Penn State has a new special teams coordinator for James Franklin’s staff entering the 2024 season.

On Wednesday, the Nittany Lions officially confirmed the hiring of Justin Lustig to coach special teams. Lustig makes the move to Happy Valley after 3 seasons at Vanderbilt, including the past 2 while serving as associate head coach and special teams coordinator.

“We are thrilled to welcome Justin, his wife, Beth, and sons, Samuel and Henry, to our Penn State Football family,” said Franklin. “I have followed Justin’s career closely and have been thoroughly impressed with the way his special teams units have consistently performed. He’s spent 19 seasons as a special teams coordinator and also brings valuable experience from a very successful stint as a head coach. Justin is a Pennsylvania guy who will fit in well within our organization and this Happy Valley community.”

In addition to serving as the special teams coordinator, Lustig will coach the outside linebackers and nickels for Penn State. He was a 2022 Broyles Award finalist as one of the top assistant coaches in the country.

“Growing up in Pennsylvania I have long held the Penn State program as the gold standard of college football,” said Lustig. “My family and I are incredibly excited for this opportunity to come back to our home state and join this historic program. I want to thank Coach Franklin for this opportunity to join the Penn State Football staff. I’m eager to get to work with this remarkable staff and community.”

In addition to his stint at Vanderbilt, Lustig served 4 seasons at Syracuse with other stops at Edinboro, Ball State, Louisiana and Eastern Illinois, among others. He mentored the 2018 Lou Groza Award winner Andre Szmyt and a 2023 Ray Guy Award finalist Matthew Hayball.

Impact on Penn State

This past season, Daequan Hardy scored 2 punt return touchdowns while Nittany Lion punter Riley Thompson averaged 45.8 yards per punt. However, the kicking game was a severely mixed bag with Alex Felkins and Sander Sahaydak combining for 7 missed field goals and 19-for-26 overall.

Hopefully, Lustig can help restore the kicking game in 2024 and beyond.