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Sunday, January 12, 2014

DOMINATE THE STATE

0 comments Posted by Peter Lawrence at 11:49 AM

If you watched James Franklin’s press conference yesterday, I’m assuming you are as fired up about this hire as I am.  You would have to be.  If you haven’t watched it, go watch it. 
He was the guy I wanted all along (and it certainly appears he’s the guy the search committee wanted all along). I already knew how engaging and energetic of a speaker he was, so I was very much looking forward to this press conference, and he still managed to exceed my expectations. I realize it was just a press conference, and he hasn't even done anything yet (actually he’s already added two verbal commitments to this year’s recruiting class http://onwardstate.com/2014/01/12/penn-state-picks-up-two-recruits-from-vanderbilt-gives-scholarship-offers-to-four-others/), but I don’t think I could be more excited about the future of Penn State football. 

One of the biggest concerns over Franklin was that he would just bolt for the NFL after 2 or 3 years like O’Brien did.  All along I insisted this should not be a concern for a number of reasons.  The first, is that we have no reason to really even think this.  Why would we assume he will leave for the NFL?  Just because O’Brien did?  Because his name came up for a few NFL openings that he never even interviewed for?  Anyone who takes the time to look at his background would think just the opposite… that Penn State looks like a final destination for this guy.  I say that for a few reasons.  First, the majority of his coaching is in the college ranks, and I believe he is very much a college coach rather than an NFL coach.  He views his job as not just coaching the game of football, but also educating and developing young men.  I think he enjoys that part of the job too.  I believe O’Brien took this part of his job seriously as well, but deep down, O’Brien is an x’s and o’s guy with a creative offensive mind, and ultimately he just wants to focus on the game.  I don’t think Franklin is the same way, but only time will tell.  Secondly, he is from Pennsylvania, so when it comes to college football, there probably isn’t a job out there that would be more appealing to Franklin than Penn State.  So if he doesn’t have a desire to coach in the NFL, I think it would be likely that he stays at Penn State for a long time. 

But let’s say he does leave after only a few years.  So what?  Then we just go out and make another great hire.  If he is taking another job after a few years, that means he most likely had a lot of success at Penn State, and we would be in a better position than we were when we hired him (just like O’Brien).  Think about it, Penn State was at rock bottom two years ago, and they were still able to make a great hire in Bill O’Brien.  In two years, O’Brien manage to elevate the program to a point where people don’t consider it to be nearly as doomed as they once had.  But there are still many remnants of the Sandusky scandal, mainly the scholarship limitations and bowl ban, so Penn State is still far from being all the way back.  Yet despite this, they are able to go out and hire the hottest coaching candidate in the country.  So now if he has great success and leaves for the NFL in a few years, think about who Penn State would be able to bring in at that point.  So once again, I’m not concerned about Franklin leaving like many others were.  I don’t think he will, and if he does, Penn State will be just fine.

Here is what excites me most about James Franklin

  • 1.      High character:  I’m not basing this off of anything I’ve read or heard him say in his press conference.  I’m basing this off of personal conversations I’ve had with college athletic administrators that have all told me that Franklin is very highly regarded throughout the industry and is considered to have very high character.  Perhaps the most telling is the way he handled his exit from Vanderbilt.  Conducting a team meeting so he could address his players in person like a man.  He didn’t run off and inform them via twitter from a private jet like Todd Graham did to Pitt.  I think that speaks volumes about the kind of person he is. 
  • 2.       High energy:  Bill “Worm” Lippert is most grateful to Bill O’Brien not for his success on the field, or guiding the program through it’s darkest times, but for finally bringing some exciting football to State College.  Whether they won or lost, Penn State was a lot more fun to watch these past two years than they had been previously.  I can’t speak to the style of offense and defense Franklin will use, so I have no idea whether or not the football on the field will continue to be exciting and fun to watch.  But anyone that watched yesterday’s press conference can tell that Franklin himself, will be very entertaining for fans.  And that’s a good start.
  • 3.       Recruiting:  Believe me, opposing coaches (especially at Pitt and Maryland, but far beyond that as well) are scared to death of what Franklin is going to do in recruiting at Penn State.  Just look at what he was able to do at Vanderbilt.  Listening to him speak, it’s easy to see why he is such a good recruiter.  He’s very positive, full of energy, and perhaps most importantly, fully of confidence.  Then, when you consider his PA ties, combined with his recruiting base that he established in SEC country, and you have the perfect storm.  I truly believe, as he put it, Penn State is going to DOMINATE in recruiting.  I love that he threw down the gauntlet and straight up challenged Pitt.  They don’t stand a chance, as they shouldn’t. 


When Derrick Williams committed to Penn State as the #1 overall recruit in the country back in 2004, he referred to Penn State football as a “sleeping giant.”  And he was absolutely right.  Between the facilities, the tradition of success, the strong alumni base and fan support, and the lack of other major college football programs in the northeast, Penn State SHOULD be a perennial top-15 program.  It seemed whoever succeeded Joe Paterno was going to be in a prime position to take the program to that next level (look at what Jimbo Fisher has done succeeding Bobby Bowden).  Then of course the Sandusky scandal hit and set the program back significantly.  I believe James Franklin will be the man who wakes that “sleeping giant” and elevates Penn State football back to where it belongs.  And I couldn’t be more excited. 


