UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Twenty years ago, when Brent Pry was coming up through the coaching ranks it wouldn’t have been a problem. Agents talk, suitors listen and in the world of coaching, opportunities to uproot present themselves and decisions are made.
“It's unfortunate because you want discretion and you want to operate through possible opportunities,” Pry said Friday, after reaffirming that he’s staying put at Penn State. “It happens every year where there's discussions. You'd like there to be discretion but it's hard."
Even 10 years ago there was a level of privacy when it came to personnel decisions, but as Pry found out within the past week as he was busy recruiting – planes, trains and automobiles style, as he put it – there was mutual interest early in the then head coaching vacancy at University of Louisiana-Lafayette. Within days, Pry’s name as the frontrunner was out there and rest assured as much as James Franklin and all coaches like to control all that their players see and do – even down to the last wink of sleep – they’re all on social media and watch every rumor unfold much like the fans. Recruits and their parents do the same, wondering what it all means for them, too.
Sometimes they’re among the last to know.
"So much of what's out there is inaccurate. There's a story behind it and it's tough ground to maneuver," Pry said. "You don't want misconceptions. You don't want feelings hurt and you don't want people thinking or believing the wrong thing or any inaccurate information. It's difficult. Difficult waters to tread, but like everything we do we want to hit things head on and be up front and be mindful of others and do the best we can that way.”
Partings happen whether by surprise or not and Penn State’s already had a few since the regular season ended. When Joe Moorhead left to become the head coach at Mississippi State after the Lions' regular season finale it was the next step for him, one that players, coaches and fans weren’t blindsided by. But still there certainly was some anger and frustration behind the tweet quarterback Trace McSorley fired off – and since deleted – after Florida State quarterback Deondre Francois sub-tweeted his former head coach Jimbo Fisher after Fisher departed Tallahassee.
“No call, no text, you could of said something …” Francois’ tweet read the day Fisher left.
McSorley responded with: “I feel ya.”
“At that point he was able to leave and I hadn’t been able to get in and talk to him before he left so I hadn’t talked to him, hadn’t heard from him. I was kind of upset at that point,” McSorley said Friday. “Since then I’ve had multiple conversations with him and he’s texted me a bunch of times. I’m extremely thankful and grateful for everything that he’s done for me in my career here. ... Me and him we’re on great terms."
McSorley said he knew it was only a matter of time until Moorhead ended up elsewhere. With every misstep during Tennessee’s coaching search, with every fan yelling at Fisher about loyalty during his Tallahassee radio show and every flight tracking website out there -- yes, a flight from Starkville, Mississippi landed in State College the night Moorhead was reported as the frontrunner -- there’s no such thing as a quiet or surprise coaching search anymore.
"We’re seeing Tennessee, Florida and we figured someone was going to come calling,” McSorley said. “He’s the best offensive coordinator in the country in our eyes."
And now through the instantaneous nature of Twitter there are life-changing decisions for parties on both sides of the fence that are played out with a full audience.
"It's a business," McSorley said. "We find out things and you guys find out things a lot of times before we do because you guys are the ones breaking it, but yeah, a lot of times it's a family a decision, it's business, it's personal and it's what they need to do."
The mad dash for the new coach to be introduced and assemble his staff means many sleepless nights and in the case of Franklin when he arrived in Happy Valley, countless nights sleeping in his office and leading what he called a bit of a bachelor lifestyle until his wife and two daughters moved to town.
Moorhead’s first hire as Mississippi State’s head coach was that of former Penn State running backs coach and special teams coordinator Charles Huff. Watching the coach who helped recruit him head elsewhere didn’t seem to bother sophomore running back Miles Sanders too much. Sanders said he hopes the Lions will have a new permanent position coach for him by spring ball. Expect it to come much sooner than that as the Lions and every other FBS staff can have a 10th assistant in place per NCAA rules by Jan. 9.
“It’s business,” Sanders said of Huff’s departure. “It’s a great opportunity for Coach Huff for him going down there for a better job of sorts and probably getting paid more. I’m happy for him. I wish him nothing but the best.”
Moorhead also hired former Penn State and former Tennessee defensive coordinator Bob Shoop, giving Mississippi State quite a bit of blue and white ties. Shoop’s son remains at Penn State as a walk-on wide receiver where he’s been since his dad departed after two seasons at Penn State.
And if that potentially wasn’t awkward enough as Penn State sued the elder Shoop over his contract buyout and Shoop then filed a counterclaim this summer and cited "intolerable working conditions" – Franklin and Pry were riding around in the car recruiting together last week, one presumably fielding calls from suitors while the head coach said he was openly torn about his friend’s potential next step. Surely that would've made for quite the scene.
“We were in a car together for about a day and a half,” Franklin said. “We talk all the time about everything: About his family, about his career, about Penn State, about other opportunities, but Brent's my guy.”
Every program will mention within the next few days in the lead up to the new early signing period on Wednesday the value of family and then vow to the parents and guardians that head coach X, assistant coach Y and assistant coach Z will do everything in their power to get their son a degree and to get him prepared for the NFL. Some will be there to see it through and some for better opportunities, more pay or a down season that results in a firing won’t be there to see the finished product.
That’s the reality of this business and that’s why with every scroll on Twitter the coaching carousel has become almost a form of entertainment, unless you’re one of the ones left to figure out what the latest business transaction means for you.
“It’s in front of us but we try to just control what we can control,” redshirt junior cornerback Amani Oruwariye said. “We don’t try to ask them or see what they’re doing. That’s none of our business really. We just kind of let them do their thing and then whatever happens, happens.”