Penn State coach James Franklin nearly didn't make Deion Barnes his new defensive line coach; here's why he did

INDIANAPOLIS — Penn State coach James Franklin could have given a bland but straightforward answer when asked here at Lucas Oil Stadium how first-year defensive line coach Deion Barnes has progressed since being hired to replace John Scott Jr., in March. But, despite a long day of obligations at Big Ten Media Days that was nearing its conclusion, the 10th-year leader of the Nittany Lions decided that he wanted to tell a story.

Here’s how it started: Barnes was nearly not the program’s pick to join Franklin’s on-field staff. At least, that’s how things began when the search for a new position coach started in late February.

“We interviewed him, and I didn’t think I was going to hire him,” Franklin said on Wednesday. “A lot of times in coaching, you view guys; he was a player for me, a graduate assistant for me, and sometimes coaches feel like players have to leave and then come back.

“But, Deion just kept growing. He just kept growing as a coach, as a recruiter, when it comes to scheme, and philosophy, when it comes technology, all of it, he was just growing and growing, and he earned a lot of respect from people in the building.”

As Franklin tells it, one of those people was Manny Diaz. It goes without saying that the defensive coordinator surely had an oversized role in deciding who would join the staff on his side of the ball. But, Franklin had the final say. And, he had to consider a variety of things. Was Barnes ready to take his first big job at a big-time school like Penn State? Could he handle things on the recruiting trail despite never cutting his teeth by doing so elsewhere? Would an external candidate be better?

Franklin breaks down why Deion Barnes was the right pick to be the new Penn State defensive line coach

It seems like a safe bet that Franklin took his time to weigh those questions. After all, his assistant coaching searches usually wrap up within seven days, and often less. This hunt took two weeks and ended right before the Nittany Lions started spring practice.

We’ll never know how many other people were considered. But, in the end, it became clear that the Penn State letterman who moved into an analyst role with the Lions earlier this offseason was the right man for the job at the right time.

“We interviewed him, and it was probably one of those interviews where you interview somebody to basically cover your bases,” Franklin said. “We interviewed him, and a bunch of established college coaches, we interviewed him, and a bunch of established NFL coaches, and he blew them all away. He dominated the interview. From that point on, I started looking at Deion as a legit candidate for this position.”

Franklin would later say that Barnes cut his hair just to show how serious he was about wanting the position. The head coach told him he would have hired him anyway, and the two shared a laugh, with the latter wishing he knew sooner.

In the end, it was worth the wait.

Barnes has quickly shown why

Penn State has a strong outlook along the defensive line for the 2023 season. And, the Lions have a handful of Class of 2024 defensive line commits, most of which have committed since Barnes took over, including top 100 four-star Liam Andrews.

“After doing the interview process and realizing we had best candidate already in our building, who had the institutional knowledge and understood the culture, and had all the community knowledge and strong recruiting ties, it just made so much sense,” Franklin said. He’s doing great. Our players love him. They were behind him 1000 percent. The big question was recruiting. Hadn’t done it, [but] so far, so good. He’s been attacking that and selling why Penn State has been so impactful in his life and it hits home with a lot of recruits. 

“Deion’s doing well. I am really proud of Deion.”

And that’s the story behind how Penn State ended up with its latest defensive line coach.