…And then there was Terry Smith.
With the departure of Brent Pry to Virginia Tech this week, Smith is the only assistant on James Franklin’s coaching staff who has been with CJF since he started at Penn State in January 2014.
A former wide receiver and co-captain for the Nittany Lions three decades ago, Smith has coached the Penn State cornerbacks from Day One of the Franklin regime, and also serves as associate head coach and defensive recruiting coordinator.
Pry, who coached with Franklin for three seasons at Vanderbilt in 2011-13, had been with Franklin for eight seasons at Penn State. He was the linebacker coach for all 11 of those years, and after a two-year stint as co-defensive coordinator in support of Bob Shoop at Penn State, Pry ascended to D-coordinator and excelled there for six seasons (2016-2021).
Running backs coach Ju’Juan Seider, who Franklin hired from the University of Florida prior to the 2018 season, ranks No. 2 on Franklin’s coaching staff in longevity, with four seasons. Special teams coach Joe Lorig, who coached with Franklin at Idaho State in 1999, ranks No. 3, with three seasons.
Offensive line coach Phil Trautwein, defensive line coach John Scott Jr. and wide receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield are all in their second season at Penn State.
The 2021 season was the first at Penn State for both Mike Yurcich, the offensive coordinator and QB coach, and safeties coach/co-defensive coordinator Anthony Poindexter. This season is also the first as a full-time coach for former PSU O-lineman and co-captain Ty Howle, who coaches the tight ends. Howle was an offensive analyst, a non-coaching position, for Penn State in 2020.
In all, not counting interim assistants, Franklin has had 25 fulltime assistant coaches. And one to go…at the very least, given that the head coach must fill Pry’s slot.
Franklin can do that by promoting within his staff (Poindexter seems most likely), thus creating a necessary hire at linebackers coach. Or, he could hire a coach from the outside to be both D-coordinator and linebackers coach. The staff expanded from nine to 10 fulltime assistants prior to the 2018 season, when NCAA rules permitted the addition.
Pry is the fourth Franklin assistant to leave the Penn State staff who went on to be a head coach. It’s an admirable legacy of Franklin’s. The others: Joe Moorhead (Mississippi State), Ricky Rahne (Old Dominion) and Charles Huff (Marshall). The first three jumped straight from PSU to their head positions, while Huff had coaching stops at Mississippi State and Alabama before getting the top job at Marshall prior to the 2021 season. All four coached on the 2016-17 Penn State teams that went a stellar 22-5 and was ranked as high as No. 2 in 2017. Not a coincidence, at all.
A total of six Franklin assistants have gone on to be coordinators elsewhere after leaving Penn State. Speaking of coordinators, counting Bowen’s one-game stint as OC for the 2019 Cotton Bowl (when Penn State scored a whopping 53 points…you gotta wonder what would have happened if he gotten the FT OC gig instead of Kirk Ciarrocca), Franklin has had six different offensive-callers at Penn State — five of them fulltime. That’s a lot of churn. Franklin has fired two of them. None has lasted more than two seasons. Poor Sean Clifford — he has worked with five different OC’s in his time as a Nittany Lion QB.
Franklin has fired four assistants in his eight seasons at Penn State: offensive coordinator John Donovan (after the 2015 season); wide receivers coach David Corley, who was originally hired as running backs coach (2018); O-line coach Matt Limegrover (2019); and offensive coordinator Ciarrocca (2020).
Here’s a look at the run of Franklin’s assistants in his eight seasons at Penn State, with a bowl game yet go for the 7-5 Nittany Lions:
PENN STATE STAFF: YEAR BY YEAR
2014 (7-6) — DEFENSE: Bob Shoop (DC/S), Brent Pry (co-DC, LB), Sean Spencer (DL), Terry Smith (CB). OFFENSE: John Donovan (OC/TE), Herb Hand (OL), Charles Huff (RB/ST), Ricky Rahne (QB), Josh Gattis (WR). After 2014 — no changes.
2015 (7-6) — Staff same as 2014. After 2015 — Fired: Donovan. Departed: Shoop to Tennessee (OC), Hand to Auburn (OL). Hired: Joe Moorhead (OC/QB), Tim Banks (S), Matt Limegover (OL).
2016 (11-3) — DEFENSE: Pry (DC/LB), Spencer (DL), Smith (CB), Banks (S). OFFENSE: Moorhead (OC/QB), Limegrover (OL), Huff (RB/ST), Rahne (TE), Gattis (WR). After 2016 — no changes.
