Who said Joe’s uncertain status at Penn State is hurting our recruiting?

4-star Defensive Back Darrell Givens switched his committment to the Ohio State Buckeyes to the Nittany Lions early this morning at the 11th annual State College NIKE camp.

Darrell Givens is a current teammate of Malcolm Willis who committed to the Lions earlier this year.

And if you thought that was great…

Stephen Obeng-Agyapong, another defensive back also made a verbal to the Lions to become the 5th verbal for 2009. It looks like we’re already rolling to hit our scholarship mark for next year.

So to all those jumping all over Joe’s contract situation referring to his inability to recruit as their main argument. Shut it. Joe can recruit from his deathbed. Penn State will milk the cash cow that is Joe Paterno even long after he is gone from Penn State so what’s to think he can’t lure big name recruits when hes still head coach?

Sure he might not be able to hop into a car or a plane to visit recruits, but with assistants like Bradley being able to compete evenly with head coaches like Tressel, Rich Rod and Weis, there is really no pressing need for Joe to do so. We would LIKE for him to visit a recruit or two, but if he is still able to get the job done, why are we hollering for him to reinvent the wheel?

Thanks to Mike at Black Shoe Diaries, we present a Big Ten bloggers roundtable!

I love spring. Flowers blooming. Birds chirping. Bones breaking. ACL’s tearing. List the injuries your team sustained and describe their impact on 2008.

With 3 out of the 4 injured players projected to be back by the fall, the most glaring loss on that list is obviously Sean Lee. The fact that he will probably still be named a captain for the 2008 squad despite being sideline by his ACL injury is telling. He was is the leader of the defense and hopefully he will continue to help the young linebacking corp along from the sidelines.

“It’s not just the physical loss to us. He’s everything you want in a football player. He’s got poise. He comes to practice everyday. He works like a dog and the whole bit. When he got hurt it was a big loss, particularly in the drill. It wasn’t even a contact thing. It’s going to hurt us, but as I said to the squad, if you’ve got a good football team, somebody comes to the front.” - Joe Paterno

Luckily for us, we are Penn State. That means we run before we have to pass, we will be in blue home jerseys and black cleats a century for now, and we are never low on linebackers. Joe feels Tyrell Sales have ’stepped up’ and put himself in the position to fill the athletic void that was left by Sean Lee. So Sean Lee’s injury is not a good thing come 2008, but he has already promised to come back in 2009 and our linebacking corp should be one of the best especially with younger players forced to play this year.

Break down the major position battles going on with your offense

There are 2 for Penn State.

The much talked about one is the quarterback position, but I’ve mentioned many a times, this is basically Daryll Clark’s to lose. The signs are already there. He had the most production last year in limited snaps, and he took all his snaps solely with the first team offense while Pat went with the second team offense before moving to the first team when Daryll was pulled in the spring game. If the competition was as even as everyone thinks, wouldn’t Daryll have had snaps with the second team offense as well? But I’d much rather have 2 heralded quarterbacks that are capable of running our offense than none at all.

The second position would be at the running back position. This spot became a position battle since Green turned a pitch into a 57 yard touchdown at the Blue White game. Before that, no one doubted Royster’s place on the depth charts after his efficient production in limited carries last season especially after Scott was removed due to legal problems. But Green has put himself in the position for a second look with his electrifying runs both during the spring scrimmage and during practice.

Break down the major position battles on defense

Where do I start?

First there’s Sean Lee’s injury, which means younger players like Sales, Hull and Gbadyu will have to step up. This can be a two way street though. While we might be a little vulnerable at the linebacking spot for this season, imagine next year when we get all 3 back including Sean Lee. We can rotate them at will. Imagine the fresh legs at that spot.

