Franklin: Continuity is key
Coach wants to retain his staff, pushes pay hikes and promotions
On the hectic recruiting road the past two weeks, Penn State coach James Franklin has fielded calls from other programs to interview his assistants. That’s part of the territory, Franklin said, though he identified one “critical” element for his team.
“We can’t lose guys to lateral moves,” Franklin said. “That cannot happen with the type of program that we have and for the type of program we want to be. That’s critical.”
Franklin said he hopes to retain his 10 assistant coaches, several of whom will have opportunities for promotion. Among them are defensive coordinator Brent Pry, defensive line coach Sean Spencer and assistant head coach Terry Smith.
Before the season, Franklin
made Spencer associate head coach, a title formerly held by Pry, as a way to boost his responsibility and pay. Pry called the move right for the team.
“Spence had a lot of teams come court him,” Pry said earlier this year. “He does a great job in our program, and we wanted to make sure he stayed here.”
Following last season, Franklin hired four new assistants and promoted Ricky Rahne to offensive coordinator, bringing significant change to the offense. He certainly wouldn't want to see such defensive change a year later.
As he has before, Franklin said Friday that he expects assistants to leave for headcoaching or “play-calling coordinator” opportunities. “I want that for them,” Franklin said.
Otherwise, Franklin considers assistants making lateral moves bad form and has prodded Penn State to boost staff salaries to help prevent it. Last year, Josh Gattis left for Alabama, where he is co-offensive coordinator, and Charles Huff left to become running backs coach at Mississippi State.
“We've got to make sure that we're doing everything we possibly can in terms of creating a really good environment that people want to come to work at every single day, and then also that financially we're paying the same salaries that everybody else is in terms of our peer groups,” Franklin said earlier this season. “That's got to happen, because to sit here and say that that's not a factor, it is a factor. This is a special place, but that's a factor.”
than he ever had and he was understanding the game,” Pry said. “He wanted it on his shoulders. That was a big leap from the previous year.”