UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- There was "mutual interest" between defensive coordinator Brent Pry and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, but Pry isn't heading south.
Louisiana-Lafayette announced the hiring of head coach Billy Napier Friday afternoon and around the same time Pry, once reportedly considered the frontrunner for the job, met with reporters in the Beaver Stadium media room, recounting a courting that like many coaching jobs these days played out publicly, perhaps a little too publicly for all involved. But that's the nature of this business, something where Pry said half the time the rumors that are flying aren't accurate anyhow. But, there was mutual interest this time, that much Pry acknowledged.
"It's that time of year," Pry said with a smile. "It's never accurate. It's twisted one way or another, but we're happy to be in Happy Valley and looking forward to coaching against Washington."
Perhaps no one was more relieved than James Franklin, whose close relationship with Pry both professionally and personally dates back to Franklin's time as a quarterback at East Stroudsburg. Franklin said he was torn for Pry. As the two traveled the country within the past week making the rounds on the recruiting trail ahead of next Wednesday's early signing period, Franklin and Pry both said they had open dialogue about what was happening.
It would've made for a pretty awkward car ride otherwise.
"The hard thing for me is I kind of feel split," Franklin said Friday morning when asked about other teams showing interest in Pry, something that's happened every offseason since Pry arrived here with Franklin from Vanderbilt. "You know, I want what's best for Brent Pry and his family, but I also want what's best for Penn State and Penn State football. So I'm kind of conflicted on that, personally and professionally. But you know, like I told Brent, he's in a great situation. He's got a great job at a great place that he loves and whenever you have really good people that are talented at what they do, people are -- people are going to pursue them to in some ways be able to try to steal some of our success that we've had the last couple years. I take it as a tremendous compliment for our program."
Pry said his family is happy here and despite his wife being from Louisiana and Pry growing up all over the place as his father's football coaching career took them from stop to stop, he said the value of being here with Franklin is important. He's still learning and growing despite being in the business for 25 years. Returning to campus on Friday and hitting the practice field Friday evening as Penn State continues preparations for the Fiesta Bowl was a welcomed change and return to normalcy.
It also capped a week that made Pry do quite the balancing act as he recruited and fielded interest from the Ragin' Cajuns.
"I've been in the business 25, 26 years. I've been hired and fired a bunch of times," Pry said. "My father was a coach for 45 years and the same with him. You roll with it. You multitask. You're recruting and you're talking to folks. It's just kind of the profession. It was good. It was busy. It was productive."
The Lions' staffers have been all over the map since the regular season ended, working to solidify the 2018 recruiting class while also sending out offers to some 2019 prospects. While the coaching carousel always turns -- and fans certainly know this all too well as they surely recall Bob Shoop saying a few years ago he planned to stay at Penn State forever and then left quickly after the bowl game in Jacksonville -- keeping Pry means stabilizing a staff that already lost an offensive coordinator and a running backs coach/special teams coordinator in the past month.
Franklin wished Joe Moorhead and Charles Huff the best with their new jobs at Mississippi State while newly appointed offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne, Pry and defensive line coach Sean Spencer are now the only remaining members of the coaching staff who have been with Franklin since Vanderbilt. That loyalty and promoting from within, something Franklin did two years ago with Pry when he elevated him to defensive coordinator and again this month when he promoted Rahne, is part of the reason why Pry said he's happy in his role here.
"He's one of those guys who can walk that line and be supportive and at the same time make you feel so appreciated and make it hard to leave," Pry said of Franklin. "He wants what's best for us and our families and I believe that wholeheartedly, and if there's something that we need his help or we need his guidance, he's going to be there for us. I think we all feel that way. That's been the situation with me often enough."
And the reasoning makes sense on a professional level as well, something Pry quickly pointed out.
"It's not like you're attaching yourself to a guy who is going in the wrong direction," he said. "We recognize how talented he is and there always are big things ahead for James."