Then there’s the defensive line. Last year the injuries sort of depleted our defensive line leaving very little room for error on defense. When you don’t have depth on the defensive line, you can’t pressure quarterbacks fast enough leaving your corners and safeties into vulnerable positions. And it is one of multiple reasons why our defense broke down in a few games, Ohio State and Michigan State for starters. But this year we have so many capable defensive linemen we are able to rotate them like a carousel. We already have Odrick, Koroma, Still, McEowen, Ogbu and less heralded Okoli. Imagine if we get Baker and Taylor back from suspension. Offensive coordinators shall tremble before our line.

Lastly we have secondary battles going on. Cornerback is our biggest concern with Justin King bolting prematurely for the NFL. There will be two prime candidates for this one. Tony Davis and Lydell Sargeant will fight for the second cornerback slot since Wallace is a lock for the first one. But both Davis and Sargeant are seniors with experience in our defense so the transition should not be too rough.

Who are the unknown kids on your team that will be household names come December?

I wonder if Green is even an ‘unknown’ kid anymore. With all the talk from spring practices, opposing defenses will be more worried about Green than they are about Royster.

But in all honesty, keep an eye out for Derek Moye. I know we have the super trio of Williams, Butler and Norwood, but the staff realizes we need to get some of our younger guys in the game seeing as all 3 are forced to graduate following this year. Rumors out of spring practices are that Moye could be the next big one for Penn State. Remember when Penn State last recruited Williams and Butler became our most productive receiver? Look for Moye to step up a little bit this year seeing as defensive will be more focused on our seasoned trio leaving the relatively unknown offensive players to slip through.

How would you describe the general mood around your program? Are you gearing up the tailgate party for a conference title run or do you get the impression there are going to be a lot of empty seats in your stadium this year?

Who do you think we are? Pittsburgh? Nittany Lion fans packed Beaver Stadium during the Zack Mills dark ages and there i no doubt we will continue to do so this year even if it turns out horrendously bad, which will not happen.

But Nittany nation is itching for the season to start. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who watched Green turn a simple pitch into a 57 yard sprint to the endzone. Then there’s Daryll Clark who conjures up memories of our last athletic quarterback, Michael Robinson and we all know how that season ended up. So spirits are high. The only hesitation I have with this season is our conference schedule. Not so much the dates we have to play specific teams, but the time we are slated to play them especially on the road in prime time.

Usually teams that are expected to make a national title run are slated for multiple night/prime time games in one season. Think USC, Ohio State, Florida, LSU. These are all teams that were expected to be national title contenders with potential Heisman candidates in their respective seasons and prime time television not only provides them further exposure, but makes for great television if they do indeed stumble along their path to glory.

So why exactly is Penn State playing 3 night 8pm prime time games in 4 consecutive weekends? The player who is even remotely close to a Heisman candidacy might be Derrick Williams and even then, he isn’t our most productive receiver on the squad. And lets not kid ourselves, we aren’t the juggernaut that can march into the Horseshoe and Camp Randell and roll over teams. We would struggle just to beat Northwestern if it was an away game.

So it’s basically clear the television networks smell blood in the form of Joe Paterno’s retirement and the sharks are circling. This might be his last visit to the Shoe and Camp Randell, even if he doesn’t retire following this year, he probably will in 2009. Unfortunately, this Penn State squad with a little glimmer of potential is thrust into the limelight because of Joe Paterno’s inevitable retirement which is a bit unfair, but nothing about college football is fair.

So no, there will not be any empty seats come 2008, but if Joe’s Lions manage to pull off the impossible running through the gauntlet of Illinois, Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin unscathed, you can be sure there won’t be an empty seat in all of Happy Valley.

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Remember the Rich Rod is a Liar and a Snake series? You don’t? Heres a quick recap.

“Rich Rod’s staff stole more de-commits by themselves than the entire conferences of the SEC, Big East, Big 12 and Pac 10. He can rest assured that the entire conference of the ACC with its 2 divisions have the same de-commits stolen as the great institution of Michigan.”

Apparently Brian at Mgoblog attempted to justify Rich Rod’s suspect recruiting techniques by… drumroll please… blaming the recruit!

“Which, like… of course. Roy Roundtree is perfectly capable of making sound decisions like “not going to Purdue.” He has free will.”

