UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Justin Lustig stood on the sidelines of a Pennsylvania State Championship game as a seventh grade water boy and ball boy watching his childhood hero, former Nittany Lion Mark Tate. Lustig paid his dues and worked up the ranks to become the newest special teams coordinator, outside linebackers and nickels coach of his childhood team.
Lustig hails from Erie, Pennsylvania and makes his return to the Keystone State after spending back-to-back years at Vanderbilt where he announced himself to the college football world as one of the best assistants in the country. The 2022 Broyles Award nominee always kept tabs on Penn State even at different stops in his journey.
"You finish up the game on Saturday and get on the bus, whether it's an away game or maybe even it's just in the locker room after and you check scores and Penn State was one that was always one of my favorites," Lustig said. "I was always checking the Penn State score after every game no matter where I was at."
Lustig held Penn State close to his heart during stops at Syracuse, Ball State and a lone season at Edinboro where he took a 0-11 team in 2015 to 9-2 in 2016. Lustig and Franklin have a relationship dating back over a decade as the former recalled the day the latter followed him on what was formerly Twitter.
Lustig's days in the PSAC and attending the State College High School clinics allowed him to strengthen his relationship with Franklin. Their connection created a level of comfortability throughout the interview process as Franklin "knew what he was getting with me and I knew what I was getting into."
"When you're playing for your home school, your home state school, your coaching for your home state school, there's an added responsibility," Lustig said. "There's added accountability, and I think that comes into play with the players as well. They know their families, they know their friends are all watching so I think you get a little extra effort when you're recruiting those local guys."
Lustig's coaching experience expands over 20 years and features a cultivation of elite special teams units recognized as some of the best in the country. Lustig oversaw the development of premier kickers and punters at both Syracuse and Vanderbilt and takes responsibility for cementing values like consistency.
Vanderbilt punter Matthew Hayball was a first-team All-SEC selection and Ray Guy Award finalist in 2023 playing under Lustig who developed a familiarity with Australian style punters. 2018 Lou Groza Award winner Andre Szmyt also played for Lustig at Syracuse and was regarded as the top placekicker in the country.
Penn State possesses junior punter Riley Thompson and several veteran kickers which gives Lustig a plethora of options to maximize special teams situations. Lustig and Franklin texted back-and-forth during the Super Bowl and this struck the former as important to have a leader who values a key component of the game. Lustig knows that his realm of the game is his responsibility and he's ready to take on a new challenge.
"As my growth has happened over the years, you learn to be accountable for your areas, so I wouldn't expect anything less," Lustig said. "I'm responsible for the special teams and it's all gonna run through me and I know that when good things happen, I know that when bad things happen. That's certainly not a surprise, and I really wouldn't have it any other way. That's how I'd look at it as well and being a head coach for one year has allowed me to just have a bit of a different lens and understand what's important as an assistant coach and how important it is to be a good soldier."
Lustig makes his return to the defensive side of the ball for the first time since his days at Christopher Newport and is slated to work with the outside linebackers and nickel corners in Happy Valley.
The veteran coach has worked with various offensive position groups like wide receivers, tight ends and running backs during his tenure. He recognized how his offensive oriented mindset will translate to helping nickel corners considering numerous spread offenses that run stacked receiver sets.
"What I'm going to be able to bring to the table in the defensive room is being on the offensive side and a lot of different systems over the last several years," Lustig said. "I've been in NFL style systems, I've been in Baylor spread systems so I believe I'm going to be able to help game planning wise and tell the defensive staff 'hey, this is not what they're doing, this may be an RPO or a certain scheme or they're checking towards to this look to get into this play' so the value that I'll be able to bring from the offensive perspective will be helpful to the defense."