ALTOONA, Pa. -- Since head coach James Franklin arrived on Penn State's campus, the football office has been a family affair, with children of staff members often seen at the Lasch Building.
This year, due to COVID-19, that family atmosphere has taken on a different look and feeling around the offices
"We've had some issues as our families, it's been hard on our wives, on the kids because you see how often our families are at practices, the wives and the kids." Franklin said following practice Wednesday. "We're not getting any of that."
Every year there's roster turnover, and this year there's also been quite a bit of coaching staff turnover. With that, there comes an adjustment period that involves entire families being uprooted and planting themselves in brand new cities with brand new co-workers.
"I feel bad for the new staff," Franklin said. "The new staff and the new players are having a very different Penn State experience than normal. [Defensive line coach] John Scott, Jr., I haven't even met his wife face to face, I haven't even met his children face to face."
While it may seem trivial to some that meeting a coach's family would be a complaint or an issue right now, it's very important in building staff camaraderie, especially amongst those who are new to the program, many of whom were hired in the winter or just before spring practice started.
"It's different, we're having challenges and issues, I'm having challenges and issues with it with my wife and kids," Franklin said. "We got a pretty good way of going about our business around here and including our families as much as possible."
It takes a lot to handle a grueling sport such as football and profession like coaching in a normal year. Now add in a pandemic and the even more time without seeing families and the grind and mental aspect of coaching and performing at a top level athletically are magnified.
"There's always that balance that major college football is a lot of hard work but you want to make sure you're having fun with it too," Franklin said. "Finding that balance, it's been difficult."
Penn State has avoided shutdowns so far with their last batch, which includes football's daily testing, coming back with only three positive tests, none known for football, with five still pending out of 1,302 tests. The same cannot be said for many teams and coaches around the country, with games being suspended almost daily and coaches like Alabama's Nick Saban and Kansas' Les Miles being diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past week.
"We show examples to our team all the time about professional athletes and leagues that have had challenges, specific schools that have had challenges and issues," Franklin said. "One of the issues that we've heard that's been a problem is when you go play an away game and the non-travel guys stay behind, those guys being disciplined on a weekend where we're all out of town and they're disappointed they're not traveling with us. We've heard that's been a problem at other schools and I can understand why."
Football is a team effort on the field and now, more than ever off the field. There were inherent risks when conferences began their plan to return to action even with daily testing.
"We knew there was going to be definite challenges that came with it and just as much of challenges, there was going to have to be significant sacrifices made and there was going to have to be significant discipline shown by everybody," Franklin said.
To finish the season it's going to take a tremendous amount of that discipline Franklin spoke of by everybody associated with these programs. They'll also need to do the right thing even when not at the facility.
"It's the coaches, it's me walking around the office making sure everybody's got their masks on all day long," Franklin said. "We can't get complacent with this. We can't get casual with this because as soon as you do it gets you."
More from Franklin's post-practice availability...
• On the player who gets to wear No. 0: "It's gonna be who we feel the most valuable special teams guy, not only from a production standpoint, but also from a culture perspective as well," Franklin said. "That'll be mainly a Joe Lorig decision, but obviously our entire staff is hands-on on special teams and we'll all have a voice in that as well. That has not been decided or announced yet, but we'll be doing it soon."
• On safety Jaquan Brisker: "There's a lot of excitement in our program for Jaquan. He looks unbelievable, he just developed so much. I think we all know, typically, you see a dramatic change in those junior college players in year two and we see that with him. His confidence, his understanding of the scheme, his athleticism, speed, how explosive he is. He's an impressive looking guy right now."
• On Safety Lamont Wade: "It gives you a different perspective. It forces you to grow up and mature whether you want to or not, you've got no choice. I remember being 35-years old and having my first child and feeling like I wasn't ready. To see how Lamont has handled all of this and the pride he takes in it, watching him just grow up as a football player but as a student and as a leader and as a man in our program. I made a big deal about it after practice the other day."