**Official** New Auburn OL coach Herb Hand

[WarTim 3,456]

Hand would be a fantastic hire I think.

Agree

[TitanTiger 20,465]

Herb Hand, who has been James Franklin's offensive line coach at both Vanderbilt and Penn State, is headed toward a deal with Auburn according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The person spoke with USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because the deal was not final.

The opening at Auburn was created Monday when offensive line coach J.B. Grimes accepted the job at Cincinnati, according to Al.com

Hand and Auburn coach Gus Malzahn worked together at Tulsa in 2007-08 and have remained close friends ever since. Hand is otherwise known for his appearance on the television show Chopped.

His departure will be the third off Franklin's staff in recent weeks, including both coordinator positions. Bob Shoop left Penn State for Tennessee during the weekend.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2016/01/11/penn-state-offensive-line-coach-herb-hand-headed-auburn/78640382/

[auburnphan 6,050]

Dan Wolken ‏@DanWolken 11m11 minutes ago

Penn State offensive line coach Herb Hand headed to Auburn http://usat.ly/1P4lUIt via @usatoday

sounds like a done deal, welcome Coach Hand Hand, can't wait for you to get the fire back in the head coach and develop some great offensive plans and schemes. Bring on the zone reads

[AUbritt 611]

Dang - - didn't know Hand appeared on 'Chopped'. That's awesome! Hahahaha.

[cole256 17,039]

Wonder what happened with the younger guy working under grimes? Grimes was very very high on him

[LKEEL75 2,566]

According to this, it is official

http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/auburn-football/auburn-hires-away-offensive-line-coach-penn-states-james-franklin/

[doc4aday 1,887]

Wonder what happened with the younger guy working under grimes? Grimes was very very high on him

I do wonder this as well. I hope he can remain with us and work with Coach Hand. I am waiting for the official word from Gus so we can start the party. This coaching stuff has been a lot of fun. After the OL hire, I guess most of us will turn our attention to recruiting.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

This is an awesome hire. Glad to have coach Hand in the Auburn Family.

[aujeff11 6,243]

Hand talk is all over Twitter this afternoon. The Penn State folks are acknowledging it as well.

What is your Twitter handle, JFD?

[PigskinPat 2,566]

Hand talk is all over Twitter this afternoon. The Penn State folks are acknowledging it as well.

Can you give a specific source of the PSU fans? I bet they are up in arms about losing Shoop. I really did not think Shoop would ever leave Coach Franklin. UT is a step down from PSU in my opinion. Who knows folks? I do not see any support for getting Jeff Grimes to come as OL, so I guess he is out of the equation. I am sure Gus will hire who he thinks is the best OL coach for his offense. Hand does seem to know a lot about Gus' Spread/Zone Read etc. This could be a huge asset with hiring CHH from PSU.

I like Jeff Grimes, too, but I think Coach Hand brings an extra element to the table that would make this a fantastic hire, imo

[tigerchris 243]

TigerChris I believe

I was holding out for more $...

[cole256 17,039]

Hand talk is all over Twitter this afternoon. The Penn State folks are acknowledging it as well.

Can you give a specific source of the PSU fans? I bet they are up in arms about losing Shoop. I really did not think Shoop would ever leave Coach Franklin. UT is a step down from PSU in my opinion. Who knows folks? I do not see any support for getting Jeff Grimes to come as OL, so I guess he is out of the equation. I am sure Gus will hire who he thinks is the best OL coach for his offense. Hand does seem to know a lot about Gus' Spread/Zone Read etc. This could be a huge asset with hiring CHH from PSU.

I like Jeff Grimes, too, but I think Coach Hand brings an extra element to the table that would make this a fantastic hire, imo

More recruiting has me sold! But didn't Penn st o line suck?

[ToraGirl 5,498]

You had me at "Chopped..."

[marine4au 23]

Hand talk is all over Twitter this afternoon. The Penn State folks are acknowledging it as well.

Can you give a specific source of the PSU fans? I bet they are up in arms about losing Shoop. I really did not think Shoop would ever leave Coach Franklin. UT is a step down from PSU in my opinion. Who knows folks? I do not see any support for getting Jeff Grimes to come as OL, so I guess he is out of the equation. I am sure Gus will hire who he thinks is the best OL coach for his offense. Hand does seem to know a lot about Gus' Spread/Zone Read etc. This could be a huge asset with hiring CHH from PSU.

