Relieved may be the right word.
After being tasked with guiding Penn State’s offense the past two seasons, John Donovan was relieved of his duties on Sunday.
As in, he will no longer be calling the plays for the Nittany Lions.
And, possibly, as in happy to have the ordeal that has been the Penn State offense over with.
On their way to a 7-5 record with Donovan calling the plays, the Nittany Lions now rank near the bottom of the list of 127 major college football teams in third-down conversions (125), total offense (108), rushing offense (106) and scoring (101).
With that as a backdrop, we try to answer 10 key questions about Franklin’s first major staffing move since he came to Penn State in January 2014:
1. Was John Donovan fired?
The Penn State official press release read “that offensive coordinator and tight ends coach John Donovan has been relieved of his duties, effective immediately.” Donovan’s contract reportedly runs through June 2016 and given the wording of the release – and his longtime ties to Franklin – it is quite possible that while Donovan is no longer a coach, he’s not technically fired. (We’ve heard that one before.)
2. When was the last time Penn State fired a football coach not related to the scandal?
That would be times (plural) and the firings came on Dec. 3, 2013, when quarterback coach Charlie Fisher and linebacker Ron Vanderlinden “resigned” under head coach Bill O’Brien.
That was the Tuesday after Penn State upset No. 14 Wisconsin, 31-24, in Madison – O’Brien’s last game at Penn State, although no one knew it at the time, likely not even O’Brien himself. At the time, O’Brien announced that the pair “have resigned to pursue other opportunities.”
Four weeks to the day later, O’Brien resigned to pursue another opportunity of his own, with the NFL’s Houston Texans. Vanderlinden, who coached at Penn State for 13 seasons, landed at the Air Force Academy, while Fisher is the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at Richmond.
(Fisher has Penn State ties at Richmond, where Dan Rocco is the head coach. Rocco’s brother Frank played at Penn State and his father Frank was a long-time Penn State football administrator. Dan initially played at Penn State, then transferred to Wake Forest. Richmond, at 8-3, is in this year’s FCS playoffs.)
3. When was the last time Joe Paterno fired an assistant coach?
It was never announced as a firing, but when wide receivers coach Kenny Carter left Penn State after the 2003 season, it was not totally of his own accord. (Carter was at PSU from 2001-2003.)
Carter went to, of all places, Vanderbilt. He was the Commodores running backs coach and recruiting coordinator from 2004-07, meaning that it’s possible Carter initially recruited some of the Vandy players that Franklin eventually coached from 2011-13. It wasn’t the kind of career move an assistant coach from Penn State would typically make back then. Vanderbilt was coming off a three-year skein of 6-29, with one victory in its last 24 SEC games.
Carter is the head coach at Delaware State, which in his first season at the helm went 1-10 in 2015. Prior to that, he was wide receivers coach, passing game coordinator and co-special teams coordinator at Youngstown State.
4. How long did Donovan and Franklin work together?
A dozen years.
Thus, it couldn’t have been an easy decision for Franklin, who worked on the same coaching staff with Donovan for 12 seasons at three different schools – and twice at one of them. From 2001-04, they both were at Maryland, where Franklin was wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator and Donovan was assistant recruiting coordinator. Franklin returned to Maryland from 2008-10, when he was assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Donovan was running backs coach for those three seasons.
When Franklin left to become head coach at Vanderbilt from 2011-13, Donovan followed. He was offensive coordinator and running backs coach at Vandy for those three seasons. Then, in 2014 Franklin and Donovan both came to Penn State.
5. Didn’t Donovan once work with another Penn State head coach?
Yes. From 1998-2000, Donovan was an offensive graduate assistant at Georgia Tech, while he was studying to get his master’s in economics. During that time, O’Brien was Georgia Tech’s running backs coach. The two remain close friends.
6. How long have Franklin’s other assistant coaches been with him?
From longest tenure to shortest, counting this season at Penn State: Ricky Rahne, 8; Herb Hand, 5; Bob Shoop, 5; Sean Spencer, 5; Brent Pry, 5 (in addition, Pry was an assistant coach at East Stroudsburg during Franklin’s last two seasons as a player there, in 1993-94); Josh Gattis, 4; Charles Huff, 3; and the lone Penn State alum on the staff, Terry Smith, 2.
7. College football coaching staffs are permitted by NCAA rules to have nine full-time assistants. Will Franklin be able to add another assistant to his staff?
In November 2011, when Joe Paterno was fired, Tom Bradley was named interim head coach and Mike McQueary was put on leave, Penn State was able to promote a grad assistant and a recruiting coordinator to full assistants.
No announcement has been made about what Franklin intends or is permitted to do. It not only impacts the on-the-field coaching during December bowl preparations, but impacts recruiting as well. If Franklin is allowed to add a full-time assistant, options could include making one of the following full-time on the short- or long-term: Sam Williams, a special teams recruiting assistant for quality control; Jim Haslett, a team consultant and former NFL head coach; a current Penn State graduate assistant; or, leave the position unfilled. A few weeks ago, Franklin said Haslett has been spending a good bit of his time with the Penn State offense.
Williams may be the most likely candidate, if Franklin is permitted to add a FT assistant. Williams was an offensive quality control assistant under Franklin at Vanderbilt in 2012, before going to Rutgers as a graduate assistant in 2013 (offensive line) and in 2014 (special teams). Williams joined the Penn State staff in March 2015 and has taken an active role with the special teams since then.
8. Who will call Penn State’s plays during the bowl game (locale to be announced)?
Possibilities include – in order, in my opinion — Franklin himself; Rahne, the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator; and Hand, the offensive line coach and running game coordinator. Franklin, a former college quarterback, has called plays as the offensive coordinator at Kansas State and Maryland, and admittedly has a strong role in the Nittany Lions’ game-planning, schemes and philosophies.
Hand is on the sidelines during the games and has his hands full with five position players. Rahne is also on the sidelines during the game, as are Gattis and Huff. If Franklin calls the plays, you have to figure that there needs to someone up in the press box (where Donovan was for most games).
9. What does this mean for Christian Hackenberg?
Let’s do the tally first: In his three years at quarterback, those coaches who have a hand in Hackenberg’s offensive tutelage have included O’Brien, Fisher, Rahne, Franklin and Donovan. That’s a lot. Too many cooks, really, for one Christian. (And that’s even counting the cast of thousands who have cycled through the quarterback room as players.)
Hackenberg has until Jan. 18, 2016, to file declaration papers for the 2016 Draft with the NFL. The official list of underclassmen accepted by the NFL will be released on Jan. 22. Here’s a cheat sheet from the NFL. Having completed three collegiate seasons, Hackenberg is now eligible to be selected.
If Franklin hurries up and hires a big-name coordinator, could that entice Hackenberg to stay a fourth season?
My guess is no. The Hack is out of the barn. And besides, even if the offensive coordinator is new in 2016, the Nittany Lions’ offensive line – which has seen Hackenberg get sacked 82 times the past two seasons – will be most of the same players, sans Angelo Mangiro. There might have been a better chance of it if Franklin had sacked Donovan after last season. But no, not now.
10. Who will Franklin hire to be his next offensive coordinator?
That’s the $640,000 – give or take 100 grand – question. I do know one thing, many fans will be relieved when he does.
