Tuesday, April 8, 2008

It's Never Too Early To Complain

The Man Who Must Make The Most Important Decision In Penn State History, Shown Here Playing The Weara-Saxa-Tambor-Shake-a-Cow-Bell-Horn.

While we were all getting ourselves worked up over the non-news of second hand inside sources telling us all that Joe is old, it appears someone was actually listening.

Scout.com has released the "Big Complaints" for 2008. Joe made the list:
The Penn State head coaching situation
Joe Paterno can't be kicked out the door fast enough by the Penn State higher-ups who realize the transition of power just isn't going to be smooth. Succession plans are all the rage nowadays, like at Florida State where Bobby Bowden is turning the reins over to Jimbo Fisher while still serving as the head of state, but Penn State is in an uncomfortable situation of trying to figure out its future while still respecting the past, and even the present.

Paterno has been resistant, to put it mildly, to giving up the program he made into one of the models of college athletics, and now there's a problem. How much say does Paterno get in finding his successor when his bosses would love nothing more than to start clean, sort of like Michigan did with the Rich Rodriguez hire? Penn State will be decent again this season, but a recent slip in recruiting doesn't paint a rosy picture for the immediate future.

This begs for a rehash of all the things that Penn State Blog Army has been posting but I just can't do it. Emphasis mine on the last sentence of the first paragraph; while a large part of their blurb reads like a third grade No Child Left Behind essay, they get an A on their thesis.

One thing I want to point out that doesn't seem very consistent with all the implied news: if Old Main is clear that a high priced replacement isn't in the cards, why are they so against an internal hand-off to a long time assistant? A guy like Bradly would be cheap and safe, two things the Administration loves (not just in football, by the way). The flip side is expensive, even when poaching someone with ties like Schiano.

The only alternative I see that seems to satisfy both of these needs is Al Golden, but is he really better than Bradley? And would he be cheaper? I would say "I'm not sure" and "probably not".

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not to relate two stories- but during Bell's knife...thing, Bradley just sat there like nothing was happening. If discipline is the problem, wouldn't you need someone that will actually...you know, do something?

Anonymous said...

Unless he figured a knife wasn't gonna stop Still, not to mention it wielded by butterfingers Bell.

TheFolkist said...

Ya, Bradley just had the foresight to realize Bell would have dropped the thing if the pressure ever built up. Zing!

Be seriously, I haven't heard that about Bradley (not that I don't think it could be true). There hasn't been much backlash toward the coaches on this, which surprises me.