Penn State offensive line coach Herb Hand will join Auburn’s coaching staff for the same position, as reported earlier by Dan Wolken of USA Today and confirmed by Bruce Feldman of FOX Sports. Rumors were festering about a potential jump from a Lions 247 report.

This would make three assistant coaches who left the program this offseason so far. Former offensive coordinator John Donovan was fired following the regular season finale, while former defensive coordinator Bob Shoop left Penn State for Tennessee just a few days ago.

Although a jump to an SEC program isn’t something that was expected, it’s not all that surprising considering the connection between Hand and current Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn. The two worked together at Tulsa from 2007-08, where they served as co-offensive coordinators and forged a close relationship.

Hand has been a member of James Franklin’s coaching staff since 2011 when Franklin took over at Vanderbilt. Hand then followed Franklin to Happy Valley, where he’s coached the much-maligned offensive line unit for the past two seasons.

A friend of the site, Hand participated in the inaugural Onward State sponsored Herb Hand Pizza Crawl in the spring 2014 after a friendly tweet about the State College pizza scene transformed into an afternoon sampling of each pizza joint in town, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the Penn State chapter of Uplifting Athletes and Bands4RAINN.

Hand will be missed in Happy Valley, but we wish him the best of luck in the SEC. Hand’s replacement is expected to be named shortly, so stay tuned for more news as we hear it.