Mike Poorman
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Big Ten Media Days: James Franklin Touts His ‘Best Combined Personnel’ Ever at Penn State
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In Las Vegas on Wednesday for the Big Ten Conference media days, Penn State head coach James Franklin doubled down on embracing the high expectations for Nittany Lion football in 2025. And in doing so, he went all in on his players and coaches. “This is the best combined personnel that we’ve had at Penn…
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Former Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour Named Interim AD at Utah State
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After Sandy Barbour signed a contract extension in February 2019 to remain as Penn State’s athletic director though Aug. 31, 2023, she said that Penn State would be her “last stop” and that “this will be it.” It hasn’t turned out that way. She is now an AD at her fourth university. Barbour, 65, is…
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Penn State Football Has 50 Days to Finish the Beaver Stadium Temporary West Side Stands
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Fifty days and counting. As of Arts Festival Friday, there are only seven weeks and one day until Penn State’s much-anticipated 2025 season-opener on Aug. 30 vs. Nevada in Beaver Stadium. Make that a (partially) renovated Beaver Stadium. It may not be a work of art this fall — even athletic director Pat Kraft says…
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Call Him James Franklong: Penn State’s Football Coach Has Been a Model of Consistency
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When he was hired on Jan. 11, 2014, James Franklin was Penn State’s fourth head football coach in 28 months. Since then, he’s been the model of consistency and longevity — not just for Penn State, but in all of major college football. Call him James Franklong. As he heads into his 12th season at Penn…
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Penn State Wrestling, Women’s Volleyball Fuel No. 16 Ranking in Final Learfield Cup Standings
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A national title in a return-to-glory season for women’s volleyball. ANOTHER national championship in wrestling. Impressive Final Four appearances by men’s ice hockey, men’s lacrosse and football. In several ways, the 2024-25 sports season was elite and memorable for Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics. In other ways — i.e., the annual Learfield Directors’ Cup standings that…
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Penn State Coaches Weigh In: How New Defensive Coordinator Jim Knowles Has Already Changed PSU Football
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It has been 130 days since grizzled defensive coordinator Jim Knowles left the newly-crowned champs of college football, Ohio State, and headed east to coach Penn State. On the Buckeyes’ way to the national title in 2024, Knowles’ Ohio State’s defense ranked first nationally in scoring defense, total defense, yards allowed per play, touchdowns allowed…
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100 Days Until Penn State’s Season Opener: Who Has the Nittany Lions as No. 1?
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It’s 100 days until Penn State embarks on its 136th season of college football, when the Nittany Lions host Nevada on Aug. 30 in a Beaver Stadium that will be featuring temporary seats in the upper decks of the west side as the 65-year-old venue undergoes a three-year renovation. (The Wolf Pack could use a…
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The Biggest Gain in Penn State’s Passing Game on Blue-White Weekend? Getting Trebor Pena
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The most conspicuous thing missing from the Blue-White Game on Saturday was the upper deck of the west side of Beaver Stadium. Entering Saturday, there was another hole: At wide receiver, despite the winter addition of transfers Devonte Ross (Troy) and Kyron Hudson (USC). Even Penn State AD Pat Kraft publicly acknowledged that James Franklin’s…
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New Running Back Coach Drayton: Penn State Has That National Championship ‘Feel’
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I was talking national championships with Penn State’s new running back coach Stan Drayton on Tuesday evening, after the Nittany Lions’ practice in a small media scrum of four or five reporters in Holuba Hall. Drayton knows No. 1s. And when it comes to national titles, Drayton knows whereof he speaks. As a running back…
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Penn State’s Championship and Final Four Coaches: What Makes Them Great
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Penn State’s highest-profile teams — sans basketball — are on a big-time run of success. In the span of 109 days: National championships for wrestling (again) and for women’s volleyball, with the rus(s)t now wiped off after a decade dry spell punctuated by the departure of legend Russ Rose. And final four appearances for football, in the…