Penn State will be replacing a third coordinator this offseason heading into the 2024 campaign as special teams coordinator Stacy Collins is slated to take the same job at Boise State, according to a report by ESPN. Collins left Boise State to take over the same role at Penn State in 2022.
Collins is heading back to Boise State to be the Broncos’ special teams coordinator, linebackers coach and assistant head coach. He had spent the entirety of his coaching career, dating back to Western Oregon in 1998, with programs stationed on the west coast. Prior to Collins’ one year stint at Boise State, he spent five seasons at Utah State, with a variety of stops prior to that.
While Penn State’s special teams units started out a bit shaky to begin Penn State’s 2023 season, the Nittany Lions’ kicking and return groups ended up making huge leaps forward over the course of the year. Place kicker Alex Felkins became a reliable scoring option while punter Riley Thompson finished the year with the nation’s 12th-best per punt average at 45.80 yards. Fittingly, Boise State punter James Ferguson-Reynolds led the nation in that department this year. Felkins has exhausted his eligibility while Thompson is slated to return.
“Stacy, I’ve been very impressed and pleased with our improvement from the beginning of the season to now,” Penn State coach James Franklin said earlier this year. “We’ve improved dramatically on special teams. Our specialists have been more consistent.”
Already this offseason, Penn State replaced offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich with Andy Kotelnicki and defensive coordinator Manny Diaz with Tom Allen. Yurcich was fired following Penn State’s loss to Michigan while Diaz departed for the head coaching job at Duke.
