Night Games, Contracts, And Beating Dead Horses

You've probably cought this already, but PSU is getting a lot of love from the networks this fall:

2008 BIG TEN PRIME-TIME FOOTBALL GAMES ON ABC/ESPN/ESPN2
Sept. 27 - ILLINOIS at PENN STATE, 8 p.m. ET, ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
Oct. 4 - OHIO STATE at WISCONSIN, 8 p.m. ET, ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
Oct. 11 - PENN STATE at WISCONSIN, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN or ESPN2
Oct. 18 - MICHIGAN at PENN STATE, 4:30 p.m. ET, ESPN or ESPN2
Oct. 25 - PENN STATE at OHIO STATE, 8 p.m. ET, ABC, ESPN or ESPN2

For those of you keeping score at home, that's four of the five 'Prime Time' games the Big Ten will be playing in 2008. While I generally enjoy a good night game, I don't know how I feel about four of them. Keep in mind that October looks like this (with no bye weeks in between): @ Wisconsin (night), Michigan (night, sort of), @ Ohio State (night).

Who's ready for two "Red Outs" in three weeks? You know it's coming.

Anyway, why four(!) primetime games? I can't remember a season where we've had more than 2. There are only two reasonable explanations: (1) despite every ESPN analyst picking Ohio State as the likely repeat conference champion, the big shots at the WWL think the Lions are Mythical National Championship Game bound, or, (2) they are going to be selling the 'will this be Paterno's last season?' thing real hard.

For those of you already sick of the Paterno contract saga, I have nothing to say except I'm really sorry...and get to know the mute button.

Austin Scott Trial Update

Austin Scott is still alive and still on trial, the latest news:

Prosecutors in the rape trial against former Penn State tailback Austin Scott have appealed the trial judge's rulings allowing evidence of the alleged victim's involvement in a separate sexual assault case to be heard in court.

Assistant District Attorney Lance Marshall, in notifying a Centre County court Tuesday that he was appealing to the Pennsylvania Superior Court, said the orders would "terminate or substantially handicap the prosecution."

This relates, of course, to an accusation made by this same girl in a rape case from 2003. She eventually admitted to fabricating the story.

This isn't a law blog, it's about football, and this news story isn't in the sports section, but that didn't stop them from throwing this bit it:

"[Scott's] arrived at Penn State in 2003 as a highly-rated recruit after rushing for 3,853 yards and 53 yards , both Pennsylvania records , during his senior year at Parkland High School."

Really? A story about a rape case and you tell us how many yards he had in high school? And nice typo.

Anyway, can't wait to see the national media totally ignore the verdict in this case despite jumping all over it when the accusations were first brought out.

Blue And White Roundtable: Let's Get Longwinded!

Thanks to NWO for a solid round of questions. Wednesdays can be tough on a blogger.

Black Shoe Diaries
Run Up The Score
The Nittany Line
There Is No Name On My Jersey
Nittany WhiteOut
William F. Yurasko
The Nittany Notebook
Tangled Up In White and Blue


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?

Well, no, I don't think so. My initial reaction to the announcement, captured in time here, is that this is a terrible decision that will have long term effects on the program. Under no circumstances is this good for anyone. Recruits are simply not going to commit to a rocking boat of a program. The president is forced to wait out Paterno, something that has proven difficult to do. The assistants are totally screwed here because they could be fired after any one of these seasons with little or no warning (really makes you wonder if Norwood left simply because he saw the writing on the wall and needed some stability). Paterno's success, and therefore legacy, will suffer because of said recruiting effects and what will probably be a growing flight of assistant coaches. It's pretty clear this decision was more a result of stubborn heads than a conscious selection of alternatives.

If, as Spanier says, a contract "would have little practicality given Coach Paterno's seniority" then why not just give him a lifetime deal? I think everyone knows the answer to this question. Prepare for ugliness. Buckets of it.

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?

