Penn State Trustees Reschedule HR Committee Meeting. Could It Signal Defensive Coordinator Hire?

Penn State’s Board of Trustees’ Committee on Equity and Human Resources, which oversees high-paying contracts, has again pushed back the meeting that could signal the conclusion to the search for the football program’s vacant defensive coordinator position.

The Board last week originally scheduled two meetings. The first was supposed to commence on Friday, Jan. 17 and the second was scheduled for 9 a.m. ET on Monday, Jan. 20. Those have both been cancelled. A third meeting has been scheduled in place of those two, and is set to begin with an executive session at 8 a.m. ET followed by a public session at 8:45 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 23.

There is currently no agenda published for Thursday’s meeting. However, the only matter of business concerning Monday’s canceled session was a “personnel matter.” That was the same item labeled to the agendas that preceded the hires of offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki and former defensive coordinator Tom Allen in December 2023.

Allen was announced as Clemson’s defensive coordinator on Tuesday.

It’s the duty of Penn State’s HR committee to approve the compensation of any hire or promotion that exceeds that of the university president at any point in the contract. Two meetings originally scheduled, rather than one, could suggest a fluid timeline, and a coaching hire would likely fit that bill.

Such meetings have been the standard operating procedure ahead of recent high-profile hires, including Kotelnicki and Allen, as well as pay raises and contract changes, such as James Franklin’s contract amendment on Nov. 29 to reflect updated bonuses and athletic director Pat Kraft’s contract extension on Aug. 26.

Contract terms requiring board approval were previously handled by the former Subcommittee on Compensation, but those duties were assumed by the Committee on Equity and Human Resources with a revision to committee structures in mid-2024.