Since his hiring earlier this month, reports of the coaches James Franklin would be bringing with him to Penn State have slowly trickled out.
Friday morning, all of those moves were confirmed by the school.
PSU announced via a press release the nine coaches who will be a part of Franklin’s initial Nittany Lions staff. Included in that group are the two coordinators who were rumored to be taking those jobs: Bob Shoop (defense) and John Donovan (offense). The former will also coach safeties while the latter will handle tight ends.
Below are the remaining nine members of Franklin’s newly-minted staff:
- Charles Huff, special teams coordinator/running backs coach;
- Brent Pry, assistant head coach, co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach;
- Josh Gattis, offensive recruiting coordinator/wide receivers coach;
- Herb Hand, run game coordinator/offensive line coach;
- Ricky Rahne, passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach;
- Terry Smith, defensive recruiting coordinator/cornerbacks coach;
- Sean Spencer, defensive line coach.
“I am very pleased to bring to Penn State a staff of great family men, tremendous teachers and developers of talent, and the most aggressive recruiting staff in the country!” Franklin said in a statement.
Of the nine coaches, seven were on Franklin’s Vanderbilt staff the past two seasons. Huff (Western Michigan) and Smith (Temple) are the only non-Commodores coaches brought on board by Franklin. Smith, incidentally, played wide receiver for the Nittany Lions from 1998-91 and is still among the school’s all-time leaders in receptions and receiving yards.
The release also notes that every member of the coaching staff, including Franklin, an East Stroudsburg University alumnus, graduated from a college or university in the Mid-Atlantic or Northeast.