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Rahne Article

rudedude

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Sep 28, 2002
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Fleetville, Pa.
NORFOLK, Va. — On Monday, Ricky Rahne was driving to New York to continue recruiting for Penn State. As he rode in the rental car to hit up another high school wearing blue and white gear, his phone rang.

Old Dominion athletic director Wood Selig was on the other end, ready to offer Penn State’s offensive coordinator the Monarchs’ head coaching job. Old Dominion’s coaching search started and ended in just one week. The school brought in finalists Thursday through Sunday, showing them the facilities late at night in hopes of keeping candidates as close to the vest as possible.

Rahne knew about the facilities already from Penn State’s previous satellite camp stops at ODU, though the Monarchs’ renovated stadium just opened last August. Rahne saw that last week as the search unfolded. He researched Old Dominion, its decision-makers and its commitment to the football program, which restarted play in 2009 after a long hiatus.

He also took solace in having his own rental car while he was out on the road recruiting for Penn State. It certainly eliminated what could’ve been some potential awkwardness on Monday when Selig called and Rahne accepted the Old Dominion job on the spot. Somewhere en route to New York, he hit the brakes.

“We were like the ’86 Mets and you know everybody had their own car,” Rahne said Wednesday to a handful of reporters after being introduced at Old Dominion. “It was very strange. I was literally driving behind another (Penn State assistant), and I had to call him like, ‘I’m not gonna make it,’ and he was like, ‘Why?’ I was like, ‘Uh, I can’t tell you,’ and he’s like, ‘I got it.’ So I turned around.”

Rahne says he does some of his best thinking out on the open road. In a business that doesn’t allow for a lot of time to reflect, he’s been able to do some of that during the past year. Rahne said several times during his six seasons at Penn State that he didn’t want to be a head football coach, but he started to change his mind when on the road last summer during a family vacation.

He’s done a lot of thinking since then, too.

As he rode shotgun from State College to Norfolk on Tuesday with his two sons in the backseat, Rahne was already busy preparing for his first head coaching job. There’s a staff to put together, an early signing period to figure out and still plenty of phone calls to Penn State coach James Franklin. Franklin’s recommendation to Selig helped sell the Monarchs on Rahne.

“We talked to Coach Franklin a number of times. He couldn’t have been more accessible and he couldn’t have been more supportive of Coach Rahne,” Selig said.

That relationship between Franklin and Rahne won’t end anytime soon. In fact, Rahne’s sons even FaceTimed with Franklin’s daughters for two hours on Tuesday during the car ride to Norfolk, continuing a close relationship for the families whose kids have grown up together. Spending the past nine years together in the coaching profession is like an eternity.

“(Franklin) was telling us how ready (Rahne) was, how supportive he would be. He would have the (Old Dominion and Penn State) coaching staffs do professional development together,” Selig said. “They would do camps together. If anything, we might become a Penn State South with the relationship that he intends to maintain with Coach Rahne. That gave us some comfort, too, because personally, I think James Franklin is one of the best in the business and Coach Rahne spent a lot of years with James Franklin.”

Rahne agreed to a five-year contract, and though the deal has yet to be finalized in terms of performance incentives and the contract buyout, Rahne’s guaranteed money is $750,000 annually, Selig said.

As with any coaching change, there are many loose ends to tie up. The Athleticwas on hand at the introductory news conference Wednesday. Afterward, Rahne met with a handful of reporters — a much smaller contingent than those who covered him for the past six seasons — and addressed his time at Penn State. Below is how Rahne responded to questions regarding the Nittany Lions.

I’m curious when you changed your mind about wanting to be a head coach because you said several times over the years that you saw what James has to do as a head coach and didn’t necessarily want to do that?

It’s funny. … I started to change a little bit over the summer and at the end of last year. And part of it was just because I started to reflect on all the lessons I learned from Coach Franklin, all the lessons I learned from Bill Snyder. And I thought to myself, you know, I would be pretty good at this job. And so that’s where it started to change. I also, quite frankly, was looking for a new challenge. I was looking for something that I thought would challenge me in some different areas. And I just feel, even since I’ve started this process of even having this opportunity, I felt reinvigorated and it’s been energizing on a number of different fronts.

Was there something that kind of sparked that that change?