Yes, he does. But the question isn’t whether these kids are capable of making sound decisions, what are the odds of Roundtree even considering switching if Michigan decided to back off after his verbal to Purdue.

But hey, everyone does it Brian argues.

Every coach in the Big Ten has, at one time or another, attempted to poach some other Big Ten school’s “commitment.”

Granted we have had one or two instances every few years in which one Big Ten school poached or attempted to steal another recruit from a fellow conference member. Which by the way, despite what those at Mgoblog says, IS a lot worst than stealing from out of conference teams.

“Stealing recruits from your fellow brethren is like shitting where you sleep. You are not only going to be playing with one another, but there are galas, conferences, conventions and even meetings that will thrust you among your fellow conference peers and Rich Rod has not experienced that as of now. Think he’ll be sitting side by side with Tiller, Tressel or Paterno anytime soon? At the rate he’s going, they’ll have to bring in a kid’s table just so he can sit by himself during Media Day.”

But no one has done it at the rate Rich Rod is going. But hey, Michigan just wants to beat Ohio State at this point so who can blame them. But common, blaming the recruits for switching their commitments? You can do better. Sure, Rich Rod continuing pressure on Roundtree even after his verbal to Purdue had absolutely nothing to do with his decommitment.

So any takers for Rich Rod’s roommate at the Big Ten media conference in Chicago? Joe, Tiller and Tressel rather sleep in a cardboard box.

Thanks to the following for taking part in the Blue and White roundtable. I had many a laughs reading their responses. So here goes with my attempt to compile most of their answers into one post.

nwoemblem

http://www.nittanywhiteout.com/
http://www.blackshoediaries.com/
http://thenittanyline.blogspot.com/
http://gloryofoldstate.blogspot.com/
http://www.yurasko.net/wfy/
http://tangledupinwhiteandblue.blogspot.com/
http://thebigeleventh.blogspot.com/
http://mvn.com/ncaa-pennstate/
http://runupthescore.wordpress.com

The announcement Wednesday is that contract talks are on hold until the conclusion of this season, and that Joe might not even need a contract to coach, how do you see this saga ending? Is this the final year for Joe Paterno?

Joe will not be out following this season. There is no doubting that, but some might argue that he should for recruiting/stability sake. “The story needs to end when Joe says it’s over” sums up the position pretty much in a nutshell. But hey, there are those out there who wasn’t even aware that Joe had a contract until 1994, thats 28 years since he began in 1966!

Joe will clearly not be on the sidelines in 10 years time. Whether he is awarded another extension or is forced out against his will, a new face will inevitably be on the sidelines for the Lions in the years to come. Which candidates would top the list when it comes to a coaching search? Should it be an in-house hire or should we start off with a blank slate?

Anyone remember the number of coaches Nebraska has gone through since Tom Osborne? Or Michigan after Bo Schembechler? The list can go on with the legends that have graced the lucky few programs. But there is simply no easy way to follow a legend. Especially one like Joe Paterno who defined Penn State football.

But there is one common rallying cry for almost all Penn State fans. Whoever the new coach is, in-house or not, Jay Paterno must be purged without hesitation from the staff. Whether it be an in-house hire with Bradley, LJ, and Vanderlinden or an outsider like Greg Schiano, Al Golden, Larry Coker (just trying to plug my candidate in there), or simply anyone who is innovative and charismatic, I’m hoping for someone who will be the next future face of Penn State football. Not another 5 year temp we can expect to bolt for the NFL when the seat gets too hot.

It almost seems as if we find another athlete in trouble with the law each morning when we read the newspaper. What has gone wrong with the once pristine image of the Penn State program?

Two fold.

Kids today are simply not as disciplined as they once were. “If you’ve ever been to the Penn State sports museum, when it first opened (I don’t know if the display’s still there) there was a huge photo on the wall of students in Rec Hall in the 1950s or 1960s watching a sporting event in suits and ties.” TUWB points out exactly what’s wrong in this MTV generation where songs about “Superman’ing that Hoe”, “crunking” and “getting low” are widely accepted and promoted.

