Marching onward through our profiles of the new Penn State football coaching staff, we take a closer look at 61 year old offensive line coach Mac McWhorter. The Penn State offensive line's struggles have been no small secret for the past decade -- a ridiculous notion to those who have been observing the program for more than a few years, but a harsh reality of most Nittany Lion teams of the 21st century.
Experience. Here's McWhorter's Longhorn bio page, which still exists for whatever reason. His college coaching career includes the following:
2005-2010: Associate Head Coach/Offensive Line, Texas
2004: Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Line, Texas
2003: Offensive Line, Texas
2002: Offensive Tackles/Tight Ends, Texas
2001: Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Line, Georgia Tech
2000: Offensive Line, Georgia Tech
1999: Co-Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line, Memphis
1996-98: Offensive Tackles/Tight Ends, Clemson
1991-95: Offensive Line/Tight Ends/Special Teams/Football Operations, Georgia
1990: Offensive Line/Football Operations, Duke
1989: Head Coach, West Georgia
1988: Offensive Line, Alabama
1987: Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Line/Football Operations, Alabama
1985-86: Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Line/Football Operations, Georgia
1982-84: Offensive Line, Georgia Tech
1981: Offensive Line/Special Teams Coordinator, Georgia Tech
1980: Receivers/Special Teams Coordinator, Georgia Tech
As you can see, McWhorter was with Bill O'Brien at Georgia Tech in the early 2000's. He moved on to Texas when George O'Leary left Georgia Tech for his short-lived gig at Notre Dame. Under McWhorter (and with Texas' immense talent pool), the Longhorns had multiple All-Americans, and even more All-Big 12 linemen. When he was essentially scapegoated along with other Texas offensive coaches following the 2010 season, McWhorter seemed to be adapting to the non-coaching life:
He'd lost 20 pounds since the 2010 Texas A&M game. He'd grown a goatee. He'd been running alone in the mornings and walking with his wife in the afternoons. He'd discovered the joy of reading into the night with no concern for an alarm set to bleat at 4:30 a.m. He'd bought a new motorcycle. A Harley.
"I've discovered a lot of things that I've never had time to do before," McWhorter said then.
However, he most certainly left the door open for a return to the profession:
"It'll always be in my blood," he said.
And he added: "If something came up, with the right people, at the right place, I would really consider doing it. The right people make more a difference for me than the place."
"The right people" turned out to be some of his old friends from O'Leary's Yellow Jacket staff.
Recruiting and Belly-Fire. You'll see why these belong together. I solicited some opinions from Texas bloggers. Here were their opinions of McWhorter, which paint a gloomier picture than the glowing official Longhorns bio:
I think the guy is probably a solid football coach from a technical and teaching standpoint. I think he got handed a situation trying to teach bad schemes in the final years of the ancient regime, got fed up/frustrated and threw up his hands. This program-wide entropy led to 5-7 and cost him his job.
As for recruiting, he didn't exactly put forth a lot of effort in finding best available guys who fit our scheme but again our 'scheme' was sort of to blame. I think he sort of felt like "why bother." Our grab bag of badly conditioned offensive line folks can be clearly seen. Not an NFL pipeline. I wouldn't look for him to be a [recruiting] rainmaker in Texas. Then again, Texas has close to 376,000 D1 prospects every year so he may pull some guys.
I think if he's recharged and excited to be going to work he's at worst a B+.
Folks I know who have worked with McWhorter speak well of him in terms of his capabilities, but like a lot of folks as he's approached the end of his career he's been less interested in "living the job," so to speak. So I'd agree that if he's fired up to go all-in one more time in his career, I'm sure he'll do fine. If not, he may just be adequate, and perhaps less than that if that translates to lazy recruiting.
Cupboard. Kind of bare. Penn State loses four starting offensive linemen this off-season, with partial credit going to guard John Urschel, who receieved a fair amount of playing time in 2011. The roster is packed with a bevy of highly-rated prospects who are completely unproven at the college level. It'll be up to McWhorter, as well as new strength coach Craig Fitzgerald, to whip these puppies into snarling dogs.
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0 recs | 58 comments
One o-line coach?
Sounds good to me. Also, I’m not sure how much the previous staff was ‘living the job’ either. This guy should be just fine.
Maybe he chose PSU for it’s close proximity to the Harley plant in York?
