Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1410640
1 8 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 1 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Ty Howle grew up the son of a high school football coach in Bunn, N.C., and now counts some of his former college coaches among his biggest role models. It should come as no surprise, then, that he has taken up the profession him- self. Howle, whose father, David Howle, coached Bunn High for 29 years, is in his first season overseeing Penn State's tight ends. He was an offensive lineman for the Nittany Lions from 2009-13 before entering the coaching ranks as a gradu- ate assistant at North Carolina State in 2014. After two seasons with the Wolfpack, he headed to Western Illinois as the offen- sive line coach in 2016, added recruiting coordinator duties the following year and was pro- moted to assistant head coach and co-offensive coordinator in 2018 before returning to the Nittany Lions as an analyst in 2020. Having settled in at his alma mater, Howle needed less than a year to earn a spot as a position coach. James Franklin promoted him in Febru- ary 2021 after tight ends coach Tyler Bowen left for a job with the Jackson- ville Jaguars. BWI recently caught up with Howle to see how Penn State shaped him and learn more about his quick rise. BWI: What's it like to be back in an on-field role? HOWLE: "It's been a smooth tran- sition. With Coach Franklin, our cul- ture and our organization is the most important thing that we do. He does an unbelievable job of building coaches and helping us grow and those types of things. I was fortunate to be exposed to tight end play early on in coaching. I've been around some great tight end coaches and learned from them, and I've learned from Coach [Mike] Yurcich what this system wants at tight end." BWI: How does your time as a player at Penn State help you now that you're in a coaching and recruiting role? HOWLE: "It's been a tremendous opportunity to be back here at Penn State. It has always been a dream of mine. As far as training camp goes, there are a lot of similarities to the training camps I went through, and now it's just that I'm on the other side. They are less physical, you know, less banging, but a lot more mental. Our guys have done a great job throughout this training camp really soaking up the offense and doing a great job learning and playing hard every day. "As far as the recruiting piece, first of all, I hope that my passion for Penn State shows, because I love this place and that's what I like to tell people who are interested in coming here. I've got a lot of reasons why I love Penn State, and a lot of that goes back to the experi- ences I've lived, so that's a big piece that I draw upon." BWI: You were an offensive lineman. How does that help you as a tight ends coach, and how did your past coaches in- fluence you? HOWLE: "I was fortunate to play here at Penn State, and I'm just really grateful. You got to see a bunch of different coach- ing styles. One thing that Coach Franklin and the people I've been around always tell other coaches is to be yourself. I'm passionate about the game of football, being from a football background, watching my dad do it for so long and being here with some really great coaches. "My offensive line coach, Coach [Mac] McWhorter, had a big impact on me, just see- ing him from day to day and learning from all the other coaches I've gotten to study or be around. So that played a big part in it. I love football, I love helping young men. I'm pas- sionate about that. I'm going to coach them hard, but I'm also going to love them, so that's been a big impact. "And on the offensive line side, ob- viously understanding the blocking schemes and the box counts and IDs, that's allowed me to help them tran- sition [to a new offense] and will help these guys in the run game and protec- tion as well." BWI: There are other Penn State lettermen on this staff like yourself. What's it been like working alongside Terry Smith, Deion Barnes and Alan Ze- maitis? HOWLE: "Penn State is a brother- hood. So even before I got a chance to work on the staff, obviously I played with Deion, and even before I got to work with him, I knew about Terry Smith, I knew about Alan Zemaitis. People used to talk about Alan being one of those first big-time corners. There's imme- diately that brotherhood. We're all cut from the same cloth. We all love Penn State and are here for the right reasons, and it's an instant family feel." ■ During his tenure as a graduate assistant at North Carolina State, Howle worked with three offensive linemen who were later drafted into the NFL, including first-rounder Garrett Bradbury. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL Sitting Down With Penn State Tight Ends Coach Ty Howle