2017 (11-2) — Staff same as 2016. After 2017 — Departed: Moorhead to Mississippi State (HC), Huff to Mississippi State (AHC/RB), Gattis to Alabama (co-OC/WR). Hired: Ja’Juan Seider (RB), Tyler Bowen (TE), David Corley (WR), Phil Galiano (ST).
2018 (9-4) — DEFENSE: Pry (DC/LB), Spencer (DL), Smith (CB), Banks (S). OFFENSE: Rahne (OC/QB), Limegrover (OL), Seider (RB), Bowen (TE), Corley (WR). SPECIAL TEAMS: Phil Galiano. After 2018 — Fired: Corley. Departed: Galiano, New Orleans Saints, NFL (ST). Hired: Gerad Parker (WR), Joe Lorig (ST).
2019 (11-2) — DEFENSE: Pry (DC/LB), Spencer (DL), Smith (CB), Banks (S). OFFENSE: Rahne (OC/QB), Limegrover (OL), Seider (RB), Bowen (TE), Parker (WR). SPECIAL TEAMS: Lorig. After 2019 — Fired: Limegrover. Departed: Spencer to N.Y. Giants, NFL (DL), Parker to West Virginia (OC/WR), Rahne to Old Dominion (HC). Hired: Phil Trautwein (OL), John Scott (DL), Kirk Ciarrocca (OC/QB), Taylor Stubblefield (WR).
2020 (4-5) — DEFENSE: Pry (DC/LB), Scott (DL), Smith (CB), Banks (S). OFFENSE: Ciarrocca (OC/QB), Trautwein (OL), Seider (RB), Bowen (TE), Stubblefield (WR). SPECIAL TEAMS: Lorig. After 2020 — Fired: Ciarrocca. Departed: Banks to Tennessee (DC), Bowen to Jacksonville Jaguars, NFL (TE). Hired: Mike Yurcich (OC/QB), Anthony Poindexter (co-DC/S), Tyle Howle (TE).
2021 (7-5) — DEFENSE: Pry (DC/LB), Scott (DL), Smith (CB), Poindexter (co-DC/S). OFFENSE: Yurcich (OC/QB), Trautwein (OL), Seider (RB), Bowen (TE), Stubblefield (WR). SPECIAL TEAMS: Lorig. After 2021 — Departed: Pry to Virginia Tech (HC). Hired: tba.
CHURN BY THE NUMBERS
OFFENSE — Offensive coordinator (6): Donovan, Moorhead, Rahne, Bowen (interim, Cotton Bowl), Ciarrocca, Yurcich. QB (5): Rahne, Moorhead, Rahne, Ciarrocca, Yurcich. TE (4): Donovan, Rahne, Bowen, Howle. WR (4): Gattis, Corley, Parker, Stubblefield. OL (3): Hand, Limegrover, Trautwein. RB (2): Huff, Seider.
DEFENSE/ST — Defensive coordinator (3): Shoop, Pry, tba. S (3): Shoop, Banks, Poindexter. LB (2): Pry, tba. CB (1): Smith. Special teams coordinator: Huff, Galiano, Lorig.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW — Banks (DC), Tennessee; Bowen (TE), NFL Jacksonville Jaguars; Ciarrocca (off. analyst), West Virginia; Corley (RB), Richmond; Donovan (OC), fired midseason by Washington; Galiano (ST), NFL New Orleans Saints; Gattis (OC/WR), Michigan; Hand (OL) Central Florida; Huff (UC), Marshall; Limegrover (OL), Arkansas State; Moorhead (OC), Oregon; Parker (OC/WR), West Virginia; Pry (HC), Virginia Tech; Rahne (HC), Old Dominion; Shoop (def. analyst, Miami, Fla.); and Spencer (DL), NFL N.Y. Giants.
THE FRANKLIN COACHING TREE (positions after departing Penn State) — Head coach (4): Moorhead, Mississippi State (2 years: 14-12); Huff, Marshall (1 year: 7-5); Rahne, Old Dominion (2 years: 6-6; no games 1st year); Pry, Virginia Tech (1st year). Assistant head coach (1): Huff, Mississippi State and Alabama. Offensive coordinator (4): Donovan, Washington; Gattis, Alabama and Michigan; Moorhead, Oregon; Parker, West Virginia. Defensive coordinator (2): Banks, Tennessee; Shoop, Tennessee and Mississippi State.