Then theres the technology argument. “Nowadays when a player gets in trouble there is someone there with a cell phone to take a picture. Then they go home and fire up their laptop. In a matter of minutes they are telling a thousand people on the message boards about a fight they just witnessed or heard about. Or they are telling their facebook group of 3000 people they just heard in English class that player X was pulled over for DUI.”

If I didn’t know any better, Penn State football is a pedophile charge away from chaos.

After 14 years in the Big Ten, Penn has not dominated the conference in football as most presumed when we joined winning only 2 Big Ten titles in that span. In 1994, Joe Paterno’s undefeated Nittany Lions were also backstabbed by its Big Ten breathern when most conference members voted for Nebraska instead of Penn State. Is the Big Ten the right home for Penn State? Or would Joe Paterno’s dream of an all-eastern conference be a much more ideal conference for the Nittany Lions?

You know when you’re the black sheep of the family, you tend to make a big fuss out of everything? Thing’s around the house are always just not good enough, family members aren’t treating you fairly, you always get the short end of the stick, type deal?

Well, “the reason the Big Ten doesn’t seem to fit us is because we haven’t yet made an impact on it. We’ve beat Ohio State once in the last six tried. The Michigan streak has gotten so long I honestly don’t know what the number is anymore. Wisconsin has become more consistent than us. We plain sucked from 2002 right up until the Ohio State game of 2005.”

So where do we go from here? Do we hide our tails and run, or do we turn around and give the Eastern schools the finger for screwing us earlier in the century? Let’s say we do leave the Big Ten which most are opposed to simply because we’re basically married to it at this point (think kids, a yard and a house) where a divorce would simply be too ugly, we could always join the ACC!

With the lack of our traditional rivals in the Big Ten conference, and our unwillingness to reschedule any of them in any consistent manner, which teams are emerging as Penn State’s chief rivals in the Big Ten? (USC-Notre Dame proves that rivalries aren’t all about geographic significance.)

I HAVE to point this out before we continue with this question. Big 11th points out “ND has lost the last six by 154 points (for you math majors that’s an average of over 25 per game)!” proving that rivalries can be about money and TV ratings. Hahahah! 154 points!

Ok back to business. Almost everyone agrees there is no tradition rival for us in the Big Ten with BSD going as far as to dub Penn State as the “pimple-faced Star Trek nerd that can’t get a prom date.” But common guys, we’re less than 20 years old in the Big Ten, that DOES make us the pimple-face teenager who is still too shy to make a move on any of our older conference brethren.

But there were those that did call out fellow Big Ten teams:

The Nittany Line hates Wisconsin;

“I’ll throw a curveball in and say it’s slowly becoming Wisconsin. The Badgers and Lions usually play a close, hard-nosed game and some have gotten a little chippy – anyone remember Zack Mills and Michael Robinson playing the role of punching bag? I know, I know it makes me queasy as well. Wisconsin is also similar to Penn State in that they both usually have a decent defense and a couple good players on offense that can score but neither offense is going to make defensive coordinators lose sleep at night.”

But the biggest surprise of the day was from Tangled Up in White and Blue who claims, Indiana is our biggest rival. He actually makes quite a compelling case for it and I am slowly warming up to that idea considering my brother attends IU and I would love nothing but to laugh at him on an annual basis.

“Why? The 1994 Nebraska betrayal, which was mentioned in question 4, is the reason. The only reason we were in the position to be betrayed is because of Bill Mallory’s Indiana Loosiers and that bleepity bleeping @$$hole Lee Corso, his ESPN mouth piece.”

In a rare instance, we detract from our usual rantings once reserved exclusively to college sports and talk politics because its primary day in Pennsylvania! Yeah thats right, we rock, we rule and apparently we can send the Clinton camp into the sixth level of hell with a defeat today.

