In the Franklin Era.. It seems to me that a greater percentage of Pittsburgh area athletes are

[Rip_E_2_Joe_PA]

In the Franklin Era.. It seems to me that a greater percentage of Pittsburgh area football players are looking at PSU than in the later years of Joe Paterno. Although a lot of WPA kids still came to PSU in the later Joe Pa years despite the presence of Fran Ganter in those years.

In my mind the youth of our new coach and his staff are big parts of this, especially in the modern way they communicate and use the arsenal of media available to communicate. The high road they take contributes. There are other factors....fresh approach to the game itself while still adhering to the previous academic values. Seems in Franklin we are seeing the keeping of what was core value of the Rip Engle / Joe Paterno era of PSU football with a refreshing change in the game and the programs communications with the outside world. That is my take for most of the positive change in how athletes within the national pool regard Penn State. I have to give the ex-Lions a tip of the hat for the incredible support of the program during the crisis and thereafter and ongoing for how the program is now viewed and will be viewed by rational people over time. Every football player and athlete and non football coach that stood up and acted with incredible poise and articulation which they, in part, acquired while at PSU was a roadblock to the clearly irrational stampeding hoard in the media. Except for a few ESPN employees with little backbone, to a man the former players did PSU and the particularly the football program proud.

However .... I think the WPA area potential recruits have had one more reason to look hard and close at the PSU program than recruits from other parts of the country. Week after week, on the talk shows, in letters to the editor and on the Pitt Fan blogs and boards these recruits have been witness to an unparalleled classlessness to which they can compare to that of the classiness of PSU fans and ex PSU players. Tell me if I am wrong with this, but I think Franklin and Company and PSU football are being handed a gift by the hoard of raving idiots that I have read and heard in the Pittsburgh media saying they represent Pitt as fans.

Fire away!

 

[Tom McAndrew]

In the Franklin Era.. It seems to me that a greater percentage of Pittsburgh area football players are looking at PSU than in the later years of Joe Paterno. Although a lot of WPA kids still came to PSU in the later Joe Pa years despite the presence of Fran Ganter in those years.

Ganter left the coaching staff in 2004. It's possible that you're confusing Ganter with Tom Bradley, as Tom was the PSU coach that was responsible for recruiting in Western PA.

I agree with your larger argument, though not all of your reasons.

In Joe's last decade as coach, and even more so in his final 4-5 years as coach, his health prevented him from being active in recruiting. He would Skype with prospects toward the end of his coaching career, and would meet them/their families when they visited PSU, but that was the extent of his involvement. In addition, several of his assistants were not all that involved in recruiting and/or not very good at recruiting. JoePa's lack of involvement, as well as the lack of effort by some of the assistants, was used by a number of other colleges against PSU in their recruiting pitches.

JoePa had also made some enemies in the high school coaching ranks. There were several coaches in Western PA that did not want anything to do with JoePa or PSU, and did their best to steer their top prospects away from PSU.

CJF and his staff are recruiting machines. They are in many ways like a younger JoePa and his staff, in that while they won't win every recruiting, they will never get out worked. Several coaches on CJF's staff have Western PA connections, especially Terry Smith.

Are a greater percentage of Pittsburgh area prospects considering PSU under CJF? It seems that way, though I haven't done a statistical comparison. I think the main reason is the efforts of CJF and his staff, while they're also likely getting a small assist from some of the stumbling that has taken place at Pitt and at Michigan in recent years.

 

[sluggo72]

Franklin and Era seems to be a stretch.

 

[Rip_E_2_Joe_PA]

Franklin and Era seems to be a stretch.

Semantics ... I look at the man.... like I did Joe Pa when he took the reigns and Franklin feels to me as Joe did to me then....My brain says Era may not pan out to be.... but my gut chose the word era.

 

[sluggo72]

JoePa had also made some enemies in the high school coaching ranks. There were several coaches in Western PA that did not want anything to do with JoePa or PSU, and did their best to steer their top prospects away from PSU.
.

is this true or is this a myth??

and if true how did JoePa make them enemies??

 

[Rip_E_2_Joe_PA]

I did mean Tom Bradley ... God age does funny things to the brain. Tom is a good friend of mine. I knew Fran a little too. Both great people...thus perhaps my senior moment.

 

[Rip_E_2_Joe_PA]

is this true or is this a myth??

and if true how did JoePa make them enemies??

It is true... and for various reasons... mostly not taking kids from their programs that would not qualify ....

But there are other reasons and the Pittsburgh Press Pitt Grads did all they could to damage the program in Pittsburgh. Fact is guys like Lavar and Brandon Short did more to crush the myths created in 'The Burgh' by the envious there than anyone.... Terry Smith did a great job reconnecting the rational in 'The Burgh' to reality as well. the football programs best assets are it's football alum. None better ... from any institution.

 

[anon_is9z1n0h3zblb]

Galen Hall did no recruiting either. Without our head coach and OC on the road, recruiting suffered everywhere, not just WPA.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

is this true or is this a myth??

and if true how did JoePa make them enemies??

100% true. I would not post a myth as though it were a fact.

how did it happen? lots of ways. Anger over how a prior player at the school's career went at PSU. Anger over PSU not recruiting this or that kid that the high school tried to promote to PSU. Anger over telling a prospect they would have to go to prep school if they wanted to attend PSU. There's not shortage of things that high school coaches could hold against JoePa. In a somewhat amusing way, you could also chalk some of it up to JoePa being a control freak, and many of the high school coaches being control freaks. I'm generalizing a lot here, but each situation had a specific story (or set of stories).

