Penn State OL coach likely heading to Auburn

Submitted by ypsituckyboy on

In a sad day for every DL in the B1G, it appears that PSU OL coach Herb Hand is leaving for Auburn (per Dan Wolken). Not a done deal yet, but Hand is apparently close friends with Malzahn. I am assuming that the fine people at Auburn haven't been able to locate any PSU OL game tape from the past few years.

This comes shortly after DC Bob Shoop departed for Tennessee.

Hard to read too much into a couple staff defections, as it happens everywhere, but some of the PSU staff may be seeing the writing on the wall in Happy Valley.

 

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FauxMo

January 11th, 2016 at 2:46 PM ^

You see boys and girls, sometimes NOT working hard and NOT performing at the highest levels pays off!

 

I'll bet Christian On-His-Backenburg will not miss this guy...

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iawolve

January 11th, 2016 at 4:45 PM ^

Replaced the OC and DC. Might be mistaken. Amazing that Illinois thought they needed Zook's strategic mind, just replace the rest. Maybe the recruiting was deemed too valuable. Regardless, he is now a banker. Franklin might be able to get a job in a mall or something if we follow this example.

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MayOhioEatTurds

January 11th, 2016 at 2:50 PM ^

I suppose this departure is one which an embattled Franklin may have directed. 

In any case, it is still an unravelling.  And it's kind of fun to have PSU down.  Keep it up, Franklin!

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FreddieMercuryHayes

January 11th, 2016 at 2:56 PM ^

I mean, there probably wasn't a worse situation for Hand to be in the last two years than at PSU. Not sure how much to read into this right now. It's weird because both Auburn and UT are also in years in 2016 where they need a 'show me' year or coaches could be on their way out. Depending on how much leeway PSU admins give Franklin for ensuring sanctions, those jobs could be on less firm ground than PSU.



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steviebrownfor…

January 11th, 2016 at 3:23 PM ^

but at least Hoke had 2011, an 11-2 season and a BCS bowl win, and finished his Michigan career with a winning B1G record.  Franklin is 14-12 all-time at PSU, and has a losing B1G record

Crazy to think about, but Hoke was actually better at UM than Franklin has been at PSU (sample size stipulations apply).

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FatGuyTouchdown

January 11th, 2016 at 3:00 PM ^

at how bad PSU's OL was under Hand. He was generally regarded as a terrific Offensive Line coach, but its very hard to excuse the play of PSU's line, sanctions or no sanctions. I do think being back in the SEC will help him. If Auburn gets the Herb Hand that was at Vanderbilt, they're going to contend for the division. 

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Avon Barksdale

January 11th, 2016 at 3:01 PM ^

Living in Nashville, I really thought he was a homerun hire for Penn State. It's pretty obvious at this point he benefited from being able to throw it up to Jordan Matthews 10 times a game which made him look like a genius. Can't believe he has failed so far. 2016 is a big year for him.

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FreddieMercuryHayes

January 11th, 2016 at 3:14 PM ^

I was skeptical, but it was solid. I was skeptical because where were the quality wins at Vandy? Personally I'm a believer that it's a lot harder to go from bad-to-good, than it is from good-to-great. Franklin obviously made Vandy good. But he didn't have a single win over a team that finished in the top-25. He only had one win against a team ranked at the time, and that was Georgia who they played right as they were losing everyone to injury a few years ago and then finished outside the top-25. Penn St does not want 'good' and even 'good' in a division with Harbaugh, Meyer, and Dantonio doesn't get you very far.



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FreddieMercuryHayes

January 11th, 2016 at 3:46 PM ^

That's a very Hoke-ian response.  May be a little 'feelings-ball' here, but history is littered with coaches who did well, but not elite, at schools in bad situations, and failed to deliver once they upgraded to the top tier.  Honestly, that's what I worried about with UM if they had to settle for Dan Mullen.  Saban is about the one main exception, who never did amazing record wise at MSU, but his career there was still littered with big wins against very good teams in big games.  Where is that for Fanklin (similar to Hoke)? 

Franklin had a losing record in the SEC with his victories coming against:
- Kentucky (x3)
- 2-11 Ole Miss (Nutt's last year)
- 5-7 Missouri (2012)
- 3-9 Auburn (year Chizik hired Loeffler as his OC and got fired)
- 7-6 Ole Miss in 2012 (1st year Hugh Freeze)
- 5-7 UT (Dooley got fired after that game)
- 4-8 UF in 2013)
- 5-7 UT 2013 (Jones' first year)
- the aformentioned Georgia team

So yeah, he made an historically bad team decent.  But he proped up his record with being in a bad division with fortuatous scheduling and when his teams went up against tough opponents, didn't pull anything out.

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alum96

January 11th, 2016 at 4:20 PM ^

I generally agree with Mr Hayes below you.  And I'd add Vandy won with defense not offense - so that's Shoop. 

Franklin is supposed to be some sort of offensive guru - yet his offenses suck at both Vandy and PSU.  Shoop was doing the heavy lifting. 

I do agree Vandy is a tough place even to get 8 wins but heck Joe Tiller basically did the same for a similar program at Purdue. 

Franklin is a great recruiter and I dont see much more else there - I think the loss of Shoop is going to be devastating to PSU.  Things could get very very very ugly this year - they are going to change their whole offense system as well this year and we saw what happens in year 1 of a complete revamp of systems on offense here back in 08.

I dont know if Temple is going to take a big step back next year but its not the easy game it has been for a few decades and Pitt will at least be decent.  There is a real chance PSU could be 1-2 to begin the year with Kent State their only win.  (if Temple can win in Happy Valley).  Then PSU has to go to Ann Arbor the following week. 

It has a feel of a year like Hoke had in 2014 - it can snowball really bad.  They will still have OSU, MSU, Iowa to play and Minn probably will rebound to be a decent team, and teams like Indiana can easily upset PSU as well.  If things really fall the wrong way it could be a 5-6 win season.

PSU looks like a perpetual spin cycle of 7-8 wins right now and that is not acceptable there just as it was not here.  Great recruiting classes with mediocre on field results should sound very familiar to UM fan - Franklin is tanner Hoke (but much more slimy).

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WolvinLA2

January 11th, 2016 at 3:43 PM ^

I think going from bad to good is easier than good to great. Hoke did bad to good twice, but couldn't go good to great. Lots of coaches are good enough to bring a program to respectability, but it's a lot harder to take the next step. All Franklin had to do at Vandy was beat the bad and average teams, of which there were usually 8-9 per year with 4 OOC cupcakes, Kentucky and whichever SEC programs were "down" that year, and the SEC east often has a couple. But when you do the same at Penn State, it's a failure. Nobody expected Franklin to beat Urban Meyer at Vanderbilt, but they expect him to now.

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Swazi

January 11th, 2016 at 4:36 PM ^

His win resume at Vandy isn't all that impressive either.

 

In his first 9 win year there, he beat:

 

Presbyterian (FCS)

Mizzou (5-7)

Auburn (3-9)

UMass (1-11)

Kentucky (2-10)

Ole Miss (7-6)

Tennessee (5-7)

Wake Forest (5-7)

NC State (7-6)

 

His second 9 win year:

Austin Peay (FCS)

UMass (1-11)

UAB (2-10)

Georgia (8-5)

Florida (4-8)

Kentucky (2-10)

Tennessee (5-7)

Wake Forest (4-8)

Houston (8-5)

 

Of his 18 wins in that span, 4 were against FBS teams with a winning record.

 

Edit: And so far at PSU, he is 0-2 against Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State and Northwestern.  Cant allow that to happen there.

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