OT: Larry Johnson Leaving Penn State
http://onwardstate.com/2014/01/13/report-larry-johnson-declines-offer-to-stay-at-penn-state/
Huge loss for Penn State. And apparently Ohio State has already reached out to him to either replace Vrabel, or become their co-DC. Bad news all around. Can we pay him to replace the year long hole left by Montgomery?
Edit: Looks like Johnson is about to join the Ohio State staff. Great pickup after losing Vrabel.
January 13th, 2014 at 10:08 PM ^
Man, Ohio loves to shit on Penn St.
January 13th, 2014 at 10:10 PM ^
did was swipe a bunch of their recruits. . . .
January 13th, 2014 at 10:15 PM ^
January 13th, 2014 at 10:29 PM ^
What exactly is slimy/questionable about offering a scholarship to a kid who didn't realize that the program he committed to was about to be obliterated by the NCAA, which came to believe that said program had been protecting a serial child molester?
January 14th, 2014 at 12:14 AM ^
January 14th, 2014 at 12:48 AM ^
But in addition to what you say, he's got a good/great relationship with RR which in my opinion is a strong vouch in the ethics department.
January 14th, 2014 at 10:26 AM ^
he had 26 arrests over his tenure at UF and everybody kept playing. To me, he makes the perfect enemy--I love him at OSU.
January 14th, 2014 at 11:30 AM ^
What got to me, at least, was how firmly he held onto the aura of Tebow to deflect attention away from the fact that his team was filled with a pretty large number of "troublemakers" at least according to the police blotter. Also, he always felt like a bit of a carpetbagger; he'd show up somewhere for a bit, win a bunch, then bolt before things turned south for various reasons.
January 13th, 2014 at 10:50 PM ^
I believe Ross was the first recruit to flip to another school. I still believe that Urban was in line to replace Paterno who was going to retire at the end of the year and was already in contact with a lot of these recruits.
January 13th, 2014 at 10:57 PM ^
But OSU was a big time program with a big name coach with a lot of holes to fill in its class. Nearby and in the same conference, OSU had probably been recruiting a lot of those players before Urban was hired. Kind of a perfect storm for him.
January 14th, 2014 at 12:04 AM ^
And we also took Trey Burke...
January 13th, 2014 at 10:09 PM ^
Larry Johnson at Ohio State? What universe are we in again?
January 13th, 2014 at 10:13 PM ^
Was Montgomery's departure the problem with the DL, or was it that we were massively undersized?
As for Larry Johnson, this seems like a bad omen for Franklin. Johnson was one of JoePa's guys.
January 13th, 2014 at 10:23 PM ^
I'll go with Part 2; not like Greg Mattison or Brady Hoke forgot to coach DLine but you can't trot out young and undersized talent with no true NT (injured QWash, injured Pipkins) and expect a hell of a lot.
January 13th, 2014 at 11:02 PM ^
January 14th, 2014 at 11:06 AM ^
I don't think most PSU fans feel the same way about JoePa and his staff as we do. Johnson was a link to what PSU fans see as a glorious past and probably was key in keeping a lot of players from jumping ship two years ago.
January 14th, 2014 at 11:51 AM ^
January 14th, 2014 at 12:53 PM ^
Most PSU fans do not view their program under JoePa the way the rest of the world does. They are convinced that the report the NCAA adopted was a "witchhunt" and that the "truth" will eventually come out to exonerate everyone in State College other than Sandusky. They cherish any link to JoePa and the departure of Larry Johnson hurts them. I wouldn't be surprised if they come to hold this against Franklin.
January 13th, 2014 at 10:10 PM ^
Do you mean the year long hole created by young and injured players?
January 13th, 2014 at 10:14 PM ^
Not saying Montgomery leaving was the problem with the DL. I'm saying get Johnson to fill the still tech. vacant DL coach position so Ohio State can't.
January 13th, 2014 at 10:16 PM ^
Michigan has 9 assistant coaches on staff. That's the NCAA limit.
