Bill O’Brien wasn’t kidding around when he said Saturday much of his staff would come together in the coming days.
Two days after O’Brien was introduced as Penn State’s new football coach at the Nittany Lion Inn, seven members of the coaching staff have reportedly joined O’Brien — four just on Monday.
One, according to the Big Ten Network’s Tom Dienhart, is defensive coordinator Ted Roof, who last month agreed to become Central Florida’s main defensive chieftain under head coach Georgia O’Leary.
The other major coup is Mac McWhorter, who came out of retirement to coach the offensive line. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first reported the McWhorter decision. McWhorter, 61, coached the offensive line at Georgia Tech when O’Brien was the offensive coordinator and Roof was the defensive coordinator. McWhorter also coached the offensive tackles and tight ends at Texas before being promoted to assistant head coach under Mack Brown during the Horns’ 2005 national championship season.
Also on Monday, Chris Lowry of WIOU and WMYK in Kokomo, Ind., as well as the website FootballScoop.com reported Ball State offensive line coach John Strollo will join O’Brien’s staff. Strollo will coach the tight ends at Penn State.
Joining those three is Stan Hixon, the wide receivers coach for the Buffalo Bills, who agreed to come to State College, according to The Buffalo News.
O’Brien told ESPN his staff would be comprised of coaches with an NFL and college background as well as experience winning national championships. Roof coached with O’Brien at Georgia Tech and Duke. Roof also was the defensive coordinator at Auburn when they won a national championship in 2010.
Roof left Auburn last month after signing a three-year contract with the Tigers in 2011 that paid him an annual salary of $500,000, according to the Birmingham News.
Hixon’s decision to join the staff would signal the end of Mike McQueary’s run as wide receivers coach, another non-surprise given his role in the ongoing investigations into alleged sexual abuse by former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. Hixon and O’Brien worked together at Georgia Tech from 1995-99.
What follows is a list of the reported members of the staff. Penn State has not confirmed any agreement in any capacity except for defensive line coach Larry Johnson, linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden and strength coach John Thomas.
Schools are allowed nine assistant coaches. A good guess for the final two hires are the defensive backs and special teams coaches.
- Head coach/offensive coordinator — Bill O’Brien (also likely quarterbacks coach)
- Defensive coordinator — Ted Roof
- Running backs — Charles London
- Wide receivers — Stan Hixon
- Offensive line — Mac McWhorter
- Tight ends — John Strollo
- Defensive line — Larry Johnson (retained)
- Linebackers — Ron Vanderlinden (retained)
- Strength – John Thomas (retained)
Related coverage: Kermit Buggs and Bill Kenney won’t be retained
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