Penn State football coach James Franklin moved quickly to hire a new special teams coordinator, choosing Vanderbilt associate head coach Justin Lustig. The long-time special teams coach replaces Stacy Collins, who returned to Boise State after spending two seasons with the Nittany Lions. Matt Zenitz of 247Sports first reported Lustig's hiring.
Lustig, an Erie, Pennsylvania, native, has coached special teams in college since 2006. He spent the past three seasons at Vanderbilt, two as associate head coach, and was a nominee for the Broyles Award, given to the nation's top assistant coach, with Syracuse in 2018. Lustig has covered plenty of ground as a special teams coordinator, working at Eastern Illinois, Louisiana Lafeyette and Ball State as well. Lustig also has head coaching experience, guiding Division II Edinboro to a 9-2 record in 2016.
Lustig meets a lot of Franklin's conventional needs for the position. He's a veteran coordinator who has been a head coach, brings a demonstrated track record of successful special teams and has ties to Pennsylvania. Lustig played at Bucknell and coached in the PSAC, the conference Franklin played in at East Stroudsburg.
Vanderbilt ranked 115th overall last season in the ESPN Football Power Index but was 41st in special teams efficiency. Vanderbilt finished 11th nationally in net punting behind first-team All-SEC punter Matthew Hayball and blocked two punts.
Lustig completes Franklin's hiring of three new coordinators for the 2024 season. Franklin replaced offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich with Andy Kotelnicki of Kansas State. He then hired former Indiana head coach Tom Allen after Manny Diaz left to become head coach at Duke.
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