For the first time since the mid 1960s, the Penn State football program is out of Joe Paterno‘s hands.
If you somehow missed the news, Penn State’s Board of Trustees announced on Wednesday night that Paterno had been forced out as head coach. Instead of accepting Paterno’s own desire to retire at the end of the 2011 season, they decided to fire him.
The shock of JoePa’s departure is not going to go away any time soon, but the fact of the matter is that this is a decision that had to be made. As a key player in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, there was just no way JoePa could have been allowed to stay. He had to go.
In this situation, the state of the Penn State football program is pretty much a secondary concern. As it is, defensive coordinator Tom Bradley has been named interim head coach. He will coach the final three games of the Nittany Lions’ regular season. Presumably, he will also coach the Nittany Lions in the Big Ten Championship Game and whatever bowl game they make if need be.
Because Bradley has been with the program for over 30 years, it is certainly conceivable that the university could retain him as the football team’s head coach on a permanent basis. The other option is to look to acquire a new head coach from outside the university.
If it comes to that, you’re going to hear a lot of big names mentioned. Urban Meyer comes to mind, and so do Greg Schiano and Dan Mullen.
If Penn State has any sense, it will choose another route with its coaching search. This program does not need a white knight. What it needs is to start from scratch.
Essentially, a new culture must be cultivated at Penn State. The first step in this process is purging the old regime, which had Joe Paterno at its head. The next step will be to rebuild the program from the ground up. To do that, it will need fresh faces with fresh voices and fresh ideas.
A big-name coach who has been there and done that would not be able to provide these things. Bringing in an Urban Meyer or a Dan Mullen would definitely provide the program with a new direction, but not the kind of direction it needs.
The point here is not to forge success on the football field. The point is to forge a new identity.
If Penn State is going to do that, it has to do it right.