 

[Obliviax]

In the Franklin Era.. It seems to me that a greater percentage of Pittsburgh area football players are looking at PSU than in the later years of Joe Paterno. Although a lot of WPA kids still came to PSU in the later Joe Pa years despite the presence of Fran Ganter in those years.

In my mind the youth of our new coach and his staff are big parts of this, especially in the modern way they communicate and use the arsenal of media available to communicate. The high road they take contributes. There are other factors....fresh approach to the game itself while still adhering to the previous academic values. Seems in Franklin we are seeing the keeping of what was core value of the Rip Engle / Joe Paterno era of PSU football with a refreshing change in the game and the programs communications with the outside world. That is my take for most of the positive change in how athletes within the national pool regard Penn State. I have to give the ex-Lions a tip of the hat for the incredible support of the program during the crisis and thereafter and ongoing for how the program is now viewed and will be viewed by rational people over time. Every football player and athlete and non football coach that stood up and acted with incredible poise and articulation which they, in part, acquired while at PSU was a roadblock to the clearly irrational stampeding hoard in the media. Except for a few ESPN employees with little backbone, to a man the former players did PSU and the particularly the football program proud.

However .... I think the WPA area potential recruits have had one more reason to look hard and close at the PSU program than recruits from other parts of the country. Week after week, on the talk shows, in letters to the editor and on the Pitt Fan blogs and boards these recruits have been witness to an unparalleled classlessness to which they can compare to that of the classiness of PSU fans and ex PSU players. Tell me if I am wrong with this, but I think Franklin and Company and PSU football are being handed a gift by the hoard of raving idiots that I have read and heard in the Pittsburgh media saying they represent Pitt as fans.

Fire away!

Ever see the movie "Being There?" Franklin happens to be the PSU coach whilst Pitt football implodes. Now, CJF has youth and energy and isn't afraid to go into that market. He hasn't burned bridges.

At the same time, tOSU is now filling up much of their class with kids from TX and FL. This reduces the number of kids they'll take from WPA. When we start getting kids from Ohio (again) as well as dominating MD and NJ I'll be impressed.

 

[JmmyW]

100% true. I would not post a myth as though it were a fact.

how did it happen? lots of ways. Anger over how a prior player at the school's career went at PSU. Anger over PSU not recruiting this or that kid that the high school tried to promote to PSU. Anger over telling a prospect they would have to go to prep school if they wanted to attend PSU. There's not shortage of things that high school coaches could hold against JoePa. In a somewhat amusing way, you could also chalk some of it up to JoePa being a control freak, and many of the high school coaches being control freaks. I'm generalizing a lot here, but each situation had a specific story (or set of stories).

That reminds me of an old post I saw on BSD from DerryPharmer:
http://www.blackshoediaries.com/2012/8/8/3229008/dakota-royer-leaving-the-team#111032712

Ok, Ok, Ok!!!! I will now tell you all why.....
Mark May hates PSU and Joe. Joe recruited May actively, but May never qualified ACADEMICALLY and did not want to go to a Prep School (Kiski Prep being PSU’s choice at the time)…but guess what, he was accepted at Pitt and had no use for Joe since. This was from Joe and I have never told anyone except Family members. Take it for what it’s worth and now you know the rest of the story.

 

[Rip_E_2_Joe_PA]

Indeed. A career of the length by an A type with stringent rules..... It's gonna happen. Also, Joe did not hire a couple dozen of these local coaches as assistants just to seal the deal to get their players....as did a guy named Sherrill ... poor Foge Fazio .... had to deal with all that, too.....the stuff of WPA football lore!

 

[sluggo72]

100% true. I would not post a myth as though it were a fact.

how did it happen? lots of ways. Anger over how a prior player at the school's career went at PSU. Anger over PSU not recruiting this or that kid that the high school tried to promote to PSU. Anger over telling a prospect they would have to go to prep school if they wanted to attend PSU. There's not shortage of things that high school coaches could hold against JoePa. In a somewhat amusing way, you could also chalk some of it up to JoePa being a control freak, and many of the high school coaches being control freaks. I'm generalizing a lot here, but each situation had a specific story (or set of stories).

Maybe, but I think it's when JVP hired LJ, a HS school coach from Maryland, set things off among many Pa HS coaches, as they all asked, 'what about me?' At least when JVP hired guys like Jim Williams or Bob Phillips ( I believe JVP hired Bob Phillips) they were Pa guys.

 

[lionlurker]

I don't think JoePa made enemies, so much as JF merely is able to relate better to today's urban youth, even if they aren't all "urban". He and his staff as a whole just speak their language better.

That said, there definitely were anti-PSU coaches in the WPIAL, no question, but most of them had serious Pitt connections, and at least one or two others reputedly had a pay-to-play rule, and we didn't play.

For better or worse, today's kids want to have the option of not having short hair, having facial hair, etc. These options were not available to them when JoePa and his crew were still around.

 

[jabba2]

Thats one region PSU clearly improved in. Who knows how long that will last though. I would like to see PSU reestablish inroads into Ohio, where Jay was mistakenly put as main recruiter.