been rocked, many of the committed players waiting to see who the next coach is and weighing their options before making a final decision.
It makes recruiting by the current staff a difficult, if not impossible, task.
Coaches from other schools have already contacted Penn State players to recruit them.
With the eligibility expired for 20 or so seniors and with who knows how many players leaving the program on their own, it’s clear that the Lions’ next coach will need to rely heavily on transfers to fill the roster.
Current Penn State coaches, or their agents, also are putting out feelers to see where they might land for the 2026 season. Some of the assistants and staff members probably will follow Franklin to his next stop.
They know most of them will have to uproot their families from homes where they’ve lived for several years and their children from their schools. They have to prepare to sell their homes.
Yes, it’s all part of the business, but it doesn’t make it easy.
Then there are the seniors, including many who returned to make another run at a national championship and to enhance their draft stock. That hasn’t happened, at least for most of them.
The Lions have lost four straight games by a total of 13 points, the first time in school history they’ve dropped four in a row by one score and the first time they’ve lost back-to-back games by one point.
How do they keep going with all the uncertainty swirling around them?
“Things aren’t going our way right now,” interim coach Terry Smith said, “but the only way to get out of the storm is to run through the storm. And we’re going to run through the storm.”
Defensive tackle Xavier Gilliam said immediately after last week’s 25-24 loss at Iowa that they owe it to each other to keep pushing forward after the blood, sweat and tears they’ve shared.
“I love our guys and I love our players,” Kotelnicki said. “I have an obligation to do the best job I possibly can to help them achieve all their goals, individually and as a football team.
“I’m not distracted by it. I just freakin’ have my head down and am working, trying to put our guys in the best position possible.”
Source: Berkshire mont