What's going to happen to Penn State football?

What do you guys think the impact will be on the football field of all this, going foward? Will the program really be damaged by recruits not coming, alumni not donating money, a good coach (Urban Meyer?) not wanting to step in? Or will they be just like any other football power getting a new coach?

I ask primarily because Penn State's first game of 2012 is against ... the Ohio Bobcats!

(Please spare me "There are more important things than football and how dare you ask!")

 

I don't know if it's possible to assess that right now because I don't know how much of this story is still to come. The part that Madden hinted about on the other thread -- Second Mile pimping out kids, oh my God -- opens a whole new front that we hadn't even considered. I realize the upside-down world we live in where we are citing and discussing a Mark Madden tweet, but such is life.

If this is the worst of it and they get a great coach like a Meyer, they can become a good program again, but it will take a few years. But if there is a lot more, and especially if there is something that connects directly to the football program as far as cash to players or recruiting improprieties, they may not even have a program for a couple of years.

I'd take Ohio and the points right now.

 

I would be shocked if Meyer showed any interest now. Why step back into what will sure to be a circus for a long long time. Recruiting elite players will be next to impossible for a while.

 

Not as bad as it should be, nor as bad as people are predicting in the heat of the moment.

 

Way too soon to tell. Assuming (and that's a massive assuming at this point) that the allegations out now are proven but no more are added to the pile, then it's going to take the wind out of their next two recruiting classes at least. You'd imagine everyone associated with Penn State football today, except players, will be long out the door before the first game. They're probably looking at a placeholder coach, because right now that place is toxic and nobody's going to want to go there for any legnth of time for fear of being tainted by association if something bigger comes down in a year or so. Meyer wouldn't touch that with a 10-mile pole. Dungy *might* if he thinks it can be another redemptive-power-of-repentance-and-resilience story, in the Vick vein. There will probably be a dip in non-sports fan alumni donations, but the boosters might pony up to buy their way out of long-term irrelevance by getting the best coach available -- though those numbers could drop dramatically if it's not the right guy.

And if, as speculated, this is the tip of the iceberg? It could be ugly in a way that makes SMU's death penalty seem like a jaywalking fine. They run the risk of becoming college football's Three Mile Island.

 

They should just shut it down for a year.

 

I think the problem is that no elite coach is going to want to be dragged into not only the absolute mess of the scandal, but also trying to follow JoePa there.

And if you say it wouldn't affect the new head coach, I'll call bull on that. Even the top coach (We'll call him Urban) saying "That's not our scandal" or "We won't talk about it" doesn't matter - the media will still write about how PSU is coming back from this scandal, and Urban doesn't want to deal with all that shit.

At the same time, Penn State is not about to take a risk on a boom/bust younger coach (We'll call him Muschamp) because they want some kind of stability to prevent the program from going into a complete tailspin. A potential flop from a Muschamp could crush the program for a decade.

So, by not being able to get Urban and (probably) not wanting to take a huge risk on a young guy, they'll probably go with a known name that gets a lukewarm reception at best.

...And that's even worse. With no heat from an Urban or any upside from a Muschamp, the program is mired in scandal and has no strong leader to get them out of the shit.

tl;dr - Penn State is most likely screwed because they'll hire a guy like Mike Sherman/Charlie Weis. Not saying those are the guys to look at, just the guys who fit the mold I'm thinking of.

 

I think they could offer Urban a deal that makes Saban's look like chump change and he'd turn it down...

I can't imagine any established coach wanting to be anywhere near Penn State at this point... Are there any alumni who are coaches?

 

Mizzou, it has to be someone with no ties to the school. Any alum who is a coach had to have been coached by Paterno himself.
Depending on how much worse things get, the hire could be like the Greek bailout in the EU. The powers-that-be in the Big Ten and NCAA would find Penn State a coach who would operate the program more or less under their trusteeship.

 

What do you think? Yes, yes and yes. If you had other choices, would you want to play for program now best known for the child rape scandal and being called "Pedo State"? The school's brand name has been utterly demolished. Penn State football is facing years in the toilet.

 

If you can prop up, to some degree, the talent flow for a year or two , then you can bring in a top-flight coach and Penn State goes back to being Penn State (I mean the good version of Penn State). If it were me, I’d try to hire some stellar recruiter who’s always been able to sign ‘em but has never delivered the goods on the field. There are a few of those out there.

 

I think there are plenty of coaches who would want the job even though they might not say that publicly right now.

Coaches have enormous egos and I'm sure there are enough who would want to be "the guy" or think they can be "the guy" who helped remove part of the stain from all of this.

As I have stated on another thread, Penn State is not going to become Indiana all of a sudden. They are still the major university in a state with almost 13 million people and they still will get enough recruits to stay relevant. I think there are enough people who still think the university is strong enough to overcome this.

This is low on the totem pole of what is going on right now, but whoever has been coaching them this season (assuming JoePa has been mostly a figurehead in the pressbox), they are the only team without a Big Ten loss. Sad as it is to think now, if they were to win the Big Ten title, JoePa might have been up for coach of the year.