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BWI Daily: Examining Penn State O-line coach Phil Trautwein's resume

Headshot 5x7 reduced qualityby: Thomas Frank Carr11/08/21ThomasFrankCarr
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Penn State offensive line coach Phil Trautwein's unit has struggled to make progress in 2021 (Corey Perrine Getty)

Penn State got their sixth win of the season on Saturday to make the team bowl eligible, yet inconsistencies on offense continue to be a problem. Most notably, the team still can’t run the football. It’s causing some fans to question whether or not head coach James Franklin got the wrong guy in offensive line coach Phil Trautwein.

Trautwein was hired in the winter of 2020 after Franklin decided not to renew the contract for then offensive line coach Matt Limegrover, who had been with the team for four seasons. Trautwein was brought in and regarded as an upgrade at the position as both a technical coach and a recruiter.

Thomas Frank Carr dives into Tratuwein’s resume before Penn State and finds that it’s exceedingly short at his current position. T-Frank takes a look at several factors that make a coach highly-regarded including offensive output and player success at the NFL level.

He tries to put that into context with the situation that Trautwein inherited at both of his two stints as a coach at Boston College and Penn State. He takes an extensive look at Trautwein’s time at Boston College and learns more about his predecessor, Justin Frye, to see what sort of players and system he inherited. Is the former left tackle’s career built on circumstance? Or did he genuinely improve the Eagles offensive line?

T-Frank uses some large-scale metrics to try and find out.

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