Penn State has been busy this off-season. They have been trying to fill some staff vacancies and have turned to some Ohio State football coaches to fix their problems. They poached Jim Knowles to be their defensive coordinator, paying him a whopping $3.1 million to make the move.
The Buckeyes just recently filled the vacancy left by Knowles. They decided to hire Matt Patricia as the new defensive coordinator. He will come in to coordinate a defense that loses a lot of talent from a national championship-winning team. The hire is divisive among Ohio State fans.
Knowles isn't the only former Ohio State football coach to be hired by the Nittany Lions, though. Penn State has decided to take an "If you can't beat them, join them" approach by hiring ex-Buckeye staffers. They have hired former Ohio State coach Stan Drayton as well.
Penn State hires former Ohio State football coach Stan Drayton
Drayton is a former Ohio State running backs coach. He coached the Buckeye backs from 2012 to 2014 and helped develop Ezekiel Elliott into the dominant running back that he turned into. Most recently, he was the head coach of the Temple Owls.
Drayton was fired from his position with the Owls after three bad seasons. Now, he is dropping all the way down to be Penn State's running backs coach. He is going to be tasked to help Penn State's running back room be even better than what they were last season.
Until the Nittany Lions can prove that they can beat the Ohio State Buckeyes, nothing will likely change with them. They made the College Football Playoff for the first time this past season. Ultimately, they fell to Notre Dame, who also fell to Ohio State.
In 2025, Penn State will play the Buckeyes for the final time until 2028. They are no longer guaranteed to play every year thanks to the expansion of the four Pac-12 schools joining this past season. If Ohio State wins that game again, I'm not sure that Penn State will ever emerge as a true threat to win a national title.