This is one of those questions I can dance around or simply answer. I'm going to dance. It is clear to me that the best thing for the program is an outside search with the offer of a competitive salary. All current assistant are interviewed like everyone else. This is never going to happen:

• Spanier has already stated, several times, that a "high priced coach" is not in the cards. By "high priced coach" he of course means a decent guy at the going rate.
• Paterno is not going to make this easy for anyone. He is coaching without a contract for pete's sake. If he said "one/two/three years and I'm done" then people outside the program could plan accordingly and interview in early December in order to minimize the recruiting losses. Well I get the feeling we won't know Joe is leaving until at least after his last bowl game.
  
• There are going to be a lot of people who want Joe to coach forever. When he does finally leave, part of the reason, it's becoming clear, is going to be the pressure applied from Old Main and the boosters. Previously mentioned fans are going to resent the next guy who steps in and no one wants to be that guy...especially for a crappy salary and having to work with what will be an under-recruited team.

But short answer: Bradley if it's an inside job but only if Jay leaves. Otherwise I don't care. The outside front runners appear to be Schiano and Golden. I'd be happy with either. I would love to be able to keep Bradley no matter what, but I'm not sure if that can happen.

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?

I'm not going to be able to stomach a very long answer to this question. It appears the lack of consequences from the Scirrotto fight lead to other problems, namely the HUB thing and Quarless double dipping on drankin' charges. The Bell thing still blows my mind and I'm not blaming anyone for that but Bell. Maybe Joe isn't around enough...maybe he's not allowing the assistants to fill the apparent discipline vacuum...maybe the program never got over Posluszny...I'm out of ideas at this point.

After 14 years in the Big Ten, Penn [State] 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?

These are some loaded questions. I grew up in Big Ten country and it's the football I can relate the most to. I understand it, defend the hell out of it, and I prefer watching it over other brands. That being said, there was a time (about two weeks last fall) when I thought a move to the Big East was the ideal thing to do. It would never happen, and I've come to realize it probably shouldn't.

There's a painful truth here that I think we all need to deal with: 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.

I'd love to hold the 1994 thing against everyone but I simply can't. I understand what happened. PSU showed up, beat everyone's ass and appeared to be the powerhouse everyone feared they would be. Other schools were scared and didn't want to feed what was already a pretty powerful football machine with another MNC. If the same situation happened now I'd be willing to bet that 90% of the coaches would vote for PSU.

Besides that, Eastern Football isn't what is once was. Pitt has been garbage for long enough that I'm almost starting to agree with the people who think the rivalry is better off dead. Syracuse sucks. I simply don't care about Maryland. WVU has had several good seasons now but even after all that they are still looked at skeptically by most non-Big East fans....there is nothing to gain.

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.)

Exactly, USC-ND proves rivalries can be about money and TV ratings. ND has lost the last six by 154 points (for you math majors that's an average of over 25 per game)! Exactly one of those games was watchable. (Sorry, can't pass up an ND dig).

We don't have a rival. It hurts to say but this is the summer of hard truths so I'm going to stick with the theme. MSU is not our rival. Michigan is a big game, but, again, not our rival. I think the answer to this question is Ohio State. I know we'll never be anything but their second biggest game, but that's something we'll have to live with. It really should be as much of an ego shot as everyone likes to think it is.

I will say this: if we start beating the best teams in the Big Ten, consistently, things will change. That's the only way.


UPDATE:...and yes, I'm making the trip. I mean, it's football!

The Legend Of Link: "No Bad News" Edition

-For the rest of you MSM haters, an great explanation (from Deadspin, of course) on the reason the 'real' writers just don't get it.

-Speaking of MSM, Ivan Maison of ESPN, who doesn't suck as bad as some of the other guys, apparently hadn't written a "Paterno Is Quite Old" story in the last six months...well the quota has been reached.

-Brian at MGoBlog took a trip to watch UM blow it in the Frozen Four, but in the process wrote a good piece on the nature of hockey spectatordome. As a fellow stat loser I agree.

-The Branch Campus debate rages on. (I'm not sure how this ever became an issue. The problem isn't that there aren't enough seats. Remember the Purdue game this year? The student section was maybe half full at kickoff. The problem is scalping, period. Stop people's ability to scalp tickets and I'm willing to bet that things will work themselves out.)

Let's Get This Out Of The Way

So I've spent the morning trying to write something that "puts things in perspective" and sheds some optimism on the situation, but I simply can't: losing Lee is devastating.

