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According to the Centre Daily Times, longtime Penn State defensive line coach Larry Johnson, Sr. will take over coaching duties while the university begins the process of searching for the program's fourth head coach in the last 26 months. Johnson will be working with current players and be keeping in contact with the recruits that Penn State will attempt to sign to letters of intent next month.
Also confirmed to the CDT by a source was the fact that the university would not planning to have a long search process like they did when they hired Bill O'Brien from the Patriots two years ago. Candidates for the job include current Vanderbilt coach James Franklin, current Miami coach Al Golden and former Rutgers and Tampa Bay coach Greg Schiano. Johnson could not be confirmed as a candidate to take over the job permanently.
Johnson has been on the Penn State staff since 1996 and has been the defensive line coach since 2000. He has long been considered to be Penn State's best recruiter, a trait that helped the program immensely in keeping the 2012 recruiting class together in the wake of Joe Paterno's firing in November 2011. He remains the only holdover from the Paterno team of coaches after Ron Vanderlinden was let go last month.