Truck O'Saurus - January 24, 2012 via Android app
Or the dealer 10 min down 322
dbl5030 - January 24, 2012
"whip these puppies into snarling dogs"?
Mike Vick, is that you?
psume06 - January 24, 2012 via mobile
That really was a most unfortunate choice of words...
LowcountryLion - January 24, 2012
That is, perhaps, an even more ironic metaphor than you realize.
Coach McWhorter comes from a family long connected with the University of Georgia. In fact, the old athletic dormitory (since torn down to make way for more modern buildings) was named “McWhorter Hall” after one of his ancestors.
He’s not exactly remembered fondly at UGA as a coach, since his 4 years as OL coach in the ’90’s coincided with a steady downturn in the Bulldogs’ fortunes on offense. He certainly does have an impressive resume, though. Of course, having the big names on a resume doesn’t make one a good coach.
For your sake, though, I hope he used his brief time off to recharge his batteries and come back with a fresh perspective.
vineyarddawg - January 24, 2012
Gave the pick an A, mostly for potential
If he can come out and coach up the guys we have than he’ll deserve the A. If he comes out and gives a Dick Anderson type of effort, we’re in trouble. I’m not even too concerned about his recruiting. Have him be the “Texas” guy and use his connections there. Don’t expect anything major, other than pulling a decent 3 star guy every now and then.
skarocksoi - January 24, 2012
To clarify
I dont mind him not being a voracious recruiter as long as he his producing solid Olines most years.
skarocksoi - January 24, 2012
Which would, in a lot of ways recruit itself.
If we have some excellent lines and top performers on them, then LJ/Vandy et al will clean up the top OL talents in their own regions. Nothing wrong with that.
PSUinBOSSton - January 24, 2012
Looking at the 1980s portion of that bio,
it seems that Mac is really a Bill Curry disciple. For some intangible reason, that makes me feel better about this hire.
SubLime - January 24, 2012
I have a good feeling about this guy.
A little age and experience to offset some of the youth in the new staff. Plus, having just one guy coach the whole line has to show some improvements, right?
SarcasmJam - January 24, 2012
Question.
Is it pronounced “Mc-whore-ter” or “Mc-wart-er”?
dbl5030 - January 24, 2012
Mc-Whore-Ter...?
swiggy04 - January 24, 2012
B is probably the more appropriate choice here.
But I voted for choice A for a couple reasons. He had a pretty solid career at Texas and will bring continuity and experience to our offensive line. And a perhaps overlooked factor is that having coached in Texas for several years, there is a good chance he has some recruiting connections for the talent filled state.
Between McWhorter and the new strength/conditioning coach, I hope to see more consistency from the offensive line.
Swiggs - January 24, 2012
Guys
Again, Texas fans who know what they’re talking about in general do not like McWhorter – they think he started phoning it in a few years ago. And it isn’t sour grapes for leaving; they certainly don’t despise him like they do Greg Davis, but nor do they love him like they do Will Muschamp.
D from me. This has Galen Hall written all over it.
M1EK - January 24, 2012
Like everyone else
I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt until he starts coaching a few games.
I mean, wasn’t this guy at least in part responsible for getting UT to two BCS Title games within a 4 year period? I don’t think you do that with shitty line play.
Also, pretty sure I mentioned this to you on another board somewhere, but despite getting rid of Davis and McWhorter, UT still seems particularly inept on offensive despite all that Texas Talent.
Artiefufkin10 - January 24, 2012
I agree with this.
Urban Meyer took time off for essentially being burned out (not really buying the health excuse) and nobody is doubting him. I’m hoping that some time off to get over the burnout and frustration, combined with a solid opportunity will produce some great results. I question his longevity, as it’ll only be so long before he gets burnt out again, but I think he’s off to a good start. If he can pull any recruits from Texas with him, that would be an added bonus.
Succss With Honor Always - January 24, 2012
Yeah, I'm with Artie.
I mean, here’s Texas record during McWhorter’s time in Austin:
2010 5-7
2009 13-1
2008 12-1
2007 10-3
2006 10-3
2005 13-0
2004 11-1
2003 10-3
2002 11-2
Hell, most of their losses were to top 10 teams. The offensive lines couldn’t have been that bad.