January 13th, 2014 at 10:25 PM ^
We have all the coaches.
The Michigan Difference.
/s
January 13th, 2014 at 10:51 PM ^
It's not vacant.
January 13th, 2014 at 10:13 PM ^
So he left PSU because he didn't get the head coaching position and would then consider going to OSU in his current capacity? I kinda doubt it but maybe.
January 13th, 2014 at 10:39 PM ^
They may offer him to be co-DC/DL coach.
January 13th, 2014 at 10:40 PM ^
at becoming Penn State HC. He's kidding himself if he thinks otherwise, and he's not thinking analytically if he's bitter about it.
He's 61 and hasn't even been a defensive coordinator in his college career. Guys with that type of resume simply don't get hired as a head coach at the top-levels of D-1 football.
For example, I can only think of 3 recent BCS schools that hired a 60+ year-old man to be head coach. (1) South Carolina and Spurrier. (2) K-State when Snyder came back a few years ago. (3) Connecticut and Pasqualoni.
All 3 of those guys, of course, had a lot of success prior as a Head Coach --- a dramatically stronger resume vs. Larry Johnson.
January 13th, 2014 at 10:47 PM ^
I have to think the only reason he never became a DC is because he stayed so long at Penn St.
January 13th, 2014 at 11:09 PM ^
Zook wanted LJ to replace the co-DC's (Curt Mallory being one of them) Illinois had in that era.
LJ turned it down. But that was really his one and only chance to become a DC. You're right, little chance at a promotion like that at PSU in the Paterno era --- there were only 2 PSU DCs (Sandusky & Tom Bradley) for all of 35 years from 1977 to 2011.
January 14th, 2014 at 9:19 AM ^
college defensive lineman while he's been there.
January 14th, 2014 at 6:28 PM ^
Woops doube post. MORE LJ
January 14th, 2014 at 11:53 AM ^
I kinda doubt it… but maybe
January 14th, 2014 at 11:54 AM ^
Double post
January 13th, 2014 at 10:13 PM ^
Last bit of the Paterno tribe and father of a serial woman beater.
buh-bye
January 14th, 2014 at 12:47 AM ^
January 14th, 2014 at 1:21 AM ^
Larry Johnson jr his son does have 4 arrests for women related charges. Not to mention he as cut for anti gay statements. His other son had a dui while at penn state, during his tenure.
Sounds like someone that Urban would hire.
Though in all seriousness he is a good coach and good get by Ohio.
January 14th, 2014 at 9:18 AM ^
January 14th, 2014 at 10:57 AM ^
It sounds like they didn't so much sweep him out as he chose not to take up their offer.
It's curious. He was apparently content to be a DL coach for 20-some years but now wants more? Or did he have a personality conflict with Franklin?
January 14th, 2014 at 3:43 PM ^
January 13th, 2014 at 10:13 PM ^
You can't have that many coaches, we replaced Montgomery with Roy Manning who took charge of the OLBs and Mattison started working with the DEs IIRC... (I believe Hoke works with the DTs)
January 13th, 2014 at 10:23 PM ^
His wife must not be hot
January 13th, 2014 at 10:33 PM ^
Yeah Franklin can't have abide that
January 13th, 2014 at 10:33 PM ^
January 13th, 2014 at 11:00 PM ^
January 13th, 2014 at 10:38 PM ^
January 13th, 2014 at 10:43 PM ^
but we can't hire the most coaches? What is wrong with us?
Oh, you mean there are rules?
January 13th, 2014 at 10:53 PM ^
One of the best recently deleted threads was from a guy who honestly suggested we should simply go out and hire all the coaches to prevent other teams from having any good ones. At first I thought he was just being silly but then when he got reminded that the NCAA had rules forbidding this he got testy and tried to defend his thesis.
That was a pretty funny thread.
January 13th, 2014 at 11:13 PM ^
I missed it. There should be some type of blooper reel of posts, could be good for a laugh now and then.
January 13th, 2014 at 11:29 PM ^