James Franklin is once again in hiring mode.
As he enters his second full week of Year 5 of his Penn State tenure, Franklin is looking to bring in his fourth new assistant in 54 days.
Counting Ricky Rahne’s shift from tight ends coach to offensive coordinator, it will be the head coach’s fifth change in assistant coaching responsibilities over the past two months.
The surprising move of wide receiver coach Josh Gattis to Alabama on Friday marks the fifth departure of Franklin’s original nine Penn State full-time assistants — and sixth overall.
That is noticeable churn, but on second blush may not be as #dramatic as it appears.
Rahne is an in-house move, as is the promotion of Phil Galiano from quality control assistant to special teams coordinator. New tight ends coach Tyler Bowen was a quasi-in-house hire, having been a grad assistant at Penn State in 2014. Bowen, who coached at Maryland in 2017, knows the Nittany Lions’ offense, having run essentially the same RPO scheme as an offensive line coach (2015) then coordinator at Fordham (2016).
And, the foundation of Franklin’s administration stays intact, as the five main non-coaching aides, as well as the strength and conditioning guru (Dwight Galt) he brought firm Vanderbilt, remain at Penn State.
Still, it’s a lot of changes.
JOEMO, PA AND THE DEEP SOUTH
Joe Moorhead can relate.
About 985 miles to the south, Moorhead has been going through much of the same thing. Moorhead, who left Penn State on Nov. 28 to become the head coach at Mississippi State, had to put together his own staff, in the teeth of the Dec. 20 early signing date and an MSU trip to the Taxslayer Bowl (in the lead-up Moorhead observed practices, but didn’t coach).
But, unlike Franklin’s, Moorhead’s staff is now set.
The former Penn State offensive coordinator has put together a staff, that when looked at in its entirety, indicates a coherent game plan that relies heavily on Moorhead’s past — in addition to Mississippi State’s — with a heavy reliance on the SEC and some serious experience in the NFL.
It certainly looks like vintage JoeMo, as he characteristically did his homework with some serious advance game-planning.
Moorhead’s staff is diverse, deep and familiar. Past relationships and PA roots predominate — as was the case when Franklin first came to Penn State.
MOORHEAD’S MISSISSIPPI STATE PLAN
Here is an eight-step cheat sheet to Moorhead’s Mississippi State staff:
1. A total of 10 key coaches and assistants at Mississippi State spent time at Penn State and/or are Pennsylvania natives.
2. Seven played, coached or worked at Penn State.
They are (MSU jobs in parentheses): Moorhead, Charles Huff (assistant head coach, run game coordinator, running backs coach), Bob Shoop (defensive coordinator), Michael Villagrana (recruiting coordinator), former Penn State linebacker Nyeem Wartman-White (defensive grad assistant), former Penn State D-line graduate assistant A.J. Jackson (defense quality control coordinator) and former Penn State quality control assistant Will Reimann (quality control).
Reimann worked as a student assistant then linebackers coach at Fordham, before heading to Penn State last year. Shoop and Moorhead were on the Penn State staff from Dec. 12, 2015, when Moorhead was hired to replace the fired John Donovan, to Jan. 9, 2016, when Shoop left to be defensive coordinator at Tennessee.
3. Six staffers are from Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania natives on Moorhead’s staff are Moorhead (Pittsburgh), Shoop (Pittsburgh), Wartman-White (Philadelphia), offensive coordinator/WR coach Luke Getsy (Munhill), passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach Andrew Breiner (Hummelstown native, Lock Haven University graduate) and head strength and conditioning coach Anthony Piroli (Aliqippa).
4. At least nine staffers have coached with, worked under or played for Moorhead at previous stops at Penn State, Fordham, UConn and Akron. (So they know his RPO.)
Huff, Shoop, Villagrana, Reimann, Jackson and Wartman-White were with Moorhead at Penn State. Breiner, Reimann and Andrew Warsaw were at Fordham with Moorhead. Warsaw was director of football operations at Fordham, and now holds the same position at MSU. Breiner was a grad assistant under Moorhead at UConn, while Getsy played quarterback at Akron when Moorhead was the offensive coordinator with the Zips.
5. Counting Moorhead, four have been college football head coaches (with an 85-83 combined record).
Moorhead was 38-12 from 2012-15 at Fordham, where Breiner succeeded him as head coach for the 2016-17 seasons (going 12-10). Shoop was the head coach at Columbia from 2003-05 (7-23). Mississippi State associate head coach Mark Hudspeth was head coach at Louisiana-Lafayette from 2011-2017, and had a 28-38 record. Hudspeth’s firing after the 2017 season created the vacancy that attracted the attention of Penn State D-coordinator Brent Pry, an assistant at Louisiana-Lafayette from 2000-6.
6. Eight worked or played in the National Football League.
Terrell Buckley, Mississippi State’s cornerbacks coach, leads the way with a 14-year career in the NFL, during which time he made 50 interceptions and won a Super Bowl with the New England Patriots. At Florida State, Buckley won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back.
Defensive line coach Brian Baker coached in the NFL for 19 seasons and mentored eight Pro Bowlers. Offensive line coach Marcus Johnson played in the NFL for four seasons. Getsy spent the last four seasons as an offensive assistant with the Green Bay Packers. Linebackers coach Tem Lukebu coached with Tampa Bay and San Francisco. Piroli was on the Arizona Cardinals’ strength and conditioning staff for the past three seasons. Warsaw worked for the NFL office in New York City, directing game operations for such events as international contests and the Super Bowl. Huff spent a season as an assistant running backs coach with the Buffalo Bills.
7. Five have roots at Mississippi State and/or in the state of Mississippi.
Both Baker and Buckley were retained by Moorhead. They were on the previous Mississippi State staff, under Dan Mullen, whose departure to Florida opened the door for Moorhead’s arrival. Piroli was an assistant strength and conditioning coach at MSU in 2014. Before leaving for Louisiana-Lafayette, Hudspeth was Mississippi State’s passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach in 2009-10.
Johnson played collegiately for Mississippi’s arch-rival, Ole Miss, and is a Mississippi native. So are Hudspeth and Buckley.
8. Eight played at or coached in the Southeastern Conference prior to joining Moorhead’s staff.
Shoop and Huff coached with Franklin at Vanderbilt, and Shoop spent the past two seasons at Tennessee. Baker, Buckley, Hudspeth and Piroli had time prior at MSU before Moorhead was hired. Johnson played in the SEC.
Moorhead’s special teams coordinator, Scott Fountain, was a special teams analyst at Georgia in 2017 and was a special teams coordinator, tight ends coach and director of player development at Auburn from 2009-16.