Chris Grovich - January 24, 2012
Oh, there's a link that was supposed to go in there.
http://www.mackbrown-texasfootball.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/all-time-results.html
Chris Grovich - January 24, 2012
Remember where I live
I can hear the games in my backyard.
My stepson built a longhorn enclosure out at Pioneer Farms for his Eagle Scout project. I asked him later on if he could build one to keep them away from our house.
The Texas fans believe they won despite their OL due to athletic QB play (and despite stereotypes, McCoy was also a hell of an athlete) and you saw the more expected results the last 2 years (non-athletic QB getting killed).
Kind of like the QB coaching argument at Penn State, come to think of it.
M1EK - January 24, 2012
Oh, well if you live in Texas, that's different.
That AUTOMATICALLY makes you qualified, not the citation to ShaggyBevo.
On an unrelated note, I’m currently working on the definitive work about Western PA high school football. It’s OK, I live here. Stay tuned…
Jeff Junstrom - January 24, 2012
Appreciate the attitude.
Just loving it.
I know a lot of Texas fans who know what they’re talking about regarding football. But there’s no way you could get anything useful out of that, so please go ahead and resume your mockery.
M1EK - January 24, 2012
You're only getting the treatment you give out a majority of the time.
You can’t understand how people could have a different viewpoint. And you go and say things like “Well ShaggyBevo said this…” and “But I live in TEXAS!”
Rather than bash everyone’s opinion, which forces the mockery you see, engage in civil discourse. No one is out to get you, M1, contrary to what you might believe.
Jeff Junstrom - January 24, 2012
Not even remotely true.
I understand those viewpoints completely. And I understand how people can have them. You are buying into a false narrative that’s been spread here for a long time which is not supported by the actual words I’ve written.
By the way, bashing somebody’s opinion is eighty-five levels superior to bashing somebody’s person.
M1EK - January 24, 2012
The actual words you've written are backed by your belief of people from ShaggyBevo.
That’s all I’ve ever seen you quote in your criticism of McWhorter. Other people feel differently. Additional readers read conflicting information, bring it here to discuss, only to run into you and your “”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLk7x7JL1fo" target="new">NO…NO…NO" routine and it gets tiresome.
Jeff Junstrom - January 24, 2012
Link fail.
Try again.
Jeff Junstrom - January 24, 2012
That's right.
Backed up by the more educated corner of their fanbase. Which is worth something.
M1EK - January 24, 2012
re-reading
didn’t address the main point you made.
I said you could make a flavor of the same argument about McWhorter that people have made about Jay Paterno / QB coaching – which is that Texas’ offense near the end was succeeding despite him – in that they had two very athletic top-notch quarterbacks in a row who could win even with a mediocre OL. Is that not a point?
M1EK - January 24, 2012
That is a point, and this is now a civil discussion.
Was that too hard?
I would counter that, while there may have been some end-of-UT-tenure malaise at the end, you can’t discredit his being a part of a pretty damn good UT run.
Jeff Junstrom - January 24, 2012
I made that point before.
You missed it.
And the characterization from the UT fans I know is consistently that he was once a very good coach who then started to coast for whatever reason, and at the end didn’t seem to give a shit at all.
M1EK - January 24, 2012
which
is highly consistent with the results of that UT run.
M1EK - January 24, 2012
i dont know about "highly" consistent
its an argument that can certainly be made. they had one bad year in his tenure, and it was at the end. Can you argue he wasnt doing his job well in 2010? Sure. But a significant drop off like they had in 2010 is probably caused by more than just your Offensive Line coach deciding for one year he felt like “coasting”
I doubt any coach could get away with “coasting” for a team that made the national championship. So if he was not doing his job well, its hard to imagine it started at any point prior to 2010.
swiggy04 - January 24, 2012
They had 2 all-world QBs
before 2010 in a row – QBs that masked a lot of problems with their OL. When they got a freshman who wasn’t quite as athletic as either Young or McCoy, it all fell apart, but the seeds were there for years.
M1EK - January 24, 2012
But M1EK stayed at a Holiday Inn.
The media is always right, and according to them, Holiday Inns make you smart!