Reason One: Talent
I commented on this before, but I really think it's true: the guy probably is now (and definitely will be) better than both Poz and Connor.

Reason Two: Leadership
Has any team in any sport, in the history of time, ever needed leadership like PSU does right now? I'm not going to rehash the last four months six months ten months of posts regarding fights, DUI's and yelling back at Michigan fans like a five year old, but let's just all agree that the only way the program is going to straighten out is if the players decide to do it. The coaches and admins appear to busy worrying what will become of their legacy, son, cash cow and, in many cases, young coaching career.

Reason Three: He Is Totally Irreplaceable
I know I should put this under #1 but I think it's different. We've always had a leader in the LB spot, and they've always been good. Poz became that guy, Connor naturally followed, and now Lee seems like the undisputed heir...we'll I'm looking around and who's after Lee? I'm sure there is a guy but whoever they are they aren't ready.

Or maybe they are, I don't know. I guess will find out when this off-season for the ages (in a bad way) ends and we actually get to watch football games.

The Post In Which I Explain That I Am Not Optimistic

A couple of weeks ago, in response to a BWRT question regarding whether Lee should be moved to the ILB position like Poz and Conner before him, I said the following:

This is a difficult question because you really want to make sure you are truly taking advantage of how good Sean Lee is. And lets not joke around, he will probably end up being the best of the three. Paul will be known for his leadership, and Connor ended up a little better statistically, but Lee brings both aspects to the table and I can't help but get excited about it.

Well, you've all heard:

"He was blitzing a quarterback, and his knee slid out from under him," Lee's father, Craig, told the Mirror on Friday evening. "We don't know the extent of it at this point."

The severity of the injury won't be known until Saturday morning, both Craig Lee and Penn State spokesman Jeff Nelson said. The Lee family was on its way to State College on Friday evening to visit Sean on campus.

"He's not in the hospital; he's in his dorm room," Craig Lee said.

If Saturday's test results show a ligament tear, Lee almost certainly would have to miss the 2008 season.

"He does have a redshirt year," Craig Lee said.
...

"Hopefully it's going to work out," Craig Lee said. "We'll see."

Asked how Sean's spirits were holding up after the injury, his father said: "Do you know my son? Then he's not in good spirits."

This really sucks, and I think I can honestly say I've never felt as bad for a guy as I do for Lee. Matt Hahn comes close, but thinking about that just reminds me how many shitty injuries we've had over the last couple of years.

Here's to hoping it's not as bad as it initially appears and that Lee gets back to doing what he does best.

Profiles In Plagiar-Ageism: Lou Holtz

Profiles In Plagiar-Agism is an offseason series being run to examine the history of exit plans. We will be analyzing some of the greatest football coaches of all time and determining any parallels between their final days and those that are facing Joe Paterno.

(Previous episodes: Paul William "Bear" Bryant)

Lou Holtz

Coaching Years: 1969-1971 William & Mary, 1972-1975 North Carolina State, 1976 New York Jets, 1977-1983 Arkansas, 1984-1985 Minnesota, 1986-1996 Notre Dame, 1999-2004 South Carolina

Mythical National Championships: One*, 12-0 1988 Irish

Conference Championships: 3 in 22 years of coaching teams in a conference (excludes, of course, all seasons with Notre Dame)

Backstory: Holtz had a bit of a strange rise in the coaching world, filled with very dramatic ups and downs. He built up the William & Mary program but then left for North Carolina State. HE compiled a 31-11-2 record there, but only finished the season ranked once in four years.

After that relatively bland record at a major college program, he was hired as HC by an apparently desperate New York Jets franchise. He didn't make it though his first season, pulling a Bobby Petrino** with one game left to play. Under his control the team managed 3 wins in 13 games.

He then moved on to Arkansas with mild success but was eventually let go. This led him to one short season at Minnesota, where he gained a rare bowl invitation but did not coach in it because he had accepted an offer from Notre Dame in December.

