Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/703041
2 0 1 6 P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L GAME CHANGER The Lions have undergone a major o-season overhaul, but more work lies ahead as the season approaches I N T E R V I E W J A M E S F R A N K L I N T wo years into his tenure at Penn State, head coach James Franklin has already experienced a roller coaster of highs and lows on and off the field. Franklin's Nittany Lions are seven months removed from a feast-or-famine second season. They opened with a dreary loss at Temple, rebounded by winning seven of their next eight games, then rounded out the year with four consecutive losses. Off the field, he continues to deal with the lingering effects of the sanctions the NCAA leveled four years ago. The Nit- tany Lions still don't have 85 scholarship players on their roster, and as has been made evident in recent months with the wave of new headlines tied to a San- dusky-related insurance lawsuit, the scandal still casts a shadow over the program. One of Franklin's biggest chal- lenges has been to explain the reality of a crisis that hasn't completely subsided to a fan base that is eager for a return to ti- tle contention. "Not only do you have a lack of num- bers, but Penn State is battling to get re- cruits that Penn State normally would get," he said. "The other thing that's a challenge that I don't think people com- pletely understand right now is that un- til this is totally resolved, we can't really move past it. You can move past it to a degree, but not until all the lawsuits and everything else have been resolved and those things are [no longer] still hanging out there and you don't have another story pop up like we did a month ago." There have also been a series of coach- ing changes, as Penn State made three off-season hires. Joe Moorhead was brought aboard to replace John Donovan as offensive coordinator, while Matt Limegrover and Tim Banks were tapped to coach the offensive line and safeties, respectively, after Herb Hand and Bob Shoop both made lateral moves to other schools. In addition, linebackers coach Brent Pry was promoted to defensive co- ordinator after Shoop headed to Ten- nessee. The winds of change did not stop swirling with the staff shakeup. In fact, they are still gusting, with Franklin and his staff set to conduct their first pre- season quarterback competition since arriving at Penn State in 2014. BWI web- site editor Nate Bauer recently spoke with the Nittany Lions' third-year coach about the state of the team. Here, edited for length, is Franklin's position-by-po- sition assessment of the 2016 Nittany Lions: BWI For all of the talk about the quar- terbacks, is there a possibility that both will play at least minimally? FRANKLIN I think that's a valid point. If you look at the people who are run- ning this style of offense, even in just the Big Ten, do a little study of the people