Andy Kotelnicki Says Penn State 'Didn't Combat the Noise' in 2025

Former Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki is back at Kansas, where he worked for three seasons before taking the job with James Franklin at Penn State in 2024. And like Franklin, Kotelnicki remains reflective about what might have been at Penn State last season.

In an interview with On3's Pete Nakos, Kotelnicki added his thoughts to the 2025 Penn State football autopsy, which Franklin has discussed in several interviews at Virginia Tech. Like Franklin, Kotelnicki wondered how the season could have gone differently withwith a different perspective.

"What I take away is that we probably should have done a better job of reminding our team how close we were to not winning some of those games in that [2024] season," Kotelnicki said in the interview. "We had to beat USC in overtime, and we had to go on drives at Minnesota and Wisconsin. We had to face adversity and we got battle-ready as a team.

"I’m not saying that we approached the offseason lightly because we didn’t. But when the guys came back, the expectations for our results grew every week, and the noise kind of slowly got louder and louder and louder. We probably didn’t combat the noise well enough. We didn’t say, ‘Hey, listen, guys, certainly people are saying these things about us, but it doesn’t mean s---."

In some ways, Kotelnicki's comments mirror those of Franklin, who blamed himself for giving his team room to embrace those expectations openly. In particular, Franklin said that he allowed open playoff talk to weed through the "1-0" refrain that defined his program the previous 11 years.

Symbolically, a "1-0" sign was on sale at Penn State's surplus equipment site this offseason. It sold quickly.

"I'm a big 1-0 guy, ... almost to the frustration of a lot of people," Franklin told On3's Andy Staples in an interview this spring. "And last year, trying something different, trying to be a little more aggressive, [we] allowed our team and our coaches to talk more big-picture than we ever have.

"So there are things like that that we learned from that experience and grew from that experience and a number of others. There's some risk that you're going to have to take in any business model, but there's also some risk that I would not take again."

Penn State Nittany Lions offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki directs players during practice outside Holuba Hall. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Kotelnicki did not meet with reporters at Penn State after an October conference call during which he struggled, or chose not, to lay clear reasons for the team's offensive issues. At the time, Penn State had lost four straight games and ranked 54th in offensive efficiency, according to ESPN's Football Power Index. The Nittany Lions finished the season 27th in the ESPN FPI.

"I don't know, you know what I mean?" Kotelnicki said on the call. "That answer could be so, so long and into stuff, but the reality is, it hasn't gone like we're hoping. And what do you do? You go to the next play, you go to the next game, you go to the next moment and opportunity. But I don't really have a good explanation for where it is or what it was.

"I'm more focused on what it's got to be by next week. So there really is not a lot to say. You can point out stats, you can talk about this or that, and those are all accurate. So you've got to just go out there and work on getting better."

“What happened?” Penn State OC Andy Kotelnicki was asked about his offense this season. His summary:

🎥 Penn State Athletics pic.twitter.com/6DBkK8gYHY
— Mark Wogenrich (@MarkWogenrich) October 22, 2025

In his interview with Nakos, Kotelnicki sounded energized to be reuinted with Kansas coach Lance Leipold, with whom he worked for 11 years at three schools before taking the Penn State job. Kotelnicki, whose title at Kansas is associate head coach, also reiterated his desire to become a head coach, which he made clear while at Penn State.

Kotelnicki had offers following Penn State's 2024 season, which ended with the Orange Bowl loss to Notre Dame. But he chose to return for 2025 and pursue a championship, which began unraveling with Penn State's double-overtime loss to Oregon. Kotelnicki said that remains a painful memory.

"I feel bad because it's like, man, the expectations are so high, and we missed them terrlbiy," Kotelnicki told Nakos. "But it's also good in the sense to go through and be reminded of what the real world is."

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