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Auburn offered him a job with a reported salary of $1.5 million annually. It seemed for a while that Penn State might just hang onto its highly regarded defensive coordinator for another sea- son. Prior to the Nittany Lions' appear- ance in the TaxSlayer Bowl, Shoop in- sisted he wasn't planning on going any- where. "I hope Penn State will have me forever and ever and ever," he said. "I love being a part of Coach Franklin's program, I love what we're building here, and I've said this millions of times: I think we're a '30 for 30' story ready to rock 'n' roll. It's just a matter of time be- fore we get this thing rolling." Tennessee changed his mind. The Vol- unteers had parted ways with third-year defensive coordinator John Jancek de- spite surrendering only 20 points per game during a 2015 season in which they went 9-4. They immediately turned their attention to Shoop and landed him by offering a three-year deal that will pay $1.15 million per year. Shoop said in accepting the job that it was not an easy decision. He said he was persuaded of Tennessee's potential after talking with Jones and examining the Vols' schemes in a 12-hour meeting with the defensive staff. "I like the fact that this isn't a rebuild," he said. "The parts are in place for this to be a championship unit." Shoop's departure, coupled with Pry's promotion, opened a vacancy on the de- fensive staff that was eventually filled by Banks. A 20-year coaching veteran, Banks most recently served as co-defen- sive coordinator and secondary coach at Illinois. Last season, the Illini finished 15th in the Football Bowl Subdivision in passing yards allowed and 21st in team pass-efficiency defense. Meanwhile, Moorhead's offensive staff underwent a convulsion when Hand de- parted to join head coach Gus Malzahn at Auburn. There had been speculation about Hand's future after Penn State's offensive line made only modest im- provements in 2015. With four starters returning, the Lions surrendered 39 sacks this past season, only slightly bet- ter than the 44 they gave up a year earli- er. Likewise, the running game took an incremental step forward, ranking 105th in the Football Bowl Subdivision after finishing 117th in 2014. However, Franklin acknowledged dur- ing the season that there were no quick fixes for the personnel situation Hand had inherited with the Nittany Lions. "That's a position [at which] it's hard to solve [problems] overnight," he said. "We're getting there. We had a discus- sion as a staff the other day. You watch our guys in practice in one-on-ones against our D-line in some of the com- petitive periods [in which] we go against our defense, and from the beginning of the year to now or from last year to now, it's dramatically improved. But again, not as much as we would all hope. You'd like it to be a little bit faster." Hand appears to be a good fit at Auburn, as he and Malzahn previously worked together as co-offensive coordi- nators at Tulsa. In 2007 and '08, the Golden Hurricane led the nation in total offense. Malzahn went on to become Auburn's offensive coordinator and later its head coach, leading the Tigers to an appearance in the BCS championship game in his first season in the latter job. Hand joined Franklin's staff at Vander- bilt in 2010 and was with him until Jan. 11, when his appointment as the Tigers' offensive line coach was announced. "My family and I are extremely excited to join the Auburn football family and be a part of a program with such great tra- dition and history," Hand said. "We're especially excited to rejoin Coach Malzahn and work with him again. It was an opportunity that was way too good for us to pass up." His replacement, Limegrover, had been at Minnesota since 2011, serving as offensive line coach and offensive coor- dinator before adding assistant head coach to his list of titles in 2014. He is a Pittsburgh native and, like Moorhead, a graduate of Central Catholic High. The Gophers steadily improved their scoring and rushing output during Limegrover's first four seasons in Min- neapolis before slipping in 2015. ■ Nate Bauer contributed to this report. High expectations make patience a forgotten virtue I t's a conversation that should not yet be taking place, and certainly not a column that should be written. But here we are. In college football these days, every coach's timeline for success has di- minished. It's a new era, and Penn State has fully entered it. James Franklin may be in only his second year with the program – a program that is just four years removed from some of the most damaging penalties any college football team has ever faced – but even he is not exempt. For right now, however, he should be. After Penn State ended its season with four consecutive losses, it en- dured the turnover of three assistant coaches and saw a number of players leave with eligibility remaining. So, forgetting the shortcomings this team has fought through, questions unjusti- fiably arose around Franklin's job secu- rity beyond next season. In a sport grounded in the recruit- ment of high school athletes and then their gradual development, it takes three, four, sometimes five years be- fore that first recruiting class has grown into its own. And we can't for- get how the first batch of signees for a new coach is often a piecemeal group – started by the former guy, finished JUDGMENT CALL

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