Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1430714
3 2 D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 1 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 29 seasons. It was impossible to imagine the Nittany Lions without their long- time mentor, or vice versa. Whether Paterno's interest in the Hurricanes was anything more to the coach than just an intriguing thought ex p e r i m e n t , we ' l l p ro ba b ly n eve r know. But even if that's all it was, it's a reminder that few entities in college sports are as stable as they look from the outside. In a business as relentlessly competi- tive as Power Five football, there are pressure points everywhere. If you're successful, the pressure comes from outside — from other schools and NFL franchises that want to lure away your best coaches. If you're unsuccessful, the pressure comes from within — from im- patient administrators and disgruntled fans, all of whom demand change when things start going sideways. 'CHALLENGING SITUATIONS' At Penn State, Paterno's successors have been faced with both kinds of pres- sure, but mostly the former. Bill O'Brien was faced with a difficult choice only two years into his tenure: stay with Penn State and see the payoff for his efforts to rebuild in the wake of the NCAA sanc- tions or leave for the NFL. O'Brien chose the NFL, making way for James Franklin. Now it's Franklin who may soon be faced with a choice. For the past few months, the Nittany Lions' eighth-year head coach has been cited in various media reports as a leading candidate for the open head coaching positions at USC and LSU. And those might be only the first of the jobs to come available at elite Power Five schools this year. Is Dan Mullen safe at Florida? How about Manny Diaz at Miami? None of the reports to date have been sourced — that sort of speculation hardly ever is — but it has put Franklin in a precarious spot. It's unhelpful, to say the least, on the recruiting front, especially with the December signing period fast approaching. But Franklin could shut down the conversation by saying definitively that he's staying, and he hasn't done that. When Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was mentioned in late October as a possible candidate for the USC job, he put an immediate end to any and all speculation. "Never say never … but never," Tomlin told reporters the day after the report surfaced. "There's not a booster with a big enough blank check." The following day, Franklin was asked during a post-practice news conference about the speculation that had been swirling around his future, much of which had focused on the Trojans. Here's what he told the crowd of reporters: "At some point, I'd love to sit down with you guys over a beer and talk through all of this, talk through all of this in detail — how it goes, the chal- lenging situations that coaches are put in sometimes, especially if you're trying to be honest and upfront with every- body, and that's something that's very, very important to me. "I think I've shown my loyalty to this team, to this program, to this commu- nity. I think I've been pretty consistent with that. "There are times when you're put in challenging situations, and I always want to be able to, when I say some- thing, [ensure that] it's done, and it's in stone. When you're talking about the future, that can be challenging at times. "So, I am fiercely loyal to Penn State. I am fiercely loyal, most importantly, to these players and the staff. But there are a lot of moving parts. With all of these things, there are a lot of moving parts, some of which we have talked about in the past. "For me, it's about my relationships with these players and the staff and the people in the Lasch Building and the people in the community, and I think if people would really just take a minute and think about how we've conducted ourselves over eight years in the com- munity and everything else, I think our actions have aligned with that every step of the way." Kirk Ferentz, Pat Fitzgerald Lead In Big Ten Coaching Longevity The average college coaching tenure may be getting shorter, but two of the sport's longest-tenured head coaches reside in the Big Ten. Pat Fitzgerald is finishing his 15th season at Northwestern, while Kirk Ferentz is in year 23 at Iowa. Ferentz is the longest-tenured active head coach in the FBS, having been hired by the Hawkeyes in December 1998 to succeed Hayden Fry. With eight seasons at Penn State, James Franklin ranks fourth in the Big Ten in coaching longev- ity. Below is a list of the league's 14 head coaches, ranked according to their tenure at their current school. — Matt Herb YEARS SCHOOL YEARS OVERALL NAME, SCHOOL AT SCHOOL RECORD AS HEAD COACH RECORD Kirk Ferentz, Iowa 23 175-108 26 187-129 Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern 16 109-87 16 109-87 Greg Schiano, Rutgers* 13 75-78 13 75-78 James Franklin, Penn State 8 66-32 11 90-47 Paul Chryst, Wisconsin 7 62-22 10 81-41 Jim Harbaugh, Michigan 7 57-23 14 115-50 Tom Allen, Indiana 5 26-29 5 26-29 Jeff Brohm, Purdue 5 24-28 8 54-38 P.J. Fleck, Minnesota 5 32-22 9 62-44 Ryan Day, Ohio State 4 31-3 4 31-3 Scott Frost, Nebraska 4 15-27 6 34-34 Michael Locksley, Maryland* 4 11-21 7 13-47 Mel Tucker, Michigan State 2 10-6 3 15-13 Bret Bielema, Illinois 1 4-6 13 101-64 * Years as head coach are nonconsecutive