Penn State reportedly adds tight ends coach

The new coaching staff at Penn State is continuining to take shape with a report that Ball State offensive line coach John Strollo will be coming to Happy Valley.

Strollo just finished his first season at Ball State, but has been a college coach for 31 years. He is expected to coach the tight ends.

Strollo, who turns 58 on Jan. 20, was the offensive line coach at Duke from 2005 to '07. New Penn State head coach Bill O'Brien was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Duke in 2005 and '06.

The news was reported by Indiana television station WIOU. A Ball State spokesman said the school was not confirming the report and that an announcement would have to come from Penn State. Strollo did not return a message left at his office at Ball State.

His resume also includes stops at Springfield College, Northeastern, Washburn, Massachusetts, Lafayette, Cornell, Maine and Elon.

Not returning to Penn State is safeties coach Kermit Buggs, who tweeted his departure this morning.

"Just got the call this morning I am not being retained. I thank all of my followers in the Penn State Community" Buggs tweeted.

Buggs, who spent 8 years on the coaching staff, tweeted that he was interviewed by O'Brien and extended his best wishes to the new coach.

"Penn State has done a lot for me and I appreciate all the love and support given to me in my 8 years at Penn State! We Are........" Buggs tweeted.

Buggs was a graduate assistant from 2003 to '05, was coordinator of player personnel in '06 and '07 before being named the safeties coach.

Bill Kenney, the tight ends/offensive tackles coach, also will not be returning, according to several players and recruits on Twitter.

While not confirmed, it seems that interim coach Tom Bradley, quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno and offensive line coach Dick Anderson also will not be retained.

At this point, five coaches on O'Brien staff have been identified - returning defensive line coach Larry Johnson and linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden, and newcomers Strollo, running backs coach James London and wide receivers coach Stan Hixon. London was an offensive quality control coach with the Tennessee Titans. Hixon was the wide receivers coach with the Buffalo Bills.

O'Brien told ESPN on Sunday that he will have seven full-time coaches working in State College by Wednesday.

Brady on O'Brien

During his news conference Saturday, O'Brien said he and Patriots coach Tom Brady were like brothers. O'Brien is the Patriots' quarterbacks coach along with the offensive coordinator.

Brady said last week that he told O'Brien that he did not want him to leave. Yesterday, Brady was asked on his weekly radio show on WEEI in Boston whether he was surprised that O'Brien took the job, given the challenges at Penn State.

"Am I surprised? No. I think it's a great opportunity for a very deserving coach," Brady said. "He's worked his tail off for a long time to get opportunities. We're all competitive – if you're a backup quarterback you want to be a starting quarterback someday and I think that probably goes the same for a lot of coaches; you want to get your opportunity to be a coach.

"Everyone's very happy for Billy and his family; it's a great tradition they have, a great school, and hopefully he doesn't start work there full-time for another month or so but we've got to go out there and play our best football this time of year, and I know Billy's committed to that, players are committed to that, and that's why we work so hard is for opportunities like this."