West Virginia’s Neal Brown details plan for managing multiple new Penn State football coordinators

Penn State football travels to West Virginia on Saturday, looking to open the season with a victory against Neal Brown and the Mountaineers just as it did in Beaver Stadium a year ago. But in 2024, James Franklin and the Nittany Lions will have to find a path to success with a cadre of new coaches at the top of their staff.

As has been discussed ad nauseam around Happy Valley, bringing in three new coordinators in one offseason is a remarkable amount of turnover for a James Franklin-run Penn State football program. However, the addition of Andy Kotelnicki, Tom Allen, and Justin Lustig to the Nittany Lions staff could cause its fair share of headaches to West Virginia as well.

Leading up to Saturday’s highly-anticipated matchup, Mountaineers head coach Neal Brown discussed his program’s approach to handling the multitude of new faces and philosophies on the Penn State sideline.

“Well, I think you have to take relatively simple game plans into it and be able to adjust on the fly,” Brown said to West Virginia’s in-house media on Wednesday. “Because you make a best guess and that’s essentially what you do anytime you’re playing a Week 1 opponent. They’re making the best guess on what they think we’re going to do. We’re going to make changes.

“Our best guess is you’re going to see a mix of what Penn State’s done in the past with what the coordinators have done in their pasts. And then I think the team that can make the adjustments early on will have the advantage as we move forward.”

James Franklin discusses expectations for Penn State offense against West Virginia

© Dan Rainville/USA Today Network

Across the sideline, James Franklin will get his first real look at his revamped offense when Penn State football takes the field on Saturday afternoon. And while Franklin isn’t expecting to be surprised by anything the Nittany Lions roll out against the Mountaineers, there’s still always somewhat of an unknown aspect to Week 1.

“Yeah, I think I got a pretty good idea of what it’s going to look like because I’ve seen it for 16 hours a day for last, I don’t know how long,” Franklin said when asked about expectations for the offense following practice Wednesday evening. “But I think your point is a fair one. You never truly know until you go against somebody else. And then, obviously, typically offenses in college football, early in the season, you may see a few more things that need to get cleaned up than on defense.

“Typically on defense, if you can get them lined up, get their feet in the ground, be gap-sound, and then run to the ball, you’re going to be, more times than not, in pretty good shape. Offensively, we got to make sure that we’re doing a great job on all the pre-snap stuff, the substitutions, the motions, the shifts. All the pre-snap gymnastics that you go through.

“We gotta make sure that those things are all clean and then do enough of all the things that we’ve been working on in camp that can be challenging. Things that we’ve done in our history. Things that Andy has brought. Things that people have been able to see on tape from watching us as well as Kansas. And then some wrinkles that maybe they haven’t seen either place before.”

Penn State football opened as a 12-point favorite over Neal Brown and West Virginia in May, with the line settling at -10 over the summer. As of Friday morning, the Nittany Lions are favored by 7.5 per DraftKings Sportsbook.

Saturday’s matchup between Penn State and West Virginia will air on FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff.

Thank you for reading Basic Blues Nation, one of the fastest-growing outlets covering Penn State athletics. Part of the Full Ride network, we are an alumni-owned, community-operated, credentialed media outlet dedicated to providing you with updated and reliable insights for all your favorite Nittany Lion sports. Whether it’s Penn State football, basketball, wrestling, or anything in between, you can find it all on Basic Blues Nation!

Please follow us on our social channels, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube, and subscribe to our newsletter on Substack for breaking news and notifications. For feedback, questions, or concerns, please email us at basicbluesnation@gmail.com or direct message us on social media.