So drop those Dorito chips, get off the couch and make your way to the voting booths and say no to established politics. It’s time for someone new, he might not be able to do everything he promises, but for damn sure the gray-hairs down in Congress will be shaking in their boots if America decides they just about had it with the high gas prices, the rising tuition costs, dying economy, and medical insurance. Hey, things can’t be worst than paying $3.34 at the pump for a gallon right?

But politicians are all crooks, some just tend to outdo the others. After all, it was a president (Nixon) that screwed over Penn State in 1969 for a national title.

“How could Nixon know so much about college football in 1969 and so little about Watergate in 1974?” - Joe Paterno, 1969

Karma’s a bitch, Nixon. So vote for Jebus if you want, but get out there and vote!

(Ed: Pictures added April 23, 2008)

Boy does it feel great when the sun comes out in the state of Pennsylvania. 73,000 people sure thought so when they descended upon Happy Valley for a spring scrimmage. 73,000! That’s equivalent to 2 capacity crowds at Fenway Park, and 42,000 more people than the 30,286 that showed up for Notre Dame’s scrimmage.

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With the weather cooperating, we decided to partake in the tailgating festivities where our tailgating neighbors decided it would be a great idea to invite some kids to play a game of dizzybat without the beer. The little boy even managed to whack the ball successfully which is more than I can say for their mom who tumbled head first into a SUV parked adjacent to the festivities. Regrettable, but funny as shit nonetheless.

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We didn’t even think about making our way into the stadium early seeing as this is only the Blue/White game, but when we were standing in line to get in only minutes after the game had started, the entire stadium erupted in a roar. Moments later someone informed us that Stephon Green, the lighting back had turned a simple pitch from Pat Devlin into a 57 yard touchdown run down the sidelines. Can you imagine the possibilities with Green and Royster in the backfield this year? Penn State will finally have a ‘lightning and thunder’ combination that has been sorely lacking in our run-first type offense. Think Clemson, Michigan State, USC, and LSU type of reliable backs. Green’s display of speed single handedly re-energized this fan base for next year.

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By the time we made it up to our seats in the top level of section WA, the entire lower bowl of Beaver Stadium was filled. It was clear we had broken last year’s record crowd of 71,000. Last year, the crowd barely filled up the entire lower level of the stadium. This year, there were no noticeable empty sections in the lower section. The PA announcer only confirmed it when he announced a new record crowd of 73,000 fans for this year’s Blue and White game in the middle of the third quarter.

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And like I said before, there is no quarterback ‘controversy’. It’s clear who is in the lead between Clark and Devlin. Clark took all his snaps solely with the first team offensive while Devlin switched to the first team only after starting with the second team offense. Clark was 9 of 16 for 106 yards and 2 touchdowns and Devlin was 12 of 18 for 122 yards and 1 score. We all know Clark can run. Texas A&M learned it the hard way in last year’s Alamo Bowl. But for the doubters of his throwing accuracy. Clark’s nice 33-yard strike to Derrick Williams for a TD should help answer his critics.

In 2005, Robinson showed that throwing accuracy does not define a successful team, Morelli confirmed it in 2006 and 2007. And after the last 3 years, I would much rather have an less accurate, but efficient passer like Robinson than a supposed ‘cannon for an arm, cannonball for a brain’ type quarterback like Morelli.

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The quarterback situation isn’t so much a ‘controversy’ as it is a ‘competition’. Come Coastal Carolina in the fall, Clark will be the man under center. The question should be whether Devlin will be beside him in Jay Pa’s new HD offense.

On the topic of the new HD offense, nothing went on Saturday that indicated an overhaul of Penn State’s offensive strategies. Maybe we are saving it for the fall, or maybe it was a bluff on our end in a desperate attempt to land Terrelle Pryor. But we will just have to wait and see.

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Spring games mean relatively little. First team players rarely go all out every play of the game and if they do, they definitely wouldn’t want to risk injury with a hard tackle. But this year’s Blue and White game meant more than year’s past. In an off season full of disappointing news ranging from players’ arrests to Sean Lee’s injury, the Lion faithful needed a break, a celebration of what Penn State football was really about. And 73,000 of us gathered to do exactly that this Saturday.

