Penn State hires former Minnesota assistant Matt Limegrover as offensive line coach

Just a few days after the departure of former offensive line coach Herb Hand to Auburn, Penn State has announced the hiring of former Minnesota offensive line coach and offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover to coach the position left vacant by Hand.

“We are really excited to have Matt join our staff,” said head coach James Franklin. “He is another Pennsylvania guy, born and raised in Pittsburgh, so he is very familiar with Penn State and this region. He brings a wealth of knowledge and a ton of great experience, both as an offensive line coach and as an offensive coordinator. The numbers that his offenses have put up speak for themselves. As great of a coach as Matt is, he is an even better man; he cares about people, cares about education and cares about the community. We are looking forward to having Matt, his wife, Ann, and their children, Emma and T.J., join our Penn State Football family.”

Limegrover attended Pittsburgh Central Catholic high school and grew up watching Penn State football.

“I am both humbled and honored to join Coach Franklin’s staff and coach at Penn State,” he said. “Growing up in Western Pennsylvania, I have been a Penn State fan my entire life and to now have the opportunity to coach there is overwhelming. I can’t wait to get there and start working on building an offensive line to help this program become a championship team.”

Limegrover worked under former Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill for 16 years, before the latter stepped down due to health reasons. Limegrover, who was serving as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, was fired in November by new Gophers coach Tracy Claeys.

“I’d like to stay in the college game and hopefully someone will look at my overall body of work and say this is a guy that could be a really good offensive line coach,” Limegrover told the St. Paul Pioneer Press after he was dismissed from Minnesota. “That is really what I am at the end of the day and I would love to get back to those roots.”

It seems he’s right about his niche for coaching an offensive line unit. Limegrover’s national rankings in tackles for loss allowed in the last five years were No. 10, No. 40, No. 54, No. 16 and No. 26, while Hand finished inside-100 only once in the last five years, at No. 70.

While Limegrover was not working with a unit depleted by sanctions as Hand was, the numbers are a positive sign as Penn State continues to build the position group.

Before joining Kill as an offensive line coach at Emporia State in 1999, Limegrover spent two years at the same position at Ferris State, and prior was a graduate assistant for Gary Barnett at Northwestern after four years coaching and four years playing at the University of Chicago.

This story was originally published January 13, 2016 at 3:35 PM with the headline "Penn State hires former Minnesota assistant Matt Limegrover as offensive line coach."