Again before this happen and I admit I was not even talking about Bob Shoop leaving, but Dave Jones apparently is privy to some of the same aspects I have been told too, and more to come after signing day? We shall see? Meanwhile, PENNLIVE is not alive with Happy Nittany Lions Fans right now?
Article & Link:
Don't blame Bob Shoop for moving to Tennessee; he now has some security and no one does at PSU!
By David Jones | djones@pennlive.com
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January 09, 2016 at 8:15 PM, updated January 10, 2016 at 12:51 AM Link Below:
Amid the current terrain of major college revenue-sport athletics, no one is secure but a handful of elite head coaches. Everyone else is scrambling. Especially the assistants.
It's a far cry from everything Penn State experienced all those decades of the Joe Paterno regime where an entire core staff remained stable year after year.
Even if you jump aboard at the beginning of a tenure of a coaching regime, the most any staff member can expect is two years anymore before everyone's seat gets hot given a few badly placed losses.
So, for lead assistant coaches, beholden to the fortunes of their bosses, it's a nonstop musical chairs game, angling for money in place of the security they can never have. And if they can obtain a little of both? It's a no-brainer.
I think that's what's going on with Bob Shoop and his move to Tennessee. He knows head coach Butch Jones' job at Tennessee is probably quite a bit less tenuous than that of James Franklin at Penn State. And if he can get close to $4 million over three years in a state he knows and his family likes? Really not much to think about.
On the surface, the situations at UT and PSU might not look too different to Penn State fans. Jones is entering his fourth season this fall with a 21-17 record over three making $4.1 million annually at a place where that doesn't cut it. Franklin is making a smidge more with a 14-12 mark, an almost identical winning percentage entering his third. But Jones' line graph is rising – 5-7 his first year to 9-4 his third. Franklin's is flat.
And I don't think UT will show Jones the door if he goes, say 7-6 in 2016. I would not make the same prediction with Franklin.
And so Shoop surveyed this landscape and decided his chances of success and security and longevity were greater with Jones.
Still, this can only be interpreted as an indictment of Franklin in Shoop's eyes. And those eyes are pretty perceptive.
If one of the best defensive coordinators in the game doesn't think Franklin can get it done, then what are his chances with a lesser coordinator?
If you think this is all about money, I don't believe that. I've been told my multiple sources that Auburn was throwing more at Shoop than Tennessee.
But Gus Malzahn is in about the same shape as Franklin in terms of job security. Shoop didn't bite on repeated offers from AU through December. At one point, Malzahn was willing to fly to State College to talk. Didn't matter. It was about having a chance to win and thrive and maybe get in position to run his own shop as an FBS head coach.
Jones is on an upswing. That 9-4 in 2015 includes a resounding 45-6 win over Northwestern in the Outback Bowl. And while Knoxville is not Nashville where the Shoops camped out with three years under Franklin, it is territory the coordinator knows in the SEC East. Further, his boss is a transplanted Yankee just as he is.
I have been told Shoop did have some initial concerns with the chemistry on the defensive staff. When a firing of a DC happens, that's bound to occur. But he must have figured he could overcome that. And why not? He's personable and he's eminently competent. Moreover, the staff is loaded up with northern transplants. Jones is a Brian Kelly disciple and many of his assistants have similar northern connections.
Jones also is a more proven winner than Franklin. He has been a head coach longer (nine seasons to five) and has never failed to leave a program in better shape than he found it, whether at Central Michigan or Cincinnati or now.
Finally, Shoop has the material coming this fall at Tennessee that he would not have at Penn State. The Nittany Lion defense will be in rebuilding mode at the same time Franklin and his new coordinator are trying to pick a new starting quarterback – any of whom will be a raw rookie, even Trace McSorley.
But at Tennessee, Shoop has almost the entire starting front seven back and need only fill in the secondary of two departures.
So, it's all about security. I think Jones has it. I don't think Franklin does. And if you're an employee who's livelihood depends upon the security of your boss, you have to move where you can find such a situation. That's all Bob Shoop is doing. I think we all would as well.