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What IS important at a spring game is for future recruits to get a glimpse of the fan support here at Penn State. Remember Alabama’s record shattering crowd of 90,000+ last year? It was no coincidence that even with a lackluster record last season, Alabama still landed the top recruiting class this year. Recruits love excitement, the hype and the possibility of exposure. Let’s just put it this way, having 73,000 people show up to watch the final spring practice does not hurt recruiting whatsoever.

Below is a list of possible future recruits that paced the sideline last Saturday:

	Position	Rivals Rank	Holding offer?	Home State
Mark Aridiacono	OL	-	Yes	Pennsylvania
Alex Blake	WR	-	-	Maryland
Scott Drosendahl	QB	-	-	NY
Danzel Manley	OL/DL	-	-	Maryland
Terrence Stephens	DT		-	Maryland
Jason Ankrah	DE	-	-	Maryland
Anthony Young-Wiseman	Ath	-	-	Maryland
Andrew Shoop	QB	-	-	Pennsylvania
Mikel Berry	DL	-	-	Pennsylvania
Dominque Cole	-	-	-	Ohio
DeAndre Harris	-	-	-	Ohio
Trevor Smith	-	-	-	Ohio
Mike Herns	-	-	-	Ohio
Maurice Jones	-	-	-	Ohio
Matt Couch	OL	-	-	Pennsylvania
Tariq Tongue	WR	-	-	New York
Andre Civil	DE	-	-	New York
Kevin Douglas	-	-	-	-
Jake Fagano	-	-	-	-
Christian Zemaitis	-	-	-	New York
Lewis Toler	-	-	-	Delaware
Cameron Thomas	-	-	-	Delaware
Rob Stupar	FB	-	-	Pennsylvania
Brian Fields	RB	-	-	Pennsylvania
J.R. Refice	-	-	-	Pennsylvania
Evangelos Regas	OL	-	-	New Jersey
Brent Caprio	QB	-	-	New Jersey
Anthony Stroffolino	LB	-	-	New Jersey
Arthur Fontaine	TE		-	Mass.
Khalil Wilkes	OL	-	-	New Jersey
Nate Papso	-	-	-	New York
Nate Cadogan	OL/DL	-	-	Ohio
Travis Hawkins	CB	-	Yes	Maryland
Stephen Obeng-Agyapong	-	-	-	New York
Mike Hull	LB	-	-	Pennsylvania
Tavon Austin	RB		Yes	Maryland
Jaleel Clark	WR	-	Yes	Pennsylvania
Jelani Jenkins	LB		Yes	Maryland
Ty Howle	C	-	Committed	N. Carolina
Justin Brown	DE		Yes	Delaware
Jordan Hill	DE	-	-	Pennsylvania
Nick Kindler	OT	-	-	Pennsylvania

One name especially pops out from the list and that is linebacker Jelani Jenkins. Rivals just released their updated top 100 and he jumped from #79 to #10 overall. Ohio State just received a commitment from top linebacker Dorian Bell (another Pennsylvania traitor) this past weekend so landing Jenkins would definitely be a boost.

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Our group left the game right before the fourth quarter not because we wanted to get more tailgating in, but because Paul Cianciolo was on the field which meant we were at the 3rd string quarterback point. Regardless to say, I walked out of the stadium appreciating the game for what it was, simply the last practice of spring. Anything more would be over exaggeration and anything less would be dismissing the hard work young players put into trying to get onto the roster.

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Notable Bits:

• Michael Robinson’s and Levi Brown’s rousing reception by the fans
• Conversely, the boos that rained down on Anthony Morelli who has yet to officially leave Penn State when he was introduced as one of the players of the game.