At Notre Dame he faired quite well. After two mediocre season he went on to finish in the top six of the polls five times, including the above mentioned 1988 Mythical National Championship. He left a couple years later but no one seems to be quite sure why. Some mention a job in the NFL (that never happened), there were rumblings of non-specific 'ethical' motivations, and then there was this:

Maybe he exasperated his new bosses. Holtz is a famous pain. Even in the celebratory moments after his last game at South Bend, a 62-0 victory, Boo Hoo Lou whined about the TV network deal. He said it created "a backlash" that inspired teams to play superbly against Notre Dame and might have "cost us" a national championship or two.

Maybe he told his bosses that if they didn't like the way he worked, it might be time to get a new man. And maybe they agreed.

Wow, that's some stupid shit. Anyway, Lou eventually ended up at South Carolina. He didn't win a game in his first year. In six years, he managed just two bowl appearances.

Burn Out or Fade Away? Ummm....


Current Legacy: This is billed as a series about how the greats quit and that might mean Lou doesn't really belong. But hey, the guy looks the part of an old man, like our own coach, so he gets an invitation. While he is easy to discredit, he coached at Notre Dame and did well there (back when Notre Dame actually played a decent schedule none the less). The school had been playing .500 ball for half a decade until Lou showed up and make them a consistent top ten team.

Lou isn't well respected anymore. The USC thing was him walking away with his tail between his legs. He is paraded like a clown on ESPN. Despite bringing their program back to life, Notre Dame fans tend to shit on him for 'losing the big games' even though he won an MNC there. They haven't even been close since.

So what did we learn? Well, to start, and especially with Paterno, it is impossible to know exactly how a program is run and what kind of internal respect the HC is generating. After last summer's fight, the Hub Brawl, Quarless' repeated alcohol offenses, and now this knife thing with Bell, it's hard to say how much of the old disciplinetarian (I know, not a word, but look at the title of the post) is showing up to practice anymore. While I'll admit it is all speculation, it's a dangerous and slippery slope when you show cracks in the armor.

So here comes the conclusion: sometimes you just get too old to coach. I know that sounds retardedly obvious, but I think the simple concept gets lost in our over analysis.

Is Joe too old? I honestly don't know. I really don't. Maybe all these off the field incidents mean he isn't respected in the club house. Maybe he is respected in the club house but they are choosing to recruit character issue players. Maybe it's just bad luck; even coaches that most agree are in control (guys like Stoops and Tressel) aren't above these things happening to their teams. It's just the reality of the sport now.

I do know that Lou was too old. It's clear from the video of the bowl-brawl. I also know that it's not going to be the same age for everyone, and so that makes the question one that you can't really answer until it's too late.



* Yes, they were voted #1 in the polls, but Notre Dame Sucks has this to say about their win over eventual #2 Maimi (who's only loss that season was to ND):

With Miami trailing 31-24 and facing a critical fourth-and-7 from deep in Irish territory midway through the fourth quarter, Walsh connected with Miami running back Cleveland Gary streaking across the middle of the field at the Irish 11-yard line. Gary picked up the first down and turned up-field but was tackled at the Notre Dame 1-yard line. The ball came loose at the end of the play and the ball was recovered by Notre Dame linebacker Michael Stonebreaker. But that play has become one of the most innacurately remembered and described plays in college football history. Even major accounts of the greatest games in college football history routinely botch the description. Lou Holtz got it wrong in his autobiography, calling it a fumble. Gary was ruled down at the one yard line. It was not ruled a fumble. But the split crew of referees mistakenly believed it was fourth and goal, not fourth and 7. Incredibly, the ball was given to Notre Dame on downs. Jimmy Johnson can be seen on the tape of the game, coming out onto the field and motioning first down, while saying "first down, it's a first down." The placement of the ball verifies the officials got it wrong, since the ball is placed where it was when Gary's knees went down, not where the ball was when Stonebreaker recovered. Here is a section of an article in the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel from October 18, 1988: "In my mind, I believe we probably made a mistake in giving Notre Dame the football," the official told the News. "There was confusion as to whether there was a fumble or not, but there was also a great question about giving Notre Dame the football over on downs. That's why they got the football."

** The quitting part, anyway. Based on what I can gather, he didn't recieve the Arkansas job until after he had officially resigned.