I think you know that I do that baseball tour with my family. … Every summer, my boys (and) my wife and we go and visit four or five Major League baseball stadiums every year. So last year we drove. We were in Toronto and then we went to Detroit, Cincinnati and Cleveland. So that was a lot of driving. Nothing says big-time football coach like driving a Toyota Sienna around the country. But those drives, they’ve got their headphones on, my wife’s sleeping or listening to her book or reading or whatever. Those drives gave me a lot of time to reflect and think. And it was really during that that time when I started to kind of formulate some things in my head.

How and when did you tell the Penn State quarterbacks in particular that you were leaving? Because you pride yourself on the relationships, but when guys leave, there always can be some challenges.

Well, it was it was a difficult situation, quite frankly. I was lucky enough that Sean (Clifford) was in the building when I got back (on Monday). So I had him come see me. Unfortunately, it kind of got out a little bit before. I didn’t want it to be like that. It kind of got out. So he called me and he asked me for the truth and is this real. And I said, “I’m in the process of it, yeah.” And so I’m never gonna lie to him. I never have and I never will. I love those guys.

And then I talked to Will (Levis) on the phone, and then fortunately, in a very weird situation, we had a younger guy practice that day, so I actually went out to practice and spoke with the two young guys (Ta’Quan Roberson and Michael Johnson Jr.) It was a different deal, but you’re right. I do pride myself on relationships and they were nothing but supportive to me and my family, which was awesome. I just had one of the other ones write to me and tell me that I’m supposed to send him my kids’ hockey schedule, because he wants to go to their games. So it’s a special relationship with those guys.

IMG_1816.jpg

(Audrey Snyder / The Athletic)
What did you learn about yourself as an offensive coordinator the last two years? When they mentioned Penn State’s numbers here during the news conference, everybody cheered. And then we’ve talked several times the last two seasons about it and how the Penn State fan base reacts to certain things.

I’ve learned that you need to be happy with — I need to be happy and satisfied with — how I call it and not do it for other people. Because you can get caught up in that. If you get caught up in social media, you start doing things for other people. You know this: We would have been under center with two backs in there. If I try to do what everybody else wants, we’re going to need three footballs, right? Because they want me to throw it deep, hand the ball off to the fullback and make sure to throw a nice ball-control pass all in the same place. So, that obviously doesn’t work. So, I need to make sure that I call it the way I want to call it and what’s going to be best for us to win games and that’s ultimately the thing. We want to win games. It’s got to be complementary football — offense, defense and special teams.

Do you feel like maybe Penn State fans misunderstood you in a sense with this offense and the results, or is it always that vocal minority that kind of is loudest?

I do think it is a little bit of the vocal minority because I’ve got a bunch of different, I’ve had numerous people reach out to me and tell me how much they appreciate everything I did there. So it’s a vocal minority — it’s always going to be, right? That’s why Twitter exists. I mean, quite frankly, that’s its focal point, the vocal minority. So that’s why, you know, I’ve quite frankly tried to ignore it. I probably wouldn’t have Twitter if it wasn’t for recruiting because I’d much rather have a personal interaction with somebody.

For me, it’s all about, you know, do I feel happy with how we did — and I do. I look back on my time at Penn State, and I feel pretty darn good. There’s some incredible things that happened there, and so when I look back, those are going to be a happy memory of six years for me.

How would you assess Penn State’s offense this season? What would be kind of your end note on the offense there?

I think that we did some great things. We were young at a number of different spots. And the funny part about it is going into the season and, you know this, if people would’ve said we’d have 10 wins in the regular season, there’s not a person in that fan base who wouldn’t have taken that. Now, the people involved, we wanted more than that and we put ourselves in a position where we should have more than that. I talk about red zone touchdowns, and in the Minnesota game we didn’t score touchdowns in the red zone. We were excellent at that all year, but that game we weren’t and it ended up costing us.

You look back at things like that, always wish that, hey, should I have called this or called that, but in the end of ends, I’m going to look back on these last few years and this season in particular in 10 years and think I coached some great kids who were unbelievable people, and I was able to coach with great men. That coaching staff is full of great men that will be friends for the rest of my life.

How did James take the conversation when you told him you were leaving because I know he said so many times, he’s going to be happy and supportive of his assistants when they move on?

He was integral in helping me land this job and make sure that Old Dominion knew that I can handle this and that I can be successful. I owe an incredible amount to him. He was incredibly supportive. He was the exact man that he says he was going to be and he has been the whole time. That’s probably the best thing you can ever say about somebody. He was exactly how he says he was going to be and he followed through.

