Blue White Roundtable: The coming storm

Here go with a pre-Blue White Game Blue White Roundtable. The questions this week are from Nittany Whiteout.

1) 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?

Anything less than 8 wins and I say yes. Anything more and Paterno will have leverage, provided the players act like gentleman. Graham Spainer got a five-year contract extension in part to deal with the end of Paterno's career.

2) Joe will clearly not been 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?

Given the problems with the players of late, I am more open to consider a hire from elsewhere. I don't envy the next coach though, it is hard following a legend. They should not find a shortage of people interested unless they really go cheap with the salary. I would expect Tom Bradley, Ron Vanderlinden and Larry Johnson to be internal candidates and Greg Schiano and Al Golden as external ones. Depending on how Paterno leaves, they could run into fundraising issues.

3) 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 think the problems are the players are getting coddled earlier and earlier on in life because of their athletic talents. That coddling may create a sense of entitlement in them so think they live by different rules. I also think they don't fear Paterno any more. Also, the police are not taking troublesome players over to Paterno so that he can run around town all night as punishment. That is fine with me by the way.

4) 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 brethren 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?

The Big11Ten is full big, state-related Land Grant universities, so in that regard, it makes sense. An all-Eastern conference would have made the most sense athletically, but it didn't happen, so Penn State moved on. Penn State is in the Big11Ten for the duration, so bringing the subject up again and again is pointless. Do you want Penn State to leave and forever be known as a school that was afraid to be in the Big11Ten?

5) 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.)

Ohio State is the Big11Ten team I get most fired up for every year. Michigan is way up there too, but the losing streak has made me very defeatist about it. I think we have a solid rivalry with Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan State too. No, these aren't great rivalries, but that is life.

I would like to see at least one traditional rival other than Temple yearly. Syracuse comes on this year with Nebraska and Alabama in the 2010s. I would love to see Maryland (geographic convenience to me being a big plus) but would also enjoy Rutgers and Boston College again. I could take or leave West Virginia and any series with Pitt would have to be on PSU's terms. Pitt had the majority of home games between the two programs until the 1970s, so payback time.

Bonus: Going to the Blue White Game?

I think so, the forecast looks good enough. An eight hour roundtrip to watch a scrimmage in the rain isn't as compelling as it used to be. I won't be running my own tailgate, so I want to visit some others for a change.

The roundtable

Black Shoe Diaries
The Nittany Line
There Is No Name On My Jersey
The Big Eleventh
Tangled Up In White and Blue
The Nittany Notebook
Run Up The Score
Penn State, Nittany Lions, Joe Paterno, Graham Spainer

Labels: PSU Football 2008

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posted by WFY @ 12:25 PM | |