Off Season Coaching Carousel

[Ram040506]

How close is Sheptock to retirement? Perhaps Pajic could be Bloom's head coach. Maybe bring back Hale's offense?

He's 62 I think, so about a decade?

[Bart]

Former Bloom OC Tom Pajic is back in the PSAC as West Chester's QB coach.

His son is the kicker on the team. Also interesting that the kicking coach is former Bloom kicking coach Ed Rush.

[Bart]

How close is Sheptock to retirement? Perhaps Pajic could be Bloom's head coach. Maybe bring back Hale's offense?

Pajic played in a pass happy offense, so it would be questionable what offense he would choose to run.

[IUPNation]

IUP's new OC is ________.

Who is running it in this spring camp?

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Who is running it in this spring camp?

For starters, the timing of the opening wasn't great. The whole 'carousel' season had kind of passed. So, you'd have to assume the candidate field hasn't been overly impressive.

Secondly, unless something changed, the job doesn't pay well.

Tort did say (in his last public interview) something along the lines of they didn't really want to change the offense a whole lot so they needed to find an OC who ran something similar.

So, as to the 'why it's taking so long' ... I'd have to guess it's a combination of the above.

Keep in mind Tort has two long-tenured assistants making a lot of money (by PSAC assistant standards). You could look up the exact amounts but I believe they are both making near $100,000. There aren't many assistants in the league making that kind of money. So, you can do the math and IUP has three coaches (including Tort) making a good chunk. That doesn't leave much for the new OC (and the others).

It was pretty clear Frank was going to leave once his Pitt buyout money expired (which it did).

For all we know they could have somebody in there and it just hasn't been announced yet.

[iupgroundhog]

For starters, the timing of the opening wasn't great. The whole 'carousel' season had kind of passed. So, you'd have to assume the candidate field hasn't been overly impressive.

Secondly, unless something changed, the job doesn't pay well.

Tort did say (in his last public interview) something along the lines of they didn't really want to change the offense a whole lot so they needed to find an OC who ran something similar.

So, as to the 'why it's taking so long' ... I'd have to guess it's a combination of the above.

Keep in mind Tort has two long-tenured assistants making a lot of money (by PSAC assistant standards). You could look up the exact amounts but I believe they are both making near $100,000. There aren't many assistants in the league making that kind of money. So, you can do the math and IUP has three coaches (including Tort) making a good chunk. That doesn't leave much for the new OC (and the others).

It was pretty clear Frank was going to leave once his Pitt buyout money expired (which it did).

For all we know they could have somebody in there and it just hasn't been announced yet.

I don't know the rules. Maybe FS82 does. I read that they had to wait until a certain date to advertise the position (which doesn't make sense to me). So, there hasn't really been adequate time to conduct a search. It looks like they will be finishing spring drills without an OC in place. I'd prefer to see a more transparent process.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I don't know the rules. Maybe FS82 does. I read that they had to wait until a certain date to advertise the position (which doesn't make sense to me). So, there hasn't really been adequate time to conduct a search. It looks like they will be finishing spring drills without an OC in place. I'd prefer to see a more transparent process.

Clarion had a new OC almost immediately after Larry left.

Who knows.

[IUPNation]

For starters, the timing of the opening wasn't great. The whole 'carousel' season had kind of passed. So, you'd have to assume the candidate field hasn't been overly impressive.

Secondly, unless something changed, the job doesn't pay well.

Tort did say (in his last public interview) something along the lines of they didn't really want to change the offense a whole lot so they needed to find an OC who ran something similar.

So, as to the 'why it's taking so long' ... I'd have to guess it's a combination of the above.

Keep in mind Tort has two long-tenured assistants making a lot of money (by PSAC assistant standards). You could look up the exact amounts but I believe they are both making near $100,000. There aren't many assistants in the league making that kind of money. So, you can do the math and IUP has three coaches (including Tort) making a good chunk. That doesn't leave much for the new OC (and the others).

It was pretty clear Frank was going to leave once his Pitt buyout money expired (which it did).

For all we know they could have somebody in there and it just hasn't been announced yet.

Sounds like it may be done by committee….

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Sounds like it may be done by committee….

That would go great.

Said nobody.

[IUP24]

I don't know the rules. Maybe FS82 does. I read that they had to wait until a certain date to advertise the position (which doesn't make sense to me). So, there hasn't really been adequate time to conduct a search. It looks like they will be finishing spring drills without an OC in place. I'd prefer to see a more transparent process.