Some coaches want to stay and maybe coach a bowl game. Was that a conversation you had previously with James about whether you would stay on? How did all that get decided?

Well, I’ve had a lot of experience with him so I kind of know where he stands. I also know that he knows that my loyalties lie at Old Dominion. … I always want to see Penn State be successful and I hope they win that bowl game by 100 points, but quite frankly, we both knew that I needed to be here and start on the process. We talked about all the time going 1-0 every day, and it’s going to be hard to go 1-0 every day if you’re trying to win two games at once. So, you know, I needed to be here, and we both knew that was the right thing.

Would you like to take this Old Dominion team back to Penn State down the road to play them?

How much are they going to pay us? (Laughs) … Hey, listen, we’ll go and I want to play those types of games. … That would be hard, I’m not going to lie. That would be hard for Coach Franklin and I think it would be hard for me. I know it’d be hard for my kids and I know it’d be hard for his kids. First thing when his children found out what was going on, the first thing they asked was, “Do we have to play them? Because I don’t want to.” So, I think that would be tough, but it’d be something that I obviously would welcome. You play in front of 107,000 people, I don’t care if they’re cheering for or against you, that’s an experience you will never forget.

(Top photo: Matthew O’Haren / USA Today)
 
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He fired most of the old staff today. Contract was also shared. 750k for 5 years
 
He changed his mind about being HC over the last year or so. Does his thinking whilst driving.

Got the call Monday night while on a recruiting trip. Called the other person who was driving in front of him and turned around then.

Franklin spoke well of Rahne to ODU and really helped sell Rahne to them. Offered up staff camps, satellite camps, someone joking said they could be "Penn State South."

He spoke about pleasing the fans and felt his critics were a vocal minority - words put in his mouth by the reporter. Seemed to indicate he felt they could have done better at Minnesota scoring TDs in the red zone and that it would have made the difference.

I wish him well at ODU and hope Franklin can help him be successful. Obviously he's not going to give us the same evaluation of things as he would in a coaches meeting so we're not going to hear what we want nor would there be any acknowledgement that he just wasn't getting it done at PSU, imo.
 
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Yeah, something is missing here and I think we all know what it is. 5 months ago in the athletic, Franklin is effusive about Rahne and specifically mentions that Rahne has no interest in being a head coach. 5 months later, in the same website, he is literally and proverbially turning his car around and heading to be the big boss at ODU, with full support and stomping from Franklin? I think it's pretty clear, maybe 95%, that Franklin wanted to take another stab at the OC position for us. Rahne being his friend, he promoted him to a school they had a close relationship with. Sort of a miracle win-win-win in this situation. Franklin gets to go big game hunting for a new coordinator that he hopes can produce another 7-10 points a game in the conference schedule, Rahne gets to move to a nice part of the country with his young family and be the boss at a comfortable little place without to much pressure and make really great money, and Franklin and Rahne get to maintain their close friendship with no hurt feelings. All good stuff, happy for all involved really.
 
Yeah, something is missing here and I think we all know what it is. 5 months ago in the athletic, Franklin is effusive about Rahne and specifically mentions that Rahne has no interest in being a head coach. 5 months later, in the same website, he is literally and proverbially turning his car around and heading to be the big boss at ODU, with full support and stomping from Franklin? I think it's pretty clear, maybe 95%, that Franklin wanted to take another stab at the OC position for us. Rahne being his friend, he promoted him to a school they had a close relationship with. Sort of a miracle win-win-win in this situation. Franklin gets to go big game hunting for a new coordinator that he hopes can produce another 7-10 points a game in the conference schedule, Rahne gets to move to a nice part of the country with his young family and be the boss at a comfortable little place without to much pressure and make really great money, and Franklin and Rahne get to maintain their close friendship with no hurt feelings. All good stuff, happy for all involved really.
Agreed. Sounds like Franklin did a pretty effusive sales job for Rahne. Seems like a really good spot to give HC a go
 