LINK:
http://www.pennlive.com/pennstatefo..._football_bob_shoop_3.html#incart_river_index
DAVID JONES: djones@pennlive.com
Article & Link:
Don't blame Bob Shoop for moving to Tennessee; he now has some security and no one does at PSU!
By David Jones | djones@pennlive.com
Follow on Twitter
January 09, 2016 at 8:15 PM, updated January 10, 2016 at 12:51 AM Link Below:
Amid the current terrain of major college revenue-sport athletics, no one is secure but a handful of elite head coaches. Everyone else is scrambling. Especially the assistants.
It's a far cry from everything Penn State experienced all those decades of the Joe Paterno regime where an entire core staff remained stable year after year.
Even if you jump aboard at the beginning of a tenure of a coaching regime, the most any staff member can expect is two years anymore before everyone's seat gets hot given a few badly placed losses.
So, for lead assistant coaches, beholden to the fortunes of their bosses, it's a nonstop musical chairs game, angling for money in place of the security they can never have. And if they can obtain a little of both? It's a no-brainer.
I think that's what's going on with Bob Shoop and his move to Tennessee. He knows head coach Butch Jones' job at Tennessee is probably quite a bit less tenuous than that of James Franklin at Penn State. And if he can get close to $4 million over three years in a state he knows and his family likes? Really not much to think about.
On the surface, the situations at UT and PSU might not look too different to Penn State fans. Jones is entering his fourth season this fall with a 21-17 record over three making $4.1 million annually at a place where that doesn't cut it. Franklin is making a smidge more with a 14-12 mark, an almost identical winning percentage entering his third. But Jones' line graph is rising – 5-7 his first year to 9-4 his third. Franklin's is flat.
And I don't think UT will show Jones the door if he goes, say 7-6 in 2016. I would not make the same prediction with Franklin.
And so Shoop surveyed this landscape and decided his chances of success and security and longevity were greater with Jones.
Still, this can only be interpreted as an indictment of Franklin in Shoop's eyes. And those eyes are pretty perceptive.
If one of the best defensive coordinators in the game doesn't think Franklin can get it done, then what are his chances with a lesser coordinator?
If you think this is all about money, I don't believe that. I've been told my multiple sources that Auburn was throwing more at Shoop than Tennessee.
But Gus Malzahn is in about the same shape as Franklin in terms of job security. Shoop didn't bite on repeated offers from AU through December. At one point, Malzahn was willing to fly to State College to talk. Didn't matter. It was about having a chance to win and thrive and maybe get in position to run his own shop as an FBS head coach.
Jones is on an upswing. That 9-4 in 2015 includes a resounding 45-6 win over Northwestern in the Outback Bowl. And while Knoxville is not Nashville where the Shoops camped out with three years under Franklin, it is territory the coordinator knows in the SEC East. Further, his boss is a transplanted Yankee just as he is.
I have been told Shoop did have some initial concerns with the chemistry on the defensive staff. When a firing of a DC happens, that's bound to occur. But he must have figured he could overcome that. And why not? He's personable and he's eminently competent. Moreover, the staff is loaded up with northern transplants. Jones is a Brian Kelly disciple and many of his assistants have similar northern connections.
Jones also is a more proven winner than Franklin. He has been a head coach longer (nine seasons to five) and has never failed to leave a program in better shape than he found it, whether at Central Michigan or Cincinnati or now.
Finally, Shoop has the material coming this fall at Tennessee that he would not have at Penn State. The Nittany Lion defense will be in rebuilding mode at the same time Franklin and his new coordinator are trying to pick a new starting quarterback – any of whom will be a raw rookie, even Trace McSorley.
But at Tennessee, Shoop has almost the entire starting front seven back and need only fill in the secondary of two departures.
So, it's all about security. I think Jones has it. I don't think Franklin does. And if you're an employee who's livelihood depends upon the security of your boss, you have to move where you can find such a situation. That's all Bob Shoop is doing. I think we all would as well.
LINK:
http://www.pennlive.com/pennstatefo..._football_bob_shoop_3.html#incart_river_index
DAVID JONES: djones@pennlive.com
