Penn State staff members to leave and join James Franklin at Virginia Tech before regular season ends

Multiple members of James Franklin’s original Penn State staff are leaving State College before the regular season ends to join their old boss at Virginia Tech. The Nittany Lions no longer list Associate Athletic Director – Chief of Staff Kevin Threlkel or General Manager of Personnel and Recruitment Andy Frank on their online athletics staff directory. BWI’s Sean Fitz first reported their departures on The Lions Den message board Wednesday morning. Both were anticipated departures as soon as Franklin took the Hokies job. But, they will not finish out the season under interim head coach Terry Smith.

Both Threlkel and Frank came to Penn State with Franklin back in 2014. At the time, Threlkel was the Director of Football Administration and Frank the Director of Player Personnel. Each has earned new titles over the last decade. But what hasn’t changed is their loyalty to Franklin and inclusion in his inner circle. For Threlkel, that dates back to the mid-2000s when he worked with Franklin at Kansas State and then Maryland before Vanderbilt. Frank, meanwhile, was on Franklin’s first Vanderbilt staff. Both left Nashville to come to State College when Franklin did. Now, both will follow him to Blacksburg.

The duo is the first but hardly the last members of the Penn State football program who will join Franklin at Virginia Tech. It will be interesting to follow Franklin’s first staff buildout at the ACC program. He will bring some more former Nittany Lions on- and off-field staff members with him, without question. Which ones, though, will likely be unclear until after the regular season ends.

Other former Penn State staff members no longer in the directory include:

Brett Arnold, Assistant Director of Player Relations

Chris Mahon, Recruiting Coordinator for Personnel

Rashad Elby, Assistant Recruiting Coordinator for Personnel

Aeneas Hawkins, Assistant Director of Player Advancement & Revenue Sharing Strategy

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