I like Jeff Grimes, too, but I think Coach Hand brings an extra element to the table that would make this a fantastic hire, imo

More recruiting has me sold! But didn't Penn st o line suck?

He didn't have much to work with @ PSU!

[WDE_OxPx_2010 5,287]

Hand talk is all over Twitter this afternoon. The Penn State folks are acknowledging it as well.

Can you give a specific source of the PSU fans? I bet they are up in arms about losing Shoop. I really did not think Shoop would ever leave Coach Franklin. UT is a step down from PSU in my opinion. Who knows folks? I do not see any support for getting Jeff Grimes to come as OL, so I guess he is out of the equation. I am sure Gus will hire who he thinks is the best OL coach for his offense. Hand does seem to know a lot about Gus' Spread/Zone Read etc. This could be a huge asset with hiring CHH from PSU.

I like Jeff Grimes, too, but I think Coach Hand brings an extra element to the table that would make this a fantastic hire, imo

More recruiting has me sold! But didn't Penn st o line suck?

Still nearly on the death penalty, hard to recruit

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Maybe coach Hand will get us up in and around Pa and help us some recruits from there.

[cole256 17,039]

Hand talk is all over Twitter this afternoon. The Penn State folks are acknowledging it as well.

Can you give a specific source of the PSU fans? I bet they are up in arms about losing Shoop. I really did not think Shoop would ever leave Coach Franklin. UT is a step down from PSU in my opinion. Who knows folks? I do not see any support for getting Jeff Grimes to come as OL, so I guess he is out of the equation. I am sure Gus will hire who he thinks is the best OL coach for his offense. Hand does seem to know a lot about Gus' Spread/Zone Read etc. This could be a huge asset with hiring CHH from PSU.

I like Jeff Grimes, too, but I think Coach Hand brings an extra element to the table that would make this a fantastic hire, imo

More recruiting has me sold! But didn't Penn st o line suck?

Still nearly on the death penalty, hard to recruit

Ok. Saw that one link about commits he was giving credit for and I saw 3 four stars I figured that's what he's been working with. I'm not familiar with Penn st recruiting at all

[TIGGR82 4]

Well then...Welcome to Auburn Coach Hand. A great hire in my opinion.

[Tiger 8,817]

I like that Hand is a guy Gus would listen to in terms of expanding his offense and will help us get back to using zone read principles.

Everyone on this board thinks Gus doesn't know you can't employ a zone-read style offense when the QB is not a threat to keep the ball, so maybe Hand can finally be the guy to tell him this [yellow font]

No but seriously, maybe he can get Gus off of this "I will tell the QB whether to give or keep on the zone read before the snap" kick that he's been on lately?

[doc4aday 1,887]

According to this, it is official

http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/auburn-football/auburn-hires-away-offensive-line-coach-penn-states-james-franklin/

Thanks for the information. Now we can start our research of Hand pretty much like we did with Coach Steele and the new defensive assistants. I like this staff and think we will be fine in 2016 and will create hell for all of the SEC teams we will face. We need to become a team that no one wants to play. A bammer caliber team, but much more with honest character lacking in bammer.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

Sounds like a good choice. Good job Gus. Let's give Gus a hand.

[TitanTiger 20,465]

Interesting note according to Brandon Marcello of AL.com: Hand had to convert two defensive linemen to offensive linemen this year at Penn State. That had a lot to do with their difficulties.

[McLoofus 35,182]

Interesting note according to Brandon Marcello of AL.com: Hand had to convert two defensive linemen to offensive linemen this year at Penn State. That had a lot to do with their difficulties.

No, no, we should just look at the most basic stats that can be influenced by any number of factors beyond a position coach's control and make snap judgments about his abilities.

[auburnphan 6,050]

Interesting note according to Brandon Marcello of AL.com: Hand had to convert two defensive linemen to offensive linemen this year at Penn State. That had a lot to do with their difficulties.

I checked out there roster yesterday and ouch, he did not have much, besides what he recruited in. They gave good effort, but lacked talent.

[doc4aday 1,887]

Does anyone remember Herby Hancock or Handcock? He was a great jazz musician from what I remember. I do think CHH will help a lot with running our spread offense. Did PSU run a spread offense similar to ours? I am happy with the hire and do think he will hit the ground running with recruiting. Now that our staff is pretty much intact, recruiting will keep going strong.

I do see James Franklin in a much worse situation than we are in. Actually, I think we are on the road to a better overall team that will kick some fanny in 2016.