JACKSONVILLE, Fla.
Bob Shoop wants a new job, but it’s not the one you think.
“I put it out on Twitter last night that I saw that the play by play announcer for the Pirates left and that was my dream job,” Shoop said with a laugh after practice on Tuesday near Amelia Island in Florida.
Shoop’s coming in the wake of questions regarding his future at Penn State, specifically if he had interviewed with any other teams or planned on doing so. The Nittany Lions’ highly regarded defensive coordinator having reportedly turned down the opportunity to talk with Auburn about the same position within that program.
“But other than that, this isn’t really the time to talk about that,” Shoop added before making his stance much clearer. “No is the answer to that question, that’s the simple answer to that question and today is really about our team and looking forward to going out there on Saturday. I hope that Penn State will have me forever and ever and ever. I love being part of coach Franklin’s program, I love what we’re building here and i said this millions of times, I think we’re a 30 For 30 story ready to rock and roll. It’s just a matter of time before we get this thing rolling. We’re playing in the best division in the best conference in college football and that’s really exciting to me.”
Programs courting Shoop is hardly a new thing, just last offseason Penn State signed Shoop to a three year deal reportedly worth an upwards of a million dollars per season. While the Nittany Lions have struggled on the offensive side of the ball, Shoop has brought stability to a defense that had seen four coordinators at the helm in four years. While it appears that Shoop is more than pleased to be working in Happy Valley, that doesn’t mean suitors won’t come calling.
And given the right circumstance, specifically a head coaching job, Shoop is the first to admit he would seriously considering that opportunity. After compiling a 7-23 record at Columbia over three years, that itch to get things right a second time around is still there.
“Oh of course…I’m as competitive as anybody, anybody who knows me knows that,” Shoop said. “And I was a head coach and did not have a successful conclusion to my head coaching experience. But if the right opportunity presented itself for me and my family and the people who are important to me and we sat down and talked about it, sure that would be something that I would be interested in.”
Shoop joins linebacker’s coach Brent Pry as another Nittany Lion staff member seemingly ready to go all-in with the process. Pry having recently interviewed for the head coaching position at Georgia Southern before eventually being passed over despite reportedly being one of the program’s top two options.
This stability offers not only comfort to Shoop and head coach James Franklin, but it continues what is often not seen behind the scenes. Three defensive coaches all of the same page, efficiently working together year after year. If Penn State’s success on defense can be attributed to anything off the field, it’s a mutual understanding across the board. From coaches to players and in the meeting rooms as game plans are crafted late at night.
“All of the defensive coaches, we have the best staff in college football, I always say that,” Shoop continued. “Brent (Pry), (defensive line coach) Sean Spencer and I have been together now this is our fifth year and we’ll be going on our sixth year, and we really can almost finish each other’s sentences.”
“Meetings the first year that took hours and hours and hours now take minutes. You know, Brent and Sean are both tremendous sounding boards. My style of management, I’m not a micro manager, I let those guys be the head coach of their position and they do an outstanding job and they’re great recruiters and we have a great friendship. And since (Defensive backs coach) Terry Smith has come on board these two years he has done a really good job.”
The end of the Joe Paterno era has long removed the notion of permanent stability inside the walls of the Lasch Building and to a certain extent a successful program is one that creates successful coaches.
But for right now, it appears Shoop and Pry are both on board to finish what they started.
“It’s huge,” Linebacker Jason Cabinda added after practice. “I can’t say enough about those two guys and the influence they’ve had on me and really the whole defensive side of the ball, they’ve done so much. So having those guys back would be absolutely huge.”
