With Brent Pry off to Blacksburg to try and turn around the Virginia Tech football program, James Franklin's coaching tree will add another branch. Pry becomes the fourth former assistant of Franklin's to go on and become a head coach. With that, it’s a great time to look at Franklin’s growing coaching tree.
Brent Pry - Virginia Tech
Let's start at the top with the newest head coach. With Pry taking over in Blacksburg it ends an 12-year partnership between Franklin and himself as he was part of Franklin's original staff at Vanderbilt in 2011. The Altoona native would coach under Franklin for three seasons at Vanderbilt before they made the move to Penn State in 2014. After starting off as an associate head coach, co-defensive coordinator, and linebackers coach, Pry was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2016, a position he held onto until his departure on Tuesday.
Introduced as the Hokies' head coach on Thursday, Pry returns to Blacksburg for the first time as a coach since 1997. From 1995 to 1997, Pry was a graduate assistant under legendary Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer.
Joe Moorhead - Mississippi State
Like quite a bit of college coaches, Moorhead was a head coach before being an assistant under Franklin. The Pittsburgh native was the head coach at Fordham from 2012 to 2015 where he had some great success, collecting a 38-13 record over four seasons. Moorhead would join the Nittany Lions in 2016 and would be responsible for a Penn State offense that averaged 37.6 points per game while averaging 435-yards of total offense. He would return for the 2017 season and coached the Penn State offense to an even better season, as the Nittany Lions were a top-10 scoring offense averaging 41.1 points per game while totaling over 460-yards per game.
Following the 2017 regular season, Moorhead would leave State college for Starksville, Mississippi to lead the Mississippi State Bulldogs. At the time, it felt like an odd spot for Moorhead to land and ultimately was a marriage that would last just two seasons. After going 8-5 in his first season with the Bulldogs, a 6-7 record in 2019 was enough for the Mississippi State administration to decide part ways with Moorhead.
After being let go from Mississippi State, Moorhead would go on to be named the offensive coordinator at the University of Oregon under head coach Mario Cristobal. After two successful seasons with the Ducks including this past season as the Ducks averaged 33.2 points per game, Moorhead was hired by Akron on Saturday to be their next head coach.
Ricky Rahne - Old Dominion
After Moorhead's departure following the 2017 season, James Franklin made the logical decision of promoting longtime assistant and quarterbacks coach Ricky Rahne to offensive coordinator. His offenses with the Nittany Lions would take a slight step back from Moorhead's as the offense averaged 33.8 and 35.8 points respectively in his two seasons as offensive coordinator.
Following the 2019 season, Rahne was hired as the next head coach of the Old Dominion Monarchs. His inaugural season as a head coach, however, would have to wait till 2021 as the Monarchs athletic department decided in 2020 that they would not play due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Entering 2021, Rahne's Old Dominion team was expected to have their struggles and was selected by the C-USA media to finish last in the conference's East Division.
Instead, the Monarchs would finish with a 6-6 record including a 5-3 record in conference play, good enough for third in their division only behind Western Kentucky and Marshall. Perhaps even more impressively, the Monarchs won each of their last five games to end the season to get to bowl eligibility after starting 1-5 albeit against a tough schedule. The Monarchs under Rahne will be playing in their second-ever bowl game and first since 2016.
Charles Huff - Marshall
James Franklin can't take complete credit for Charles Huff as he'll have to share it with Alabama head coach Nick Saban but also Joe Moorhead. Huff was an assistant under Franklin with the Nittany Lions from 2014 to 2017 before leaving State College with Moorhead to go to Mississippi State where he was the Bulldogs associate head coach and running backs coach.
After a strong performance out of his running backs at Mississippi State in 2018, Huff was hired by Saban at Alabama to be the Tide's associate head coach and running backs coach. The Maryland native would spend the 2019 and 2020 seasons with the Tide where their running backs would total over 4,500-yards and 58 touchdowns in his 26 games with the program. This past offseason, Huff was hired by Marshall to replace former head coach Doc Holliday. In his first season with the Thundering Herd, Huff led the program to a 7-5 record including a 5-3 conference record.
Other notable assistants:
Tim Banks: Banks was an assistant for four seasons under Franklin from 2016 to 2020 and served as the Nittany Lions co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach. Following the 2020 season, Banks would leave the program to become the defensive coordinator and safeties coach for the Tennessee Volunteers under new head coach Josh Heupel.
Tyler Bowen: Bowen served as an assistant under Franklin twice, the first as a graduate assistant in 2014 before returning in 2018 as the program's tight ends coach and offensive recruiting coordinator. Under Bowen's leadership, the Nittany Lions tight end room flourished and was consistently regarded as one of the best in the country. He was also considered one of the Nittany Lions' top recruiters during his time with the program. He would also serve as the team's interim offensive coordinator during their 2019 Cotton Bowl victory against Memphis. After the Nittany Lions hired Kirk Ciarrocca to be the offensive coordinator in 2020, Bowen received a promotion to co-offensive coordinator to go along with his previous titles. Following the 2020 season, Bowen was hired by Urban Meyer to become the Jacksonville Jaguars tight ends coach.
Gerad Parker: Parker was with the Nittany Lions for just one season (2019) before taking the offensive coordinator job at West Virginia in 2020.
Josh Gattis: An assistant under Franklin for five seasons (2012-2017), Gattis was a fan favorite assistant coach during his time in Happy Valley due to the success of Nittany Lions receivers under his tutelage including that of Chris Godwin. Following the 2017 season, Gattis made the move to Alabama as the Crimson Tide's co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach, a position he would hold for one season before becoming Michigan's offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach in 2019. After two solid seasons in 2019 and 2020, Gattis's offense in 2021 would finish the regular season as the 13th ranked scoring offense, averaging 37.3 points per game while averaging 451-yards per game. A head coaching opportunity is likely in the near future for Gattis.
Sean Spencer: Spencer was an assistant under Franklin for nine years (2011 to 2019) including being the Nittany Lions defensive line coach from 2014 to 2019. Simply known as "Coach Chaos", Spencer would make the jump to the NFL in 2020 to become the New York Giants defensive line coach and run-game coordinator. He is also considered a potential candidate for Penn State's current defensive coordinator opening though remains a longshot.
Joe Brady: Brady was a graduate assistant for the 2015 and 2016 seasons under Franklin, starting his quick rise through the coaching ranks. After leaving Penn State in 2017, Brady became an offensive assistant for the New Orleans Saints before being hired by Ed Orgeron at LSU to be the TIgers' passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach. As their passing game coordinator, Brady was an integral part of the Tigers' juggernaut offense in 2019 and was the Broyles Award winner for his efforts that season. After the 2019 season, Brady was hired by Penn State alumnus Matt Rhule as the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator.
Chris Beatty: The only coach on this list to not have coached at Penn State under Franklin, Beatty was an assistant under Franklin for the 2011 season at Vanderbilt. Since then, Beatty has had several different coaching stops including at Maryland (2016-2018) and Pittsburgh (2019-2020) before becoming the Los Angeles Chargers wide receivers coach in 2021.
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