The chief kennel keeper of Penn State’s Wild Dogs had offers to fly the coop during the recent off-season.
For Sean Spencer, it was nothing new. In fact, it’s been an annual occurrence.
And why not?
In four seasons at Penn State, Spencer has:
Produced the No. 1 sackmeister in Nittany Lion history, had six different defensive linemen named All-Big Ten and in 2017, and tutored a D-line that helped Penn State rank No. 7 in sacks, No. 14 in rushing D and No. 25 in tackles for a loss.
So, when other schools came calling for Spencer again after the 2017 season, the Penn State braintrust put their heads together to see what they could do to keeping the fiery defensive line coach from leaving.
The Nittany Lions had already lost a pair of key coordinators — Joe Moorhead and Charles Huff to Mississippi State — and Josh Gattis was in the process of heading to Alabama. There would be even more chaos if Coach Chaos left as well.
No way Franklin & Co. was going to let Spencer, who had been with Franklin since 2011, CJF’s first season at Vanderbilt, be pried away. That resolve extended to both athletic director Sandy Barbour and Brent Pry.
Pry has been Penn State’s linebackers coach since he and Franklin arrived in 2014. In 2016, after the departure of Bob Shoop to Tennessee, Pry was promoted from assistant head coach and co-defensive coordinator to associate head coach and defensive coordinator.
Pry, too, has been courted in the offseason (like Spencer, an annual rite of the postseason), and in December 2017 his name came up as a candidate for the head coaching vacancy at Louisiana-Lafayette, where he had extensive ties. Yet, he stayed at PSU.
He wanted Spencer to do the same.
STAY, SEAN
Spencer’s coaching prowess made Pry’s overall defense all that much better. Plus, the two had, after all, spent the previous seven seasons and 92 games together, having been hired by Franklin at Vanderbilt in January 2011. That was over 2,600 days ago. They had been through a lot together and played key roles in renaissances at both Vanderbilt (24-15, 2011-13) and Penn State (36-17 since 2014).
With Penn State offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne, they are the only coaching assistants who have been with Franklin throughout his head coaching career as it heads into its eighth season. And with former Nittany Lion captain and current assistant head coach/cornerbacks coach Terry Smith, they form a quartet that has stuck with Franklin at Penn State since he came in 2014. Six other assistants have come and gone in that time — three having landed in Stark Vegas.
(Interesting aside: Rahne actually worked for Spencer at UMass in 2004, when Spencer coached the defensive line and Rahne was the assistant DL coach.)
The prospect of losing the charismatic and talented Gattis hurt, and despite some negotiations to stay at PSU, he left in late January for the Crimson Tide. As an inducement for Spencer to stay at Penn State — with a dwindling number of his longtime colleagues — he was given a promotion, one that given his track record he no doubt earned.
The official announcement came on Jan. 25, 2018, mixed in with the announcement of Ja’Juan Seider as running backs coach and the position switch of another new hire, David Corley, to wide receivers coach to make way for Seider:
‘In addition, Sean Spencer has been elevated to associate head coach…’ Needle, meet haystack.
WHAT PRY SAYS
‘Coach Spencer and I are awfully good buddies,’ Pry said after Saturday’s Blue-White Game. ‘Spence had a lot of teams come courting him. He does a great job in our program and we wanted to make sure he stayed here. Coach Franklin and I both, and Sandy (Barbour) — it was a team effort — we’re going to do whatever it takes to keep the best people here. Sean Spencer is certainly a big part of what we do.’
Pry remains the defensive coordinator — Tim Banks, who came to Penn State in 2016 and worked with Franklin at Maryland in 2003-04, is co-coordinator — as Pry also continues in his role as linebackers coach, a spot he has held since coming to Penn State.
Under Pry’s direction, the Nittany Lion defense yielded just 16.5 points per game in 2017 (seventh in the nation), registering two shutouts and five games where they held the opposition to single digits. He’s a large, steadying hand throughout the program and has an often-unsung hand in Penn State’s 20-3 record since Oct. 1, 2016.
‘I’m blessed and fortunate to be the defensive coordinator at Penn State,’ Pry said. ‘We felt that was the right thing. Coach Franklin felt that way, I felt that way. We want to do what’s in the best interest of Penn State, but also take care of Sean Spencer. He’s going to do a great job in that role. He already has.’
A DIFFERENT DOG
Spencer’s promotion is not one without paradox. By helping to ensure that Spencer stays at Penn State, it also aids in his exit someday. Here’s why:
In 2016, when Shoop left for Tennessee and Pry ascended to the AHC/DC role, Franklin gave Spencer a promotion of his own. ‘Run game coordinator’ was added to his duties by CJF, who has a predilection for handing out job titles that can extend to both sides of a business card.
That was all well and good for the past two years. But if Spencer hopes to one day be a head coach — and he does — he’ll need to add a coordinator’s title or some sort of associate/assistant head coach moniker.
In the marketplace, Wild Dogs are good. But make no mistake about it — being a near-Top Dog is better.
Spencer acknowledged as much in a February interview with his hometown Hartford Courant, noting that he is happy to continue to his career ascent, which he hopes will one day get him a head coaching gig.
“It’s really a prestigious honor for Coach (Franklin) to give me this responsibility and that title,” Spencer said in that February interview.
“I feel as though I’ve put in the time and the work where Coach Franklin felt comfortable giving me this new responsibility. It’s a great steppingstone in becoming a head coach. But right now, I will assist Coach Franklin the best I can.’
