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What’s Happening at Penn State is Not Cause for Concern, it’s the Norm

By Marty Leap

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For 40+ years under Joe Paterno Penn State was a football program that did not see a lot of turnover. Assistant coaches hardly ever left for other jobs, players rarely transferred, and things tended to stay the same. However, this is not the norm in college football. In fact, the norm is to see assistant coaches leave for other jobs and for a handful of players to transfer each offseason.

After being a program that was not the norm, Penn State is starting to function more like every other major college football program. And contrary to what many people will think or say, this is not a bad thing either.

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In the past few days I have seen many Penn State fans freaking out over the departure of defensive coordinator Bob Shoop and offensive line coach Herb Hand. Things only escalated as players such as Geno Lewis, Daquan Worley, Gary Wooten and Troy Reeder announced they would not be returning to the program either.

If you want to be worried because you think those guys were good coaches or good players, then so be it. However, do not be worried that these things are happening because something is wrong with the program or because there are problems behind the scene, because that is simply untrue.

Bob Shoop left Penn State because he wants to be a head coach, preferably down south, and being the defensive coordinator at Tennessee in 2016 gives him a better shot at that than being the defensive coordinator at Penn State in 2016 does.

Herb Hand departed Penn State because Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn is one of his best friends. Also, he now lives closer to his family than he did when he was in State College.

Plus, let’s be honest, was anyone 100% sold on Hand’s abilities as an offensive line coach? Yes, he was dealt an awful, no pun intended, hand to work with at Penn State due to the way sanctions gutted the offensive line. But outside of Paris Palmer, none of Penn State’s offensive linemen made any progress under Hand in two years.

When you look at the players who have announced they are transferring, minus Troy Reeder, none of them should come as a surprise.

Geno Lewis is a fifth-year senior-to-be that had fallen to, at best, third in the wide receiver rotation. And ,in my opinion, Juwan Johnson, who redshirted this past season, was going to pass him as well. Many people, myself included, saw the Geno grad transfer coming months ago.

Daquan Worley could never stay healthy and was buried on the depth chart. Gary Wooten was buried on the depth chart due to not being a very good linebacker. I would expect to see another 3-5 players that fall into the “buried on the depth chart” category to announce intentions to transfer in the coming days as well.

As I said, the lone transfer that came as a surprise was Reeder’s. However, despite starting 11 games this season due to injuries, Reeder was not slated to start in 2016. Furthermore, by transferring to Delaware he gets to play in his home state and with his brother who committed to the Blue Hens last week. So maybe his transfer is not as surprising as it seems on the surface.

To go back to the “this stuff happens everywhere notion,” let’s take a look at one of Penn State’s Big Ten rivals-the Michigan Wolverines.

Since Jim Harbaugh arrived in Ann Arbor a little over a year ago, Michigan has seen over 10 players transfer out of the program. Furthermore, this offseason alone they have lost four assistant coaches to other jobs. Do you think people in Ann Arbor are worried? No, they’re not.

The Auburn Tigers have lost three assistant coaches this offseason. After winning the national championship in 2013 Florida State lost defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt to the same position at the University of Georgia. Pitt offensive coordinator Jim Chaney left the Panthers a few weeks ago for the same position at Georgia. Last offseason Notre Dame running back coach Tony Alford left to take the same position at Ohio State.

And the changes listed above are just examples I can think of off the top of my head, there are countless more I am forgetting right now. So once again, these things happen everywhere they have just never happened at Penn State before.

Another factor here for the Nittany Lions is the NCAA sanctions. Why you may ask? Well, due to the scholarship restrictions, Penn State has not seen normal attrition the past few seasons because, due to a lack of depth, they did not have guys buried on the depth chart. Plus, the Nittany Lions did not need to open up scholarships for their recruiting classes.

Right now the Nittany Lions’ 2016 recruiting class sits at 18 members, and they have a great shot at another handful of highly-rated recruits. Would you like to see Penn State be forced to turn one of these players away because they do not have the available scholarships while a scholarship is being used on some seventh-string cornerback that will never see the field? I know which one I’d prefer.

Also, these players that are low on the depth chart are not just going to want to sit around for four or five years and never see the field. They are going to want to see playing time, that’s why they’re playing college football, and transferring to another school gives them this opportunity. Gary Wooten is a perfect example of this.

In many ways, Penn State has begun to join the 21st century of college football the past few years dating back to when Bill O’Brien was hired. We are currently seeing one of those ways in full effect; assistant coaches and players leaving the program during the offseason. This happens everywhere, it is not reason for concern, and Penn State fans better get used to offseasons like this.

What is happening at Penn State this offseason is not cause for concern, it is the norm in college football. The only thing that is out of the norm is the way many Penn State fans are reacting to it.

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