Penn State associate offensive line coach Frank Leonard is retiring from football after a 43-year career in the profession, a team spokesperson confirmed to StateCollege.com on Thursday. On3’s Blue-White Illustrated was the first to report that Leonard was no longer with the program.
Leonard joined the Nittany Lions in 2022, and worked closely with offensive line coach Phil Trautwein over each of the past three seasons. Leonard and Trautwein were first acquainted at Boston College, where Leonard served as the Eagles’ tight ends coach from 2013 to 2021.
For at least a portion of his Penn State tenure, Leonard lived in a room above James Franklin’s garage. Leonard was commonly by Franklin’s side outside of the facilities, whether at men’s basketball games or visits with NFL teams, like the New England Patriots two summers ago.
Inside the facilities, it was hard to miss Leonard, whose vocal demeanor was a staple of practices and pregame warmups.
“His presence is loud,” Franklin said in October. “Frank’s been great. He really has. He’s old school. He’s really kind of like ying and yang. Traut is very kind of soft spoken. I wouldn’t say soft spoken, but more measured is probably a good word. And I think from just an approach standpoint, you really have total opposites.”
Leonard was one of the more experienced members of the Nittany Lions’ coaching staff. He’d coached high school football, multiple levels of college, served as a scout with the Patriots and tight ends coach with the St. Louis Rams.
A native of Wethersfield, Connecticut, Leonard spent the bulk of his coaching career around the New England area, whether with Western Connecticut, his alma mater Central Connecticut State, UConn, Boston College or under Bill Belichick with the Patriots.
For the 2007 season, during Franklin’s two-year stint as Kansas State’s offensive coordinator, Leonard was with the Wildcats as tight ends coach. The bond between the two only grew nearly two decades later when Leonard joined Franklin’s Penn State staff.
“Frank has a unique way to get after guys and coach them hard, but he loves them and they love him,” Franklin said. “I think that’s been a real positive for us. And, also just an experienced coach who’s coached in the NFL, coached major college football, and obviously we go back a long ways.”
While with the Nittany Lions, Leonard oversaw a significant improvement of the team’s offensive line. Leonard helped develop Olu Fashanu into a consensus All-American and first-round NFL Draft pick, and worked with other current NFL players such as Juice Scruggs, Caedan Wallace and Hunter Nourzad.
Assistant offensive line coach Bill Queisert — who followed offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki from Kansas prior to last season — is expected to fill Leonard’s post alongside Trautwein, at least in the short term. Graduate assistant Kevin Ceh will also likely to continue helping coach the offensive line.
