Doug Lesmerises interview with Bob Flounders

olelion

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This is a very worthwhile watch. His thoughts on where Penn State went wrong are insightful.



 

WestSideLion

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Everybody is a self-proclaimed expert these days I see.
Agreed. The reality is that many subtle things combined over the years to lead to this point. None were overly obvious at the time decisions were being made.

I do think one overriding factor played an outsized role: Franklin ran the program like a CEO. And I think he wasn't always a big part in these many subtle decisions over the years. He stuck to recruiting and program relations, and deferred to coordinators day to day. There was an obvious disconnect between those levels in hindsight. Especially on offense.
 
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Everybody is a self-proclaimed expert these days I see.

Exactly - "hindsight is always 20/20 vision". From listening to these jackasses you would think every FBS team in the nation has a 1st RD Draft Pick at QB or something. Only 3 of JF's choices started for him at QB - Trace McSorley, Sean Clifford and Drew Allar. Both McSorley and Clifford were drafted and played multiple years in the NFL. Allar is likely to get drafted depending on how he shows at Combines / Pro Days post injury recovery.

Really absurd to act like JF's QB choices have been abysmal - PSU's QBs have played well above average. If anything has cost PSU in the most important games, it's been the Defense.... - surrendering multiple 4th Quarter leads to duhO$U over the years.... not being able to seal late 4th Qtr / OT leads (ND last year, Oregon this year, etc....).
 

Itraindogs

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Agreed. The reality is that many subtle things combined over the years to lead to this point. None were overly obvious at the time decisions were being made.

I do think one overriding factor played an outsized role: Franklin ran the program like a CEO. And I think he wasn't always a big part in these many subtle decisions over the years. He stuck to recruiting and program relations, and deferred to coordinators day to day. There was an obvious disconnect between those levels in hindsight. Especially on offense.
There is no avoiding the fact that the coordinator hires were not compatible with the personnel on the field, and that is 100% on James. Nothing is more obvious than the AK and JK hires. Knowles did not forget how to coach defense when he came to PSU, but he did not have the pieces to run his defense (that is why you hired him). James made a "splash" hire but it was a terrible hire because he did not have the DT or LB play to run it properly. You also do not bring in AK to maximize the talents of a drop back passer.

You can go back and look at the respective numbers for offense and defense and the discrepancies are clear. And I think it became clear to Kraft that no more tinkering was going to fix this (replacing OCs or WR coaches), because the head of the program had selected all the pieces and these selections were only going to take PSU so far.

Was he right? Only time will tell.
 
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BobPSU92

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Agreed. The reality is that many subtle things combined over the years to lead to this point. None were overly obvious at the time decisions were being made.

I do think one overriding factor played an outsized role: Franklin ran the program like a CEO. And I think he wasn't always a big part in these many subtle decisions over the years. He stuck to recruiting and program relations, and deferred to coordinators day to day. There was an obvious disconnect between those levels in hindsight. Especially on offense.

Many here insisted over the years that Franklin meddled in the offense since offensive coordinators’ offenses here did not resemble what they ran at their previous schools. Then again, the SH|T. SHOW. o_O we saw against iowa suggests otherwise.

😞
 

Nits1989

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Many here insisted over the years that Franklin meddled in the offense since offensive coordinators’ offenses here did not resemble what they ran at their previous schools. Then again, the SH|T. SHOW. o_O we saw against iowa suggests otherwise.

😞
It was night and day watching Bob Chesney coached JMU against Texas State. JMU offense was dynamic. They made plays I wished PSU would have made. Receivers getting separation. A QB scrambling under pressure and making plays. 511 yards total offense.
 

cjrugger

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It was night and day watching Bob Chesney coached JMU against Texas State. JMU offense was dynamic. They made plays I wished PSU would have made. Receivers getting separation. A QB scrambling under pressure and making plays. 511 yards total offense.
Oh please. If we beat a 3-5 Sun Belt team after only being up 28-20 at halftime you all would have melted the internet
 

Itraindogs

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Oh please. If we beat a 3-5 Sun Belt team after only being up 28-20 at halftime you all would have melted the internet
You are evaluating based on conferences and logos, not on the product on the field. Chesney won against GJ Kinne, another up and coming coach and the final score (52 to 20) tells you all you need to know about in game adjustment. JMU's QB was 12/18 for 254 yard 4TD one pick.

