Penn State football is bringing former special teams analyst Matt Colangelo back to State College with a new title. Colangelo will be the Nittany Lions’ assistant special teams coordinator in 2026. He previously left the program to follow James Franklin to Virginia Tech. However, his tenure in Blacksburg was short. It’s unclear how long he was even with the Hokies. But, it was long enough for the program to create a new staff member page that has since been deleted.

It’s worth noting that a different special teams analyst from the 2025 staff, Allen Tucker, is no longer listed on the Lions’ support staff page.

Colangelo joined the Penn State staff in 2025 to work under then-second-year special teams coordinator Justin Lustig, who will be back for a third season in 2026, and his first under Matt Campbell. Formerly Villanova’s special teams coordinator, Franklin said in September before the Lions hosted the Wildcats that Colangelo was ‘doing a great job for us.’

A Cromwell, Conn., native, Colangelo has also coached at Yale. Here is more info from previous BWI reporting on Colangelo:

“The primary recruiting territory for Colangelo consists of New England, including Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont,” his Villanova bio says. “He also recruits several of the local high schools.

“Colangelo coached three players who earned CAA Football All-Conference honors for the 2023 season, including strong safety Ty Trinh who had his best collegiate season to date and garnered his first career All-CAA nod as a second team selection. Trinh made 46 tackles a season ago, including three tackles for loss, and defended six passes with five breakups and one interception.”

An early Penn State special teams outlook for the 2026 season

Considered one of the sport’s top special teams coordinators, Lustig is a big keep for Campbell. His Penn State special teams were No. 1 in ESPN’s FPI special teams efficiency rankings for the 2025 season. Lustin will now oversee Colangelo and Rory Walling, a former All-Big 12 special teams player at Iowa State. He follows Campbell from Ames as a special teams assistant, which is the same role he held there last year.

The group has its placekicker in the ultra-consistent Ryan Barker. It needs a new kickoff specialist and punter to replace Gabe Nwosu. James Madison transfer Cristiano Rosa is now at Penn State to perform the former job. And Mississippi State transfer Nathan Tiyce is now on campus to compete with second-year Nittany Lion Matthew Parker and Class of 2026 commit Lucas Tenbrock for the latter job.

Lustig and co., will also need to hold competitions to find their kick and punt returners during spring practice.