Blue White Illustrated

W hen Penn State hired James Franklin a little more than two years ago, one of the first things he emphasized during his introductory press conference was that he was fiercely loyal to his assistant coaches. At the time, there were quite a few fans who actually didn't want to hear that. Many still hoped that former defensive line coach Larry Johnson would stick around. We all know where he ended up, but life went on in State College. Once Nittany Lion fans saw that Anthony Zettel and Austin Johnson were con- tinuing to improve, you didn't hear much about L.J. During Carl Nassib's recent breakthrough season, I didn't hear Johnson's name mentioned once. Everyone now knows just how good a coach Sean Spencer is. The situation that occurred recently with both Bob Shoop and Herb Hand leaving Penn State within a few days of each other isn't exactly an apples-to- apples comparison, but the two hires that Franklin made look promising. In the meantime, the most important item on the coaches' agenda is to make sure recruiting isn't impacted. The recent changes to the staff didn't come as a major surprise, which is why Franklin has put safeguards in place to minimize the impact of such moves. In August 2014, I wrote a column in which I described the approach that Franklin's staff takes, and how it differs from that of most competitors. I noted that, unlike Joe Paterno's staff and that of many oth- er Northeastern and mid-Atlantic schools, Franklin's assistants don't focus exclusively on a particular geographical region. Instead, they make sure the de- fensive players speak with most or all of the defensive staff and that the offensive prospects do the same with the offensive coaches. This may seem sensible, but believe it or not, most of Penn State's competitors still use Paterno's method. That's be- cause it makes sense from a scouting perspective. But Penn State's coaches do that, too, sticking to assigned regions when on scouting trips. The difference is that unlike rival coaches, who focus on their territory in the hope of building early relationships, Penn State intro- duces each player to his position coach, as well as the other coaches who are go- ing to be focusing on that side of the ball. During the past two years, this ap- proach has been a real benefit to the staff. I've heard countless prospects re- fer to their relationships with not just one or two coaches, but the entire staff. Of course, as with every school, Penn State's strategy is by no means fool- proof. But as of this writing, the staff hadn't lost any of its Class of 2016 prospects due specifically to the depar- ture of Shoop and Hand. Sure, a few will end up taking visits, but if you look at schools like Maryland and Rutgers, which together have lost more than a dozen prospects these past few years due to assistant coaches going elsewhere, it's clear that Penn State's method has made a real impact. Whether Franklin's replacements are as good on the field, only time will tell, but Brent Pry has already proven to be a great recruiter and linebackers coach. Matt Limegrover has a tough task ahead of him, but it should only get easier as Penn State's talented young linemen mature into the players they're expected to be. For now, the most important thing that Penn State fans should really, truly focus on, in my opinion, is the amount of tal- ent this staff continues to bring in. Over the course of just a few more seasons, the talent on the roster is what will truly take Penn State to where its fans expect it to be. Franklin is well aware of this. He knew it from day one. ■ Lions' approach aims to reduce impact of coaching changes on their board. They talked to him in the summer about o6ering him as a receiver, but they also thought they had a guy who was close to committing at the time, so that's why they cooled a bit. They also had a few other positions of need then, so that's kind of why this dragged out as long as it did, but they were also always very honest about all of that. I believe that most coaches at most schools are like that, but I will say that his relationship with Terry [Smith] was very important. That had a big impact. With Terry's connections to Gateway and also me and Terry working together during the summers for the seven-on- seven teams back in the day, I think that had a big impact. Aaron knew that Terry was a genuine guy, someone who is real- ly respected by me and all the coaches in the WPIAL. That allowed Aaron to know that he has someone there at PSU who is always going to look a7er him. I think that made him feel very comfort- able. Aaron was also very pleased with Penn State and how they approached every- thing. I'm not saying he wasn't pleased with the other coaches, but he always felt that Penn State was a great 5t for him. When we talked about it over the summer, when we were up there for their seven-on-seven tournament, he made it clear to me right then that Penn State was where he really wanted to go. He loved the facilities and the atmosphere there, so for him to get that Penn State o6er, that was so important to Aaron. I'm happy for him. He's a great kid, a great young man, so I'm happy that he was able to get to the school that he real- ly wanted to be a part of. ■

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