Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1439730
J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 2 17 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M For a few weeks in December, it seemed as though Penn State might need more than just a new defensive coordi- nator. After veteran DC Brent Pry left to ac- cept the vacant head coaching post at Virginia Tech, there were reports that Anthony Poindexter, the Nittany Lions' safeties coach and co-defensive coordi- nator, might be headed to the Hokies' in- state rival, Virginia. Poindexter had been an All-America safety for the Cavaliers in the late 1990s, and he began showing up immediately on the speculative lists of potential coaching candidates after it was announced Dec. 2 that Bronco Men- denhall would be stepping down after the Cavaliers' appearance against SMU in the Fenway Bowl. But while Poindexter did explore his options, he is remaining at Penn State. Virginia ultimately hired former Clem- son offensive coordinator Tony Elliott to take charge of its program. Poindexter recently took the time to discuss his interest in the Virginia job and why he decided that Penn State was where he wanted to be. QUESTION It's probably fair to say that the past few weeks have been a whirl- wind. Why is Penn State the right place for you to be right now? POINDEXTER "It's been a little hectic, but Penn State is the right place for me because of the people here. Coach James Franklin, he's a great leader, an awesome man. He treats my family wonderfully, and I love this Penn State community, this university. "Things come up. I had to explore it because it was the school I went to, it was my university. But at this time in my career, this is the right place for me to be under the leadership of Coach Franklin, and I'm excited to be here." QUESTION What are your aspirations to be a lead coordinator and eventually a head coach? POINDEXTER "Obviously, a lot of this stuff [at Virginia] just came up over- night. I just try to work at the place I'm working at. I try to stay in the moment as much as I can. Coach Franklin is awe- some to work for, and Penn State is an awesome university. I just love being in this moment. "I can't say what the future holds for me, but as I've pursued my career, I've showed up at a place and put my heart and soul into that place and tried to keep my head down. I try to do the best job I can for the university I'm working for." QUESTION You have career goals though. POINDEXTER "I do. I can't say that eventually, one day, I wouldn't want to be a head coach. I think most of us who are in the business, we have aspirations to be a head coach. But I think it will happen when it happens. This oppor- tunity wasn't the right time. I felt in my soul and my heart that it wasn't the right time. So, I came back, and like I said, I'm ready to work." QUESTION Did it catch you by surprise that the Virginia job came open when it did? POINDEXTER "I have to say, it did a little bit. Once I started to explore it — and Coach Franklin was great through the whole deal — it wasn't the right time to go back. I just felt like I should come back to Penn State and work for Coach and get my tutelage under him. We have an awe- some staff here, awesome people who we are with all the time, and I'm happy to be here." QUESTION Your title is co-defensive coordinator. What does that role entail leading up to a game and during a game, and is it different from one school to the next? POINDEXTER "It can mean a lot of dif- ferent things. For me, it's just [a mat- ter of] coming in and being a sounding board for the coordinator. Coach Pry did a great job of making me feel involved, even though I was, I guess you could say, the young guy on the staff, as far as knowing the system and knowing the scheme. He did a great job of involv- ing us all, but me in particular with my situation. Things I had done in the past, things that could help him or help with our scheme, things that we could do bet- ter — not that he [incorporated] every- thing I had done, but he did a great job of listening. "The co-coordinator title means dif- ferent things at different places, but you're really just a sounding board for the coordinator. Obviously, the coordinator calls the game. But Coach Pry did a great job with all of us of letting us have our input and assisting him so that when we got to the game, we all liked the calls." ■ In his first season as an assistant coach at Penn State, Poindexter helped develop Ji'Ayir Brown into a defensive stand- out. The senior safety led the Nittany Lions with four interceptions. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL Sitting Down With Anthony Poindexter