Here's just a general thought... It's amazing to me in the day and age we live in pertaining to college athletics, schools in the PSAC are stuck in the stone ages as it pertains to hiring, firing, etc., with regards to coaching positions on the grounds of them being part of the PASSHE and that they are state/union employees - or whatever the actual thing is within the fine print there. You can't fire a coach because he's part of the union? You can't hire a coach because of state rules pertaining to when you post the position? Are we serious here?

I'm sure something I said above is wrong in technicality, but the general semantics of it are true.

[Fightingscot82]

I don't know the rules. Maybe FS82 does. I read that they had to wait until a certain date to advertise the position (which doesn't make sense to me). So, there hasn't really been adequate time to conduct a search. It looks like they will be finishing spring drills without an OC in place. I'd prefer to see a more transparent process.

I doubt you'll see a very transparent process for a minor position like an assistant coach, OC or not just because that's incredibly unusual.

Its a position covered by a union CBA. The professors union covers coaches but there is a separate contract. The only time a full search can be bypassed is with presidential permission when there is an internal heir apparent. Almost every PASSHE position must be hired with a committee model. There are like 30 steps in the process with many single points of failure. Often the process can't move from one step to the next without the approval or an action by one single person who may be out for a week or isn't motivated to move quickly. The position is posted for 30 days and the committee has access to the ATS to review applications before the 30 day deadline. Applications are judged with a rubric approved by HR and the hiring manager (head coach) then the committee agrees on whether to hold screening interviews via Zoom or go straight to bringing anywhere from 2-5 finalists to campus. This can cause a delay because if they need to pay for someone to travel to campus they have to find that money. Typically they meet with the search committee, the other assistants, and the head coach. Unlikely but possibly the AD. This is also when reference checks begin and everything is compiled for the hiring manager to make their decision. HR has to sign off on the hire to confirm every law, policy, and procedure was properly followed (if not, you'll hear that the search "failed"), then they usually green light the head coach to make the offer. Any contract negotiation would involve the AD and union. Salary, responsibilities and possibly title are negotiable - nothing else. Its a state job so the benefits are the benefits, so they can't negotiate an extra week's vacation or being able to work from home any more than other employees, which is typically one day a week for PA state employees. Its incredibly tedious but as you can assume, a quick hire entirely run by the head coach would be problematic and ripe for corruption.

[Fightingscot82]

Here's just a general thought... It's amazing to me in the day and age we live in pertaining to college athletics, schools in the PSAC are stuck in the stone ages as it pertains to hiring, firing, etc., with regards to coaching positions on the grounds of them being part of the PASSHE and that they are state/union employees - or whatever the actual thing is within the fine print there. You can't fire a coach because he's part of the union? You can't hire a coach because of state rules pertaining to when you post the position? Are we serious here?

I'm sure something I said above is wrong in technicality, but the general semantics of it are true.

Yep. Union job has to be followed by what's in the contract. State job has to follow state guidelines.

The only positions that aren't subject to this are GA's and volunteers, but even then there's paperwork, background checks, etc.

[Sec10-A-14]

Here's just a general thought... It's amazing to me in the day and age we live in pertaining to college athletics, schools in the PSAC are stuck in the stone ages as it pertains to hiring, firing, etc., with regards to coaching positions on the grounds of them being part of the PASSHE and that they are state/union employees - or whatever the actual thing is within the fine print there. You can't fire a coach because he's part of the union? You can't hire a coach because of state rules pertaining to when you post the position? Are we serious here?

I'm sure something I said above is wrong in technicality, but the general semantics of it are true.

Its a union thing. over the yrs I worked both union & non union. the problem with unions are they protect too many slugs. It was next to impossible to fire certain people who barely did their work and always had excuses why its never their fault.
Believe me I've seen both sides. Good & bad

[Sec10-A-14]

Back to the ins & outs.
At Gannon OC Tony Caljean to Frankfort (Germany) Galaxy European Pro Football
Replacement
Mike Hallet https://gannonsports.com/staff-direc...ke-hallett/557

DC Erik Pratt off to University of Delaware
Replacement
Rich Yahner https://gannonsports.com/news/2026/4...ordinator.aspx

[Fightingscot82]

Those are some solid hires. I hope that they stick around. That's a lot of added experience to go along with Raeburn's resume. Also hope they have some dynamic hungry young guys to go along with all the old gray haired white guys at the top.