Penn State assistant Ricky Rahne hoping to call Happy Valley home for a long time

Ricky Rahne thought about buying a house when he was on James Franklin’s staff at Vanderbilt — but, after a conversation with the head coach, he ultimately decided against it.

“I remember asking him, ‘Hey, are we going to be here forever? Because I’m thinking about buying a house,’” Rahne said Wednesday after practice at the Lasch Building practice facility. “He said yeah, and I said, ‘Well, what if Penn State opens up?’ He got real quiet, so I took that as maybe I shouldn’t buy a house.”

But with a Big Ten title and trip to the Rose Bowl in tow, Franklin is well-established in State College and so is his staff. So now, a few years removed from Nashville, Rahne — the Nittany Lions’ tight ends coach — is in the process of purchasing a house in Happy Valley.

He’s hoping this could be home for quite some time.

“To me, this is the greatest place in the world because my wife is happy, and when my wife is happy, I’m happy,” Rahne said. “And as a football coach, I’m able to win games, win championships and recruit really good kids.

“There aren’t many places like this.”

Rahne, who played quarterback at Cornell, coached at his alma mater in 2005 before linking up with Franklin at Kansas State as a graduate assistant a year later. Rahne stayed at Kansas State until 2010 prior to joining Franklin’s staff at Vanderbilt in 2011 and following him to Penn State in 2014.

In those years, he coached running backs, quarterbacks and tight ends — but Franklin sees more for Rahne long-term.

“I think he’s a future coordinator,” Franklin said after practice. “In the spring games, he’s the guy who calls the plays with the other guys. He’s been fiercely loyal. He’s a relentless recruiter. He just gets it.”

Rahne’s players see it, too.

Senior pass-catcher Mike Gesicki spends day after day in the position room with Rahne, who transitioned from quarterbacks coach to tight ends when Joe Moorhead arrived in December 2015.

Gesicki — who had 48 catches, 679 yards and five touchdowns last season — said it’s fun to play for Rahne, and his tutelage has helped immensely.

“You trust everything he’s saying,” Gesicki said. “It could be a 12-yard route and if I run it to 11 yards, catch it and take it 60 yards for a touchdown, he’s like, ‘No. You didn’t get the full rotation. You didn’t get to 12 yards.’ Him focusing on that, it makes the product that much better.”

Rahne said he loves coaching up Gesicki and his teammates and is thankful for where he’s at. The assistant called himself “one of the luckiest guys in the world” as he learns from Moorhead and grows as an offensive coach.

And as for Franklin’s offensive coordinator comment, Rahne said it’s a goal of his to reach that level in coaching.

“I want to be an offensive coordinator someday,” Rahne said. “If eventually one day I’m lucky enough to call my own plays, then great. If not — if I’m a tight ends coach the rest of my life — trust me I’ll be a pretty happy dude.”

And if he stays in Happy Valley for the long haul, he and his family will be even happier.

This story was originally published August 9, 2017 at 10:17 PM with the headline "Penn State assistant Ricky Rahne hoping to call Happy Valley home for a long time."