Easy Decision: Penn State fires John Donovan

Penn State’s offense ranked 108th and 114th in two years under John Donovan

It was a move that absolutely had to happen if Penn State is going to start fixing problems with the offense moving forward. On Sunday, Penn State announced a staff change with James Franklin relieving offensive coordinator and tight ends coach John Donovan of his coaching duties.

“I have tremendous respect for John and the work he has put in over the last five years,” Franklin said in a released statement. “I wish him and his family nothing but the best in the future.”

When Franklin arrived at Penn State and was asked about possible staff additions moving forward, Franklin informed the media he was intensely loyal to his guys, which was a clear sign longtime Penn State assistant Larry Johnson Sr. was not likely to keep a job at Penn State (he then accepted an offer with Ohio State). It was also an indication Franklin may struggle to part ways with his assistants unless things went terribly south. That is exactly what happened to the offense since the arrival of Donovan as offensive coordinator.

At the conclusion of this weekend’s games, with Penn State getting blown out by Michigan State 55-16, the Nittany Lions ended their regular season ranked 108th nationally in total offense. Only eight power conference programs had a worse total offensive ranking, including teams like Oregon State, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt (Franklin’s previous stop), Missouri and Boston College (and Northwestern). Penn State ranked 101st in scoring, 107th in rushing, 82nd in passing, 119th in sacks allowed, 126th in third-down completion, and 10th in red zone scoring percentage (well, actually that last stat was pretty darn good) but just 101st in red zone touchdown percentage (oh, nevermind). Last year, Penn State’s offense was ranked 114th in the nation. Moving up six spots in total offense from that point is not nearly enough improvement.

(Note: For the sake of comparison, Penn State’s offense ranked 43rd in 2013, the final year with Bill O’Brien, and 53rd in 2012; Also worth noting, O’Brien still had more depth to work with in his two seasons, most notably on the offensive line.)

I have said time and time again this season the biggest concern for the offense this season was the offensive line. Offensive line coach Herb Hand deserves some criticism in this area, but I continue to believe the depth on the line is a problem that was brewing over the last couple of seasons as a result of the Bill O’Brien and sanction era. Recruiting offensive linemen was difficult and resulted in shallow depth for when Franklin took over. This will be a work in progress and if no improvement is shown in 2016, then it will be fair to place a target for criticism more on Hand if that is the case. For now, the focus is on playcalling, and this was an area that never truly showed signs of improvement.

Penn State did find ways to move the football against Michigan State, but it was far too little, too late for Donovan. Given the concerns with the offensive line, the task was on Donovan to find ways to create offense given the limited abilities he had to work with up front, and far too often things never moved forward even with a talented quarterback, running back and crop of receivers. Furthermore, since Donovan’s arrival, the play of the tight ends took steps back from when O’Brien thrived with tight ends, and it is not because of the talent level. With Donovan being a tight ends coach, that was a significant failure on his part.

There are reasons Donovan’s offense failed beyond his control, but it was his job to find ways to work around it and generate a spark. In two years, not nearly enough changed and now Penn State needs to find a new coordinator. The offense will improve, in part because the offensive line will one day be deeper and more dependable and in part because there will be a new coordinator who will find ways to adapt when things are not working. That is the hope, at least.

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