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 A FINE LINE Matt Limegrover is eager to solidify PSU's struggling oensive front M att Limegrover constantly sees the word "blessed" being used around the game of football. Whether it's high school prospects acknowledging how blessed they are to have received a new scholarship offer, current players using the word to describe their feelings about having an impact on a game, or even fellow coaches working it into the modern lexicon, there's no debating its prevalence. "I give guys a hard time when they use the word blessed. That word gets thrown around fairly commonly now," Limegrover said. "Everybody is blessed." But six months into his tenure coaching the offensive line at Penn State, Limegrover can't help himself. The sequence of events that landed him in Happy Valley and, maybe more important, the reception he's received from the entire Nittany Lion pro- gram, have left him with no better adjec- tive. "Unfortunately, that's the best word I can use to describe it," he said. "The best way to put it is blessed." Limegrover's perspective is well-earned. He now looks right at home in his Lasch Building office overlooking Mount Nittany and the practice fields beside it. But before he was hired to oversee the Lions' offensive line, he spent six weeks in limbo, having been let go by Minnesota following the 2015 regular season. Traveling from Minneapolis to his native Pittsburgh with his wife, Ann, and two children, Emma and T.J., for the Christmas holiday, he kept himself busy. But all the while, was on the lookout for a potential landing spot. Limegover's mentor, colleague and friend Jerry Kill had been forced out of coaching due to chronic seizures with worsening complications. Their 16-year coaching relationship, which had started at Emporia State in 1999, followed by stops at Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois and eventually Minnesota, came to an abrupt end when Kill resigned midway through the 2015 season. Defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys was appointed Kill's successor as head coach. Limegrover, the coordinator for a sput- tering Minnesota offense, and quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski were axed by Claeys in November, the day after the season ended. Claeys' decision was described as "al- most Shakespearean in nature" by Min- nesota Star-Tribune writer Michael Rand, but the result was the same. Limegrover found himself out of a job, and the Christ- mas visit to his mom's house in Oakmont, Pa., just outside of Pittsburgh, could only offer so much distraction. "We finished up, it was late December, and I'm driving back to Minneapolis and I'm going, 'OK, what now?' Having Christ- mas and getting everything squared away that way kind of kept my mind busy," Limegrover said. "But that drive home seemed about three times as long as it should. 'OK, What's next?' That was a pretty tough deal." The uncertainty would only be tempo- rary. At Penn State, assistant coach Herb Hand had decided to accept an offer from his former Tulsa colleague Gus Malzahn to become offensive line coach at Auburn, a move that left Nittany Lion head coach James Franklin with an unexpected vacancy on his staff. Hand's departure occurred just as the AFCA national convention was getting under way in San Antonio. Meeting with Penn State that Monday, Jan. 11, Limegrover prepped his wife for the pos- sibility that he would be called to lead the Nittany Lion offensive line. Early Tuesday morning, new Penn State offensive coor- dinator Joe Moorhead called about a fol- low-up interview that day at noon. Sitting in his hotel room wanting to be ready for the call, Limegrover waited as 12 o'clock passed, then 1 p.m., then 2 p.m. Calling his wife just before 3 p.m., Limegrover offered a disappointing update. "I don't think the Penn State thing is going to happen," he told her. "Well, it would have been nice if it did," she replied. "I would have been with you in a heartbeat." They were still talking when their call was interrupted. It was Moorhead, calling to bring Limegrover back for an interview. "He says, 'Hey, can you be over here in five minutes?' I said, 'I'll be there in three.' " Limegrover raced to Penn State's hotel, interviewed, and accepted Franklin's offer later that night. "When he offered me the job and I said yes, he asked if I wanted to talk to my wife and I said this is one time I don't need to," Limegrover said. "She's on board. Let's do this." Limegrover's responsibilities began im- mediately. Traveling to State College, he called a group meeting for the offensive line at 11:15 p.m. that Wednesday to in- O F F E N S I V E L I N E M E N |