Yes both JMU and TS are in the Sun Belt Conference but that tells you nothing as to the skill of a coach; after all Cignetti came from the Sun Belt and is putting belt to *** to every P4 team Indiana is playing. That with vastly inferior blue chip ratio.
 

cjrugger

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You are evaluating based on conferences and logos, not on the product on the field. Chesney won against GJ Kinne, another up and coming coach and the final score (52 to 20) tells you all you need to know about in game adjustment. JMU's QB was 12/18 for 254 yard 4TD one pick.

Yes both JMU and TS are in the Sun Belt Conference but that tells you nothing as to the skill of a coach; after all Cignetti came from the Sun Belt and is putting belt to *** to every P4 team Indiana is playing. That with vastly inferior blue chip ratio.
GJ Kinne is 19-15 (9-11 in conference) at Texas State. Let's pump the brakes

You can't tell anything about the skill of a coach either. You just want to try and catch lightning in a bottle because it occasionally works with other coaches. Somehow, you guys would like Matt Campbell better if he had spent the last 5 years coaching D2 instead of doing a great job coaching in the Big 12
 
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Itraindogs

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Campbell is an excellent coach. Never said otherwise. But there is no escaping the fact that Chesney is also an excellent coach. And I disagree. You can surely tell the skill of a coach by the construction of the program before and after the coach arrives. Is it a fluke that TexasAM is vastly superior to the time Jimbo was there with Elko? What about Vandy with Lea? Ole Miss with Kiffin Indiana with Cignetti (the obvious)? and on and on.

These turnarounds are 100% coach skill dependent, if they were not, they would not be paid boat loads of cash.
 

cjrugger

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Campbell is an excellent coach. Never said otherwise. But there is no escaping the fact that Chesney is also an excellent coach. And I disagree. You can surely tell the skill of a coach by the construction of the program before and after the coach arrives. Is it a fluke that TexasAM is vastly superior to the time Jimbo was there with Elko? What about Vandy with Lea? Ole Miss with Kiffin Indiana with Cignetti (the obvious)? and on and on.

These turnarounds are 100% coach skill dependent, if they were not, they would not be paid boat loads of cash.
Of course you can judge a coach over time. I thought we were talking about judging a coach based off a random Sun Belt game on a Tuesday night.

Chesney is certainly an excellent coach at the D2/D3 level. I don't see any way you can say that about his ability at the P4 or PSU level
 

Itraindogs

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Of course you can judge a coach over time. I thought we were talking about judging a coach based off a random Sun Belt game on a Tuesday night.

Chesney is certainly an excellent coach at the D2/D3 level. I don't see any way you can say that about his ability at the P4 or PSU level
Of course not because he has never done it. But inductively I think there is a better chance of hiring a talented coach from a lower division looking to move up than hiring a "proven" coach that has failed or not performed to the standard you are aspiring to (Rhule, Kelly).

Personally, if the move was to upend the program in the hope you can level up with elite programs you take the risk with a young coach that has done it at a lower division and see how he does.
 
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SRURock24

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Of course you can judge a coach over time. I thought we were talking about judging a coach based off a random Sun Belt game on a Tuesday night.

Chesney is certainly an excellent coach at the D2/D3 level. I don't see any way you can say that about his ability at the P4 or PSU level
Chesney must have a lot of relatives on this board.
 

cjrugger

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Of course not because he has never done it. But inductively I think there is a better chance of hiring a talented coach from a lower division looking to move up than hiring a "proven" coach that has failed or not performed to the standard you are aspiring to (Rhule, Kelly).

Personally, if the move was to upend the program in the hope you can level up with elite programs you take the risk with a young coach that has done it at a lower division and see how he does.
Rhule or Kelly? Come on, you gotta do better than that
 
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bbrown

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Oh please. If we beat a 3-5 Sun Belt team after only being up 28-20 at halftime you all would have melted the internet
Season 5 Nbc GIF by The Office
 
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Georgia Peach

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He is a bit of a slob. You'd think the people at Penn live would say something about his being the face of the paper
There is no avoiding the fact that the coordinator hires were not compatible with the personnel on the field, and that is 100% on James. Nothing is more obvious that the AK and JK hires. Knowles did not forget how to coach defense when he came to PSU, but he did not have the pieces to run his defense (that is why you hired him). James made a "splash" hire but it was a terrible hire because he did not have the DT or LB play to run it properly. You also do not bring in AK to maximize the talents of a drop back passer.

