Penn State assistant turns down increased role at Florida State

Penn State running back coach Ja’Jaun Seider has decided to remain with the Nittany Lions, turning down the opportunity of a co-offensive coordinator job at Florida State, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz. The report also indicates that Seider passed up an opportunity to join Billy Napier’s new staff at Florida.

Ja’Jaun Seider has been an assistant coach at Penn State since 2018 but holds ties to the Florida area. After growing up in the state, he played one season at Florida A&M and coached at multiple high schools in the state before returning as the running back coach at Florida for one season in 2017.

While at Penn State, Seider has mentored young running backs like Miles Sanders and Journey Brown. In addition to his role as running back coach, he took on the title of run game coordinator in 2020.

Penn State adds new staff members

Penn State head coach James Franklin stuck around in Happy Valley, and there are a few new faces joining him for the 2022 season.

On Tuesday, the Nittany Lions made it official with Stacy Collins, who will serve as the special teams coordinator and will coach both outside linebackers and nickels.

Collins served as the special teams coordinator at Boise State this year, where his group blocked three punts and four kicks overall. The former number ranked No. 7 nationally, while the latter statistic was ninth in the country. Further, Boise State average 15.77 yards per punt return, which was fifth nationally.

Collins is replacing Joe Lorig, who headed to Oregon to coach their special teams unit under new head coach Dan Lanning.

Penn State also hired former Miami head coach Manny Diaz as its new defensive coordinator last month. He will replace new Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry as defensive coordinator and linebacker coach, serving alongside co-defensive coordinator Anthony Poindexter.

Penn State becomes the sixth school where Manny Diaz has served as defensive coordinator since 2006. After working four seasons at Middle Tennessee State, he quickly rose through the ranks at Mississippi State, Texas, Louisiana Tech and also Miami.

Diaz also served as head coach at Miami from 2019-21, accumulating a 21-15 record before parting ways in order to make room for new head coach Mario Cristobal and his staff. The 47-year old Miami native also went 0-2 in bowl games over three seasons and finished his final season 7-5 with a Sun Bowl berth.