What was even more surprising were the looks on some of the fans who still turn around to look for the people booing as if it was a shocking revelation. Morelli sucked, Penn State is glad to get rid of him. History will see Morelli as a failure who could not use one of the best receiving corps in the country to his advantage in both 2006 and 2007, nor a great offensive line in 2007, nor a stellar defense in 2006. He never stepped up as a leader, never faced the media after a bad game and simply started under center because of some undying loyalty Joe Paterno has to his seniors (which I do commend), but unfortunately we got a super senior who couldn’t pee under pressure let alone throw a pass.

• The small group of red or orange clad fans sitting across from our section of the stadium. They were about 20 strong and all decked out in red or orange gear, couldn’t tell exactly which. I have no idea what it was for, but if someone does, please enlighten me.
• That Paul Cianciolo was actually being planted to the turf despite his red jersey. Just shows the hill he has to climb to fight Devlin for that #2 spot.

It seems the Bradley rumor is only starting to heat up with other blogs picking up on it and the Patriot Times reporting a telephone conversation between Bradley and West Virginia on the first day of the post-Rod era.

According to a source intimate with the situation, Bradley was contacted on Sunday morning by an intermediary sent by West Virginia University. This person asked him if he would be interested in talking about the WVU top job just vacated by Rich Rodriguez. And Bradley, understandably, waited about a nanosecond before responding, well, yeah, he would.

With this, the scramble for a succession plan has officially begun. Forums, blogs and news outlets everywhere are now demanding a plan they can look forward to perhaps in the next 5 years. For years, Penn State fans were only certain of 2 things, First, we would run first, run second and then pass third if a run would not get us a first down. Second, the next Penn State coach would be someone who is already currently sitting in the coaching box or pacing the sidelines. With that said, the front runner for many years for this elusive post-Paterno coach was Tom Bradley. He is the reason if not the sole reason for Penn State’s dominance on defense so why wouldn’t the Penn State faithful be thrilled to embrace one of their own who has brought them so much pride over the years. Then there was Joe Paterno’s broken leg last year. This was the real clear indication which of his assistances was hiding a golden ticket in his wallet all these years and lo and behold, it was Tom Bradley and Galen Hall, not L Johnson, or Jay Paterno that were named interm co-head coaches. In the only game that Joe was unable to attend, Tom Bradley and Galen Hall coached Penn State to victory.

So you can imagine why the idea of Bradley abandoning Penn State for West Virginia is so upsetting for the Lion faithful. Bradley was not only an accomplished assistant, recruiter and member of the Penn State family, but he was basically the next coach in waiting even if he wasn’t awarded the official title. Fans could see it, the administration accepted it. Even Tom Bradley recognized it when he rejected temptation from Temple and Illinois in 2005 for coaching positions there.

So why the sudden panic of Bradley leaving for West Virginia? In 2005, Bradley along with other assistants were aware of the new lease on life Paterno was given after a few losing seasons which limited Paterno to 2008. And in 2005, with a Robinson-led team, Joe achieved an 11-1 season with a victory in the Orange Bowl against his ‘best friend’ Bobby Bowden. Many felt Paterno had finally satisfied his desire to go out on top and would finish out his 2008 contract and call it quits. This was evident in recruiting as recruits were now informed of who the next coach would be should Joe leave. But turn the page t0 2007 and the end of another disappointing Morelli led year and Joe basically telling the world that he will stick around on a year-to-year basis. His main reason? Because he cannot imagine life not coaching hence he will continue to do the only thing he is familiar with.

So for Bradley, Galen, Johnson and even Norwood, what do you do? You were all banking on being able to take more control of this historic program and now the coach is not giving up and tells you he basically has no idea when he will ever retire. 1 year, 5, years, hell even 10 years if Penn State is willing to allow a funeral procession to step onto the field. And this is why we have seen Norwood reluctantly leave Penn State despite his son still on the roster and the panic growing for Bradley leaving Penn State. Because now, it is entirely possible. We can only pray that Bradley’s loyalty to Penn State is stronger than Joe’s stubbornness. Joe might not be hurting the program by sticking around, but he is destroying the post-Paterno era. The less he reveals to the world, the more chaos will rain in Happy Valley when he does decides to go. Let’s only hope he has something up his sleeves.