Succss With Honor Always - January 24, 2012
meh
i refuse to take the opinion of Texas fans on this. They have an axe to grind and a narrative to fit. My objective opinion sees an O Line coach at a team that has produced plenty of fantastic RBs, went to two BCS championship games, a former assistant coach of the year, and a guy who was respected enough to be an assistant head coach at 4 historically significant football schools (Texas, GaTech, Georgia, Alabama).
I am excited about getting a guy with that pedigree, mixing him in with a new and enthusiastic strength coach, and the usual offensive line studs we generally recruit. He may have phoned it in as a recruiter, but its not necessary that he dominate recruiting. It’s necessary that he fix this offensive line. This is why he isnt being asked to be recruiting coordinator, assistant head coach, or coach the TEs. His job is to focus on the OLine.
That he has the pedigree to get that job done excites me. Texas fans trying to get me to believe its somehow his fault they went from BCS title game to 5-7 sways me in no way from that excitement.
swiggy04 - January 24, 2012
agree 100%
Lets see what he can do before we write him off.
Artiefufkin10 - January 24, 2012
Use common sense
They have an axe to grind against any of their former coaches that left – because they believe they’re the Joneses.
They hate Greg Davis, are indifferent-to-negative about McWhorter, and love Muschamp.
M1EK - January 24, 2012
You keep harping on these Texas fans "that know what they're talking about"
But all you ever talk about are some commenters at ShaggyBevo, the people behind the appearance of PedoBear at the TicketCity Bowl. I’m sure I could swing by Burnt Orange Nation and find someone that really liked McWhorter. Is that a counter enough for your argument?
Jeff Junstrom - January 24, 2012
You would not.
You would likely not find many people at BON or even HornFans who really like McWhorter – those ae more the equivalent of BWI and FOS compared to here, to be honest. (I have recently made the same comparison the other direction to them when they conflated some of the dumber things said at FOS and BWI with this site).
M1EK - January 24, 2012
I would have given it a B but I downgraded to C after hearing about the potential lack of enthusiasm for recruiting
On another note, has every single coach in the country spent time at Duke or something? And he wasn’t even there with Chins.
Nittany_Ryan - January 24, 2012
Can't be worse right?
SweepTheLeg - January 24, 2012
i agree with this the most
we should all be jumping up and down that there’s a new offensive line coach. If you’re creating a pros-cons list for the Sandusky scandal, there’s certainly a shortage of elements in the “pro” column. Penn State getting a new offensive line coach might be near the top of the “pro” list, after only perhaps Ben Jones winning the “Who’s More Now” award.
spakajewia - January 24, 2012
In terms of actual football, I like it.
One OL coach gets two thumbs up. But Kenney was an effective recruiter, especially of late. Dick Anderson…meh. But if McWhorter can hit the trail, then he gets all three thumbs up from me.
Jeff Junstrom - January 24, 2012
I suddenly like this hire a lot more.
Call it a hunch.
FB6244 - January 24, 2012
The more I hear about this guy the more I think he will be the best ever.
FB6244 - January 24, 2012
The more M1EK hates on him, the more I like him. I want to change my grade from a B to an A.
Succss With Honor Always - January 24, 2012
took the words right out of my mouth
letsgopsu - January 24, 2012
Someone throw up a siren
247 reporting that Jawja QB Steven Bench committed.
DrewRusse - January 24, 2012
SEC SPEED
FB6244 - January 24, 2012
Working on it with SEC speed...
Jeff Junstrom - January 24, 2012
I think BOB should poll internet people on their opinions....
....THEN do his hiring.hbeach08 - January 24, 2012
This is a good idea
in fact, I’m going to use it. I need to know what I should eat for dinner. What is everyone’s opinions on sandwiches?
skarocksoi - January 24, 2012
I am the WRONG person to ask
like I prefer saying….you don’t get to be this big being picky.
hbeach08 - January 24, 2012
I'm generally in favor of them.
Paige2PSU - January 24, 2012
WRONG
Sandwiches for dinner are not appropriate. I am always right.
letsgopsu - January 24, 2012
Sandwich is the best
Bread use aside from making
Russians stand in line
WorldBFat - January 24, 2012
This haiku was horribly, horribly underrated.
OctaShields - January 24, 2012
Generally pro-sandwich.
Esteban d' Amur - January 24, 2012
Huh
Don’t really like those responses from the Texas bloggers. But, with all of this, I’m willing to let it play out.
speedomike - January 25, 2012
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