Penn State’s newest addition to the coaching staff had his old job for just over a week when he got the call from Bill O’Brien.
“He offered me the job,” Midget said, having just taken a position at Marshall a few days earlier. “A week and a half later, I was at Penn State. It was an opportunity to come to one of the storied college programs in the country and be a part of the staff here.”
Following former Nittany Lions’ defensive coordinator Ted Roof’s departure to Georgia Tech, then secondary coach John Butler was promoted to assume Roof’s role. The shifting of personnel left behind a vacancy, the one that Midget has now filled.
For Midget it was an opportunity to make the jump to the next level in his coaching career. It also meant facing some of the residual effects of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, but Midget wasn’t intimidated.
“Not at all,” Midget said. “It was an opportunity to come and be a part of Penn State. Yes, I understood what I was getting into. But it was never a doubt in my mind that with Coach O’Brien and what the guys did last year, that I wanted to be a part of this staff and be a part of getting this thing turned around and just building on what they did last year and taking this thing to the next level.”
Midget’s role will be to work primarily with the safeties while Butler will continue to work with the cornerbacks. The two coaches collaborating together in the secondary have a complementing style making it all the more effective.
“I’m just energetic,” he said. “I coach with a lot of passion. Coach Butler’s the same way. So I think it’s just a great fit with both of us back there. The guys feed off it and we coach them hard. When we walk off the field we’re able to turn the switch off and be a mentor, whatever we need to be for the players.”
“Here we are today,” Midget added. “It’s just been great and a blessing. Everything happened so fast.”
