Oasis on Ice

The 2014 Coaches Caravan kicked off at Pegula Ice Arena on May 1st.  

Yours truly was there.

I should have brought a stool or something to stand on!

I also ran into Carolyn Todd, another blogger.  She's a Penn State professor who has recently lost her husband to cancer.

And here I am taking a piece of coconut chicken.  My bowling buddies are at the table with me.

So what do I think?

I am really excited to get this season going.  The recruiting has been fun--still is--but it won't be anything compared to watching Coach Franklin lead his team onto the field September 6th in Beaver Stadium.

The main ceremony took place on a carpeted area on the ice rink.  

Franklin was joined by Russ Rose and Bob Warming.  Assistant coaches Brent Pry, Bob Shoop, Josh Gattis, and Charles Huff also mingled with the crowd of around 450 guests before hand.  Bob Shoop offered another buddy of mine and his son a chance to come to a practice sometime.  Coach Chambers was also there but did not speak in the main program.

Once again, Franklin got choked up talking about being the head coach of the Nittany Lions.  He has gotten choked up before.  Genuine emotion, or hamming it up for the crowd?  You decide.  I think it's for real, but I have been known to be wrong before.  It certainly sounds like this is his dream job.  

"For a lot of people, this is a job," Franklin said.  "This is personal for me.  This means the world to me.  For a guy growing up in the state of Pennsylvania to come back and be the head football coach at Penn State is unbelievably special."

"I love that the expectation here is for the head coach to be here for 80 years," Franklin joked.

And it was with a heavy heart, that I suddenly realized that I am probably older (and shorter) than all of the football coaches at Penn State now.  I've always been shorter.  I might have Spider Caldwell beat!

WE ARE . . . PENN STATE!