Yeah, something is missing here and I think we all know what it is. 5 months ago in the athletic, Franklin is effusive about Rahne and specifically mentions that Rahne has no interest in being a head coach. 5 months later, in the same website, he is literally and proverbially turning his car around and heading to be the big boss at ODU, with full support and stomping from Franklin? I think it's pretty clear, maybe 95%, that Franklin wanted to take another stab at the OC position for us. Rahne being his friend, he promoted him to a school they had a close relationship with. Sort of a miracle win-win-win in this situation. Franklin gets to go big game hunting for a new coordinator that he hopes can produce another 7-10 points a game in the conference schedule, Rahne gets to move to a nice part of the country with his young family and be the boss at a comfortable little place without to much pressure and make really great money, and Franklin and Rahne get to maintain their close friendship with no hurt feelings. All good stuff, happy for all involved really.
If Franklin hires an obscure (relative unknown to us) that theory doesn't hold. I think everyone should be careful about thinking this is going to be a big name hire. Just my guess.
 
If Franklin hires an obscure (relative unknown to us) that theory doesn't hold. I think everyone should be careful about thinking this is going to be a big name hire. Just my guess.

Fair, let's say Franklin just wanted a change at that position regardless of stature.
 
Yeah, I would not like the idea of Rahne going to say a Mississippi State, poor tradition and demanding fan base.....JOEMO made a mistake there. Get your feet wet at a place like ODU and then move up.
So HC at a place like ODU for JoeMo would have been good idea first? Is that what you mean for JoeMo?
 
So CJF is subsidizing part of the $750,000?

(Kidding, just kidding!)
From the article it sounds like Franklin sweetened the pot with some in-kinds. Can’t blame him for wanting to help Rahne out and if it truly ends up being win-win-win that’s great.
 
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So HC at a place like ODU for JoeMo would have been good idea first? Is that what you mean for JoeMo?
No, I just mean Mississippi state seemed like an odd first HC for him. BC or UCONN or even rutgers makes some more sense regionally or from a pressure stand point the SEC with a perennial doormat is just tough, especially if you ain't cheating.
 
HC at UConn or ODU would be (is) a step down from an OC spot at a place like PSU.

A Rutgres or a BC wouldn’t be able to supply 1/2 the resources that would be (are) available at a place like MissState. Any coach with the option of choosing between teams like that, would pick MissState 8 days a week.

I just dont think it was the ideal place for joe, maybe he'll prove me wrong next year, but 2 years on the job and he is hanging by a thread down there talking about his daughter getting harassed at school.
 
I just dont think it was the ideal place for joe, maybe he'll prove me wrong next year, but 2 years on the job and he is hanging by a thread down there talking about his daughter getting harassed at school.
He was already HC at Fordham winning a conference championship. I can’t imagine taking over a shitshow like UConn would have been a good plan. Starkville hasn’t worked out...yet...and maybe it won’t. Still....you make decisions with info you have at the time and.....with returning players and a rabid fan base.....MissSt was a good pick.

or I think it was a good one anyway. Easy to look backwards.
 
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If Franklin hires an obscure (relative unknown to us) that theory doesn't hold. I think everyone should be careful about thinking this is going to be a big name hire. Just my guess.

Wrong. Was Moorhead a big name when Franklin moved on from donovan?
 
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Rahne did a great job with the weapons he was given. It was his fault Shorter couldn’t catch the big ones at Minnie or that Dotson tripped on the carpet. Or PI was/wasn’t called. Or Journey couldn’t catch the short one at Columbus. Franklin wants his guys to get promotions and not lateral moves. Nice having a mini PSU in Newport News!
 
Rahne did a great job with the weapons he was given. It was his fault Shorter couldn’t catch the big ones at Minnie or that Dotson tripped on the carpet. Or PI was/wasn’t called. Or Journey couldn’t catch the short one at Columbus. Franklin wants his guys to get promotions and not lateral moves. Nice having a mini PSU in Newport News!
Norfolk
 
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Rahne did a great job with the weapons he was given. It was his fault Shorter couldn’t catch the big ones at Minnie or that Dotson tripped on the carpet. Or PI was/wasn’t called. Or Journey couldn’t catch the short one at Columbus. Franklin wants his guys to get promotions and not lateral moves. Nice having a mini PSU in Newport News!
That would be about the only nice thing about Newport News.
 
Wonder what tape this guy is watching, and if his team is headed to the playoffs.
I know it is an unpopular viewpoint, but I wonder if we aren't sitting here a year from now wishing Ricky Rahne was still at Penn State.