You can go back and look at the respective numbers for offense and defense and the discrepancies are clear. And I think it became clear to Kraft that no more tinkering was going to fix this (replacing OCs or WR coaches), because the head of the program had selected all the pieces and these selections were only going to take PSU so far.

Was he right? Only time will tell.
I like your description of the splash hire for DC. I bet it prompted the writing of checks from the support world when it was announced. Now whether it was a good fit for a team returning so many starters and needing to hit the ground running is another matter.

In a nutshell, that hire is typical Franklin. Great headlines, like many of his recruits often get. Whether these recruits are good football players or good in shorts and in the workout room is another matter.

I think the problem with Franklin over the years has been his habit of recruiting certain positions extremely well (DB and RB) and other positions horribly (WR). The fact that Allar never had a chance to throw balls to a top level receiver is a shame. The kid threw many catchable balls to Tyler Warren. Nobody has been near that level at WR for years.
 

Nittering Nabob

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Isn't Doug Lesmerises the goofy writer from Ohio who always voted Penn State way down in the AP poll when we had a vote?
 
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DaytonRickster

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Exactly - "hindsight is always 20/20 vision". From listening to these jackasses you would think every FBS team in the nation has a 1st RD Draft Pick at QB or something. Only 3 of JF's choices started for him at QB - Trace McSorley, Sean Clifford and Drew Allar. Both McSorley and Clifford were drafted and played multiple years in the NFL. Allar is likely to get drafted depending on how he shows at Combines / Pro Days post injury recovery.

Really absurd to act like JF's QB choices have been abysmal - PSU's QBs have played well above average. If anything has cost PSU in the most important games, it's been the Defense.... - surrendering multiple 4th Quarter leads to duhO$U over the years.... not being able to seal late 4th Qtr / OT leads (ND last year, Oregon this year, etc....).
I believe his point is the QBs and offensive philosophy were not the right mix except McSorley and he had Barkley and the WRs.
 

DaytonRickster

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It was night and day watching Bob Chesney coached JMU against Texas State. JMU offense was dynamic. They made plays I wished PSU would have made. Receivers getting separation. A QB scrambling under pressure and making plays. 511 yards total offense.
I like Chesney.
 

DaytonRickster

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GJ Kinne is 19-15 (9-11 in conference) at Texas State. Let's pump the brakes

You can't tell anything about the skill of a coach either. You just want to try and catch lightning in a bottle because it occasionally works with other coaches. Somehow, you guys would like Matt Campbell better if he had spent the last 5 years coaching D2 instead of doing a great job coaching in the Big 12
Cignetti took the vast majority of the JMU best players to Indiana with him. So what did Chesney do? He went 9-1 after Cignetti's departure. Offer him a 4 yr contract at 6 million per year and see what happens.
 

cjrugger

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Cignetti took the vast majority of the JMU best players to Indiana with him. So what did Chesney do? He went 9-1 after Cignetti's departure. Offer him a 4 yr contract at 6 million per year and see what happens.
When his career is on the line and he just fired a successful coach, Pat is looking for a little more than ‘underpay a guy who’s not really qualified and see what happens’
 

Itraindogs

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When his career is on the line and he just fired a successful coach, Pat is looking for a little more than ‘underpay a guy who’s not really qualified and see what happens’
Yeah. I think you will be very disappointed with who they will be able to hire. I do not believe it will be a matter of money here, but who will be able to get. It is now the 3rd best job out there after LSU and Florida and if FSU and Auburn open up it quickly goes down the list.
 
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ApexLion

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All you need to know about Flounders and his personality is that he’s sitting in front of a wall with Flyers and Phillies pennants while wearing a Dallas cowboys visor in his mother’s basement.
 
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leinbacker

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He was spot on. There was never a consistent offensive philosophy, hence the choices of QBs were haphazard. They opted for a drop back passer and then hired AK who I am not sure has an offensive identity

Our offensive philosophy is chunk plays, that and analytics