WE ARE

 

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

O'Brien and Beyond

1 comments Posted by Peter Lawrence at 11:48 AM

There are a lot of Penn State fans that are angry with Bill O’Brien for bolting for the NFL after two years in State College. I am not one of them. I don’t blame Bill O’Brien for leaving Penn State. I really think O’Brien would have stayed if the working environment was a better one. Having an interim athletic director and President is not a very stable situation for a head football coach. I have spoken with multiple people that work in the Penn State athletic department that have complained of a lack of leadership in the department. Combine that with the fact that a large portion of Penn State donors and fans haven’t been able to get over the Sandusky scandal and are more determined to defend Paterno than to support O’Brien, and you have a very difficult position for a head coach to be in.

I think this quote from Mike Mauti is the most telling: "Let's lay it out there: he's the reason we did all this. They hire anyone else, this season doesn't happen- and who knows where the program is? He's it. If O-B leaves in the next three, four, five years, it's their fault, not his fault. It's not because of him. It would never be. It's because they didn't do their jobs and do what's right."

I will be rooting for O’Brien to succeed in Houston, and I’m interested to see if he does. I think he is a good coach, but I also didn’t see anything in the last two seasons to indicate that he’s ready for a head coaching position in the NFL. He was clearly a coach that is still learning. The team still seemed unorganized this season and struggled with clock management issues. Yes he did a good job at Penn State given the circumstances, but let’s not get carried away. In his two seasons, the team went 8-4 and 7-5. Good, but not great. There is a misconception out there that these records were attained with a lack of talented scholarship athletes due to the sanctions, but that is simply not true. Only a few starters ended up transferring after the sanctions were handed down. The 8-4 team was nearly a full roster of scholarship athletes recruited by Paterno. I think he has a bright future but I expect some struggles in his first year or two as he continues to learn.

So where does Penn State go from here? They are in a really tough spot given the fact that the coaching hire will need to be made by the interim AD and President, meaning whoever takes the job won’t even know who they will be working for in six months. That could scare some candidates away. It’s also unfortunate for whoever is named the new AD, since he/she will be stuck with a brand new football coach that he/she didn’t hire. A lot of the same names we heard two years ago are resurfacing: Schiano, Munchak, Franklin, Golden. But O’Brien emerged out of nowhere two years ago, so I expect some new names to come up soon, unless they act fast to hire Franklin or Schiano in the very near future. Here are my thoughts on these names: 

Schiano: I honestly don’t know a whole lot about Schiano. Most of the people I’ve heard from are strongly against hiring Schiano. He did an admirable job at Rutgers, and a lot of people thought he would be Paterno’s successor after they had that one big year in 06. But after that it was a bunch of 8-5, 9-4 seasons. To me, he’s just kind of a blah hire. It would be somewhat of a safe hire since I don’t see him going back to the NFL any time soon, and I don’t see him leaving Penn State for another college job. So he would probably be around for a while. But I have a feeling it would be many years of what Penn State fans would consider to be mediocrity.

Golden: Good coach that would be a good hire but I don’t think he would leave Miami right now. Why leave a school finally recovering from sanctions for a school still in the midst of the some of the strictest sanctions ever handed down.

Munchak: I like Munchak and wanted him to get the job two years ago, but not so much any more. He’s been in the NFL his entire coaching career, and even worse, it’s been with the same franchise the whole time. Which means his connections are limited, which would make things a little more difficult when putting together a coaching staff. Plus he doesn’t have any experience recruiting. I like Munchak but don’t think it’s a good fit for Penn State right now. Plus it looks like the Titans are keeping him. I doubt he would leave a franchise he’s been so loyal to for so many years after they showed faith in him by giving him another year when he could have been fired.

Franklin: Franklin has done a great job at Vandy and is highly thought of by many. It seems inevitable that he will leave for a bigger program, and given his ties to PA, Penn State makes sense. Texas is interested as well, and that would probably be a more enticing opportunity for him, unless he truly wants to get back to PA. I would be happy with this hire. But keep in mind, he and O’Brien coached at Maryland together, so I’d imagine they have a relationship. Franklin would obviously reach out to O’Brien before accepting the job. What would OB tell him about the environment at Penn State? Given what just transpired, I can’t see him recommending to Franklin that he take the job.

Roman: I’m a Niners fan and I think Roman has done a great job as the OC in San Francisco. But I don’t like him as the next head coach at Penn State. He too would be a likely candidate to bolt for an NFL job. Plus he seems like more of a great offensive mind/x’s and o’s guy than a college head coach to me.

I’m sure other names will emerge just as O'Brien's did two years ago. The timing is really tough here given the lack of stability in the Penn State administration. I understand that for recruiting purposes, it is important that a new coach is named relatively soon. However, they should not rush with this decision, as this next hire will hopefully remain the head coach at Penn State for many years. If they identify a top candidate or two, and fail to get either one, would it be beneficial to name Larry Johnson Sr. as the interim coach for a year? Then let the new AD and President handle the search for the next head coach after next season? I would prefer that over reaching for someone just to fill the position. He is well liked by the players and he is their best recruiter, so you might not see as much attrition as some might fear. I also think it would be ideal for the incoming AD to be able to hire the football coach.

Alright that’s my blog post for 2014. Happy New Year to all!

 

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