I get it. Statistically we weren't good. There were some head scratching performances. But as Parcells famously said .... you are what your record says you are.

I feel like we were close. And when you are close you don't make wholesale changes. You tweak. Rahne was dealing with an inexperienced QB and receivers who couldn't seem to hang onto the ball. What would we look like next year when Clifford is more seasoned? Who would have predicted 1994 after scoring six points at OSU in 93?

With Kerry Collins in 94 Ganter looked like a genius. In 99 he didn't look too good with Kevin Thompson.

I know....I'm probably wrong and Rahne was the problem.

I sure hope so....
 
I know it is an unpopular viewpoint, but I wonder if we aren't sitting here a year from now wishing Ricky Rahne was still at Penn State.

I get it. Statistically we weren't good. There were some head scratching performances. But as Parcells famously said .... you are what your record says you are.

I feel like we were close. And when you are close you don't make wholesale changes. You tweak. Rahne was dealing with an inexperienced QB and receivers who couldn't seem to hang onto the ball. What would we look like next year when Clifford is more seasoned? Who would have predicted 1994 after scoring six points at OSU in 93?

With Kerry Collins in 94 Ganter looked like a genius. In 99 he didn't look too good with Kevin Thompson.

I know....I'm probably wrong and Rahne was the problem.

I sure hope so....
I don’t think Rahne was the primary issue however, I certainly expect that the next OC will not have us missing RR.
 
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I know it is an unpopular viewpoint, but I wonder if we aren't sitting here a year from now wishing Ricky Rahne was still at Penn State.

I get it. Statistically we weren't good. There were some head scratching performances. But as Parcells famously said .... you are what your record says you are.

I feel like we were close. And when you are close you don't make wholesale changes. You tweak. Rahne was dealing with an inexperienced QB and receivers who couldn't seem to hang onto the ball. What would we look like next year when Clifford is more seasoned? Who would have predicted 1994 after scoring six points at OSU in 93?

With Kerry Collins in 94 Ganter looked like a genius. In 99 he didn't look too good with Kevin Thompson.

I know....I'm probably wrong and Rahne was the problem.

I sure hope so....
No, you're probably right - Rahne was not the problem. We were so frigging close to being 11-1. Some things in life are just luck and we were on the other side of it. Love your analogy about the 94 team as well. Heard a discussion on one of the Atlanta sport stations today with some expert guests comparing LSU this year to last year's team and how program insiders said they'd made only minor tweaks to their 2018 offense to get to this year's fabulous performance. The guests also stated LSU had caught lightening in a bottle and their clear expectations they will come back to the pack next year - decent to good. Joe Burrow's work will not be duplicated. With a potential CFP Championship in hand I'm sure their fans would be OK with that.

Like a lot of folks here I don't expect any "star" OC hire, but someone who can get us that "tweak".
 
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Before the '16 season began, many here thought getting back to competitive with the big boys was years away. '20 was long the projected year that we, at the earliest, would be rid of the side effects of unwarranted sanctions.

Then Saquon, Godwin, Trace, Cabinda, and Haley went on a hot streak and we recovered from a Michigan thrashing where we were playing true freshman and walk ons at LB to beating Ohio State, and winning the Big 10. Lord knows, we might have been a dropped pass away from the playoff.

Flash forward. Double digit wins 3 of the last 4. We had a season better than Alabama did and most are still unhappy. I get it, we all want to be OSU.

Rahne is gone. No questioning what '20 could be with him. I pray that it's 11 or 12 wins though. The board collectively couldn't handle 10 or less with him gone...
 
I know it is an unpopular viewpoint, but I wonder if we aren't sitting here a year from now wishing Ricky Rahne was still at Penn State.

I get it. Statistically we weren't good. There were some head scratching performances. But as Parcells famously said .... you are what your record says you are.

I feel like we were close. And when you are close you don't make wholesale changes. You tweak. Rahne was dealing with an inexperienced QB and receivers who couldn't seem to hang onto the ball. What would we look like next year when Clifford is more seasoned? Who would have predicted 1994 after scoring six points at OSU in 93?

With Kerry Collins in 94 Ganter looked like a genius. In 99 he didn't look too good with Kevin Thompson.

I know....I'm probably wrong and Rahne was the problem.

I sure hope so....
I agree with you entirely. The QB has to improve and I expect he will. Young players get better. Will it be good enough? Time will tell.
 
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