STATE COLLEGE — If his late-night Twitter message Wednesday didn’t directly acknowledge he planned to return to Penn State, the message came across clearly by Thursday morning.
During an appearance on a Pittsburgh radio show, Bob Shoop confirmed he’s returning to the Nittany Lions as their defensive coordinator. FOX Sports reports he is expected to receive a three-year contract worth close to $1 million per year from the university.
Penn State officials have not confirmed a contract has been worked out.
Shoop reportedly interviewed Wednesday with LSU coach Les Miles for that program’s vacant defensive coordinator’s post, a job expected to net the person who ultimately takes it around $1 million per year.
The Advocate, a Baton Rouge newspaper that covers LSU football, reported that Shoop was not offered the job during the meeting.
Shoop told Trib Live Radio on Thursday that he looked forward to helping build the Nittany Lions program back to national respectability.
“Ultimately, when it came to decision-making time, Penn State was the best opportunity for me and my family,” Shoop said on the radio show. “When I think about being from Pittsburgh, being from Pennsylvania, I have a dream job, a job that 99.99 percent of the people in my profession would trade places with me in a heartbeat. It really wasn’t much of a decision.”
Several factors, he said, contributed to his return.
Shoop said reports that he felt “pressure” to stay from Penn State head coach James Franklin was inaccurate, and that as Franklin characterized himself when he was hired a year ago, he considered himself a “Pennsylvania boy with a Penn State heart.” He also said several recruits and players — namely linebacker Mike Hull and two freshmen, linebacker Jason Cabinda and safety Marcus Allen — chatted with him at length about the pros of staying on.
Shoop has been a defensive coordinator each of the last four seasons under Franklin at Vanderbilt and Penn State, and none of his defenses have ranked outside the top 25 in the nation. The Nittany Lions ranked No. 2 in the nation and No. 1 against the run this past season.