Penn State Football: Veteran Assistant Coaches Have James Franklin’s Back

You can observe a lot by watching, the late Yogi Berra once said. He even wrote a book by that title.

Such was the case on Wednesday evening, as the sun started tucking behind Mount Nittany just as James Franklin began a quick session with a bunch of beat reporters.

Official practice had ended and as the Penn State head coach stood at the edge of the field’s green grass – a crumbled white towel on the ground, marking his spot for the GoPSUSports.com camera — there emerged a quick peek into the world of Nittany Lion football.

As Franklin answered questions about his team and its game Saturday against San Diego State for nine minutes and 10 seconds, a lot of the answers were clearly evident behind him.

At least the likely source of many of those answers, anyway.

SHOULDERING THE LOAD

Directly behind Franklin’s back, standing there between the two practice fields, were linebacker coach Brent Pry and true freshman Manny Bowen. Bowen wasn’t expected to play in 2015. But a season-ending injury to veteran linebacker Nyeem Wartman-White in the season-opener against Temple, and the absence of fellow starter Brandon Bell against Buffalo left Pry’s Linebacker U student body down a couple of very important, older, experienced players. As a result, Manny being Manny means that Bowen has now played in all three games for Penn State, burning an intended redshirt in the process.

So there they stood on Wednesday, with hump day homework for Bowen and recruiting work to be done by Pry still in the offing. Pry was doing nearly all the the talking. And No. 43 – his helmet off, but pads still clinging to his wet jersey – was doing all the listening. Finally, as  Franklin neared the end of the Q&A session, Pry and Bowen jogged off the field. At first together, then Bowen – a 6-foot-1, 200-pounder – hustled off ahead of his coach.

Meanwhile, almost 40 yards directly behind Franklin’s right shoulder, you could see defense coordinator Bob Shoop and erstwhile linebacker-now-back-at-safety Koa Farmer engaged in intense discussion. Mano-a-mano, face-to-face, No. 7 three feet away from Coach Bob. It’s unlikely they were talking about Farmer’s status as the only California native on the Penn State roster this week, of special import since the opposition comes from 2,230 miles away. (The second-longest regular-season roadtrip in the FBS this season, according to TravelMath and the University of Central Florida; UCF’s game at Stanford on Sept. 12 was No. 1, at 2,427 miles – eschewing the idea, apparently, of Dublin or nuthin’).

Neither Shoop nor Farmer moved for a good five minutes – and given Shoop’s deserved status as a defensive mastermind, it was likely a very good five minutes. That’s if Farmer, who’s appeared on special teams this season but not much else, was paying attention.

If you’re keeping score, that’s two veteran coaches, one true freshman and one redshirt freshman.

A LEARNED HAND

Then, over Franklin’s left shoulder and across the way was offensive line coach Herb Hand. He was what looked like inches away from guard Brian Gaia, a second-year starter and a senior with junior eligibility. The lessons Hand was imparting to No. 72 were likely of the more sophisticated variety than the mini-tutorials being delivered by Pry and Shoop. Gaia is an every-play kind of guy, a quiet leader who’s appeared in 27 games, starting 16 of them.

Bowen has yet to watch 16 Penn State quarters while in uniform, let alone play in that many. Bowen is still 18, while Farmer is 19 and Gaia is the true bearded vet at 21-and-a-half.

All went to school after practice on Wednesday. Their position coaches were holding office hours and they stayed, most likely not for extra credit but simply for extra knowledge.

Credit to Pry and Shoop and Hand. They were far enough away from Franklin and the half-circle of media types that they were clearly in it for the tell, not the show. The three assistant coaches are Penn State’s most veteran.

Pry is in his 24th year as a college coach, and has been an assistant head coach at three stops and defensive coordinator at four. Shoop, who was a head coach at Columbia (an ill-fated 7-23), has been in the college coaching game for 27 years. That includes a stint at William & Mary, where as defensive coordinator he led a group that went to the FCS semifinals and yielded only 12.1 points per game – earning him I-AA Coordinator of the Year honors. Hand is in his 25th season as a college assistant and he’s done it almost all, including assistant head coach, offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and sous chef.

Total, that’s 76 years of coaching. Those are the kind of chops – no Ted Allen joke intended, Herb – that Joe Paterno had on his staff and so did Bill O’Brien.

Those are the steady hands – again, no pun intended, Herb – that any young head coach needs, especially one like Franklin who fits more of the CEO than the X&O model. They are the backbone of the staff. And while Shoop was a head coach before and aspires to be one again, it is likely that before Franklin ever leaves Penn State that either (both?) Pry and Hand will precede him to be a head coach on his own.

For now, though, they are invaluable (of course, one man’s invaluable is Bob Shoops’ $1 million). Yes, D-line coach Sean Spencer has preached his chaos over 10 stops in 21 seasons. And the offense is in the hands of John Donovan – in his 19th season in college football and 11th as a full-time coach. But the trio of veteran coaches, the ones who were off in the distance with those athletes-being-students-of-the-game, are the meat and potatoes of Franklin’s coaches room.

COLLEGE IS FOR TEACHING

They showed again on Wednesday that headlines may be grabbed with satellite camps and fans may go all atwitter over Tweets (I think Shoop is the staff’s best follow, concentrating mostly on coaching bromides and inspirational sayings) and unrivaled in these parts really means that Rutgers never wins. But much of the real work is done in-season as the skies start to darken and while everyone else is inside, grabbing a shower and rushing off to training table.

Where those three coaches stood on the football practice field, as the final few football folk filed into Lasch, is where they no doubt feel most comfortable, save for perhaps the film and meeting rooms. But really, same thing.

My dad was a high school football coach for over three decades, so I know: Coaching is still basically teaching.

And in that regard, on Wednesday after Penn State’s practice, Pry and Shoop and Hand had their boss’s back.