Black Shoe Diaries

Out of high school

he was called a dual-threat QB (No. 2 in the country according to Rivals.com). He has a quote on Scout.com prior to entering college where he says “If the play breaks down, I can get out of it…” So there’s that.

Jeff Junstrom - January 4, 2012 reply

Thank you!

So, would he excel in a Michigan/Denard Robinson-style role? Granted, DR is a freak of nature, but if Bolden was given the freedom to play the style of QB he and the scouts claim he was coming out of high school, would he be more successful today?

The few times I remember seeing Bolden run

it wasn’t much more impressive than his throwing.

He just looks stiff

Like even in his runs, there just is not fluidity.

His best series of the year

Was the last drive of the Alabama game. He looked pretty solid on his legs when he was scrambling. He’s no option quarterback, but if was given the freedom to scramble or at the very least roll out of the pocket some more I think he’d be more comfortable and might have some more success.

Maybe they gave him the chance in practice and he does that as well as he throws the screen. I don’t know.

JMO, but not a chance.

He may have been considered elusive at a high school level, but he’s really not a guy you’d run an option game with. I think he can eventually get up to a decent speed, which might account for his low (fake?) 40 time. He’s not quick, though. Put another way, he’s no Zack Mills.

He would get knocked out

Fumble, or both.

JIMPSU - January 4, 2012 reply

The full quote reads:

“If the play breaks down, I can get out of it, by launching the ball 600 MPH into the stands.”

Bob Sacamano - January 4, 2012 reply

Paul Jones...

please get your act together. What do you need help with? History? Psychology? Sociology? I can tutor you in them all just let me know. I’ll do it for free.

EREX21 - January 4, 2012 reply

Ham Samich

Ham Samich is the man, the other options have a putrid stank to them

airleg1 - January 4, 2012 reply

BranchieGrinder - January 5, 2012 reply

...if the new coaching staff continues to use Joe-speak (hopefully they won't).

You assume that we will have a coaching staff by spring. The next time I need knee surgury I think I’ll look for an AD. Per the BoT, anybody can do the job.

bluebellgolfer - January 4, 2012 reply

I would have voted Ham sandwich...

…if it was a ham sandwich from the booth under the grandstand at the York Fair. Delicious.

irz813 - January 4, 2012 reply

Don't forget...

That’s the Great York Interstate Fair! (I’m from Red Lion.)

I remember the food at the fair being better when I was younger

but isn’t that how it always goes?

burgers in sauce! yum!

lexi1031 - January 4, 2012 via mobile reply

McGloin

Ham Sandwich cannot be both head coach and QB

speedotito - January 4, 2012 reply

Are we sure McGloin is coming back?

I heard he is in line to graduate this year and with everything surrounding the program, it wouldn’t be unthinkable for him to simply walk away.

VVeRPennState - January 4, 2012 reply

I don't think that there's any way that his (most likely) massive ego would allow for something like that to happen.

Bob Sacamano - January 4, 2012 reply

I have quite a few connections in Scranton

including friends who teach at West Scranton HS. His ego is bigger than you can imagine.

I am from the area....

Yes to this.

Although he is a somewhat nice guy and doesnt get tired of answering questions… his ego is… well… bigger than his ceiling.

It's moxie.

His moxie is huge.

But he needs to temper it. I like the edge, but after his career at Penn State is done, his career is done. And the only thing to look forward after that is for him and McNamara to discuss the “good old days” at Whistles.

McNamara is assistant coach at Syracuse now

he will be too busy winning hundreds of national championships to go to whistle’s… which is now shut down I believe cause the owner refused to prevent his patrons from smoking…

Only in Scranton!

swiggy04 - January 5, 2012 reply

No way he leaves

As has been said before, his best trait is his worst trait, his utter and supreme confidence in himself. He’ll dream from now until next year about being the QB to lead PSU back to glory with a new coach. And I don’t blame him for that at all.

"He’ll dream from now until next year about being the QB to lead PSU back to glory with a new coach."

Reply fail

“He’ll dream from now until next year about being the QB to lead PSU back to glory with a new coach.”

Until Les Miles bring Gunner Kiel with him. Amirite?

/trollgaze

I'd be ok with that

trollololol

No way he leaves

He went to PSU to walk on as QB even though he could have played college ball at a lower level. The kid loves PSU and is living his dream by playing quarterback for them. If I were in his position, I’d stay even if I knew I may end up staying on the practice team. He has no chance at the NFL, and therefore only a few more chances to run out of a tunnel in his life.

Bolden has been so bad.

So bad that I can’t imagine any of the options being worse. We don’t know about PJ, but can he really be worse than misfiring a 3 yard out by 10 yards. Or can he be worse than the inexplicable inability to complete a screen pass? Can he be worse than a stat line that makes Tebow’s numbers seem Rodgers-like? Because of this, I remain hopeful that PJ has potential.

Mornhinweg should redshirt. Bolden should redshirt (or cough transfer cough).

McGloin will probably be the guy, sigh. I’m not convinced he can take any steps further because I think he’s maxed out. The guy’s arm strength is so bad. He fell down on that 40 yard TD pass to Devon Smith against NW. And that magical gift he has of throwing into triple coverage is awesome.

2012 will be another frustrating year for the signal callers.

I think depth alone

means Morhinweg wont be able to redshirt. Particularly if PJ cant play due to grades.

By the way, Curtis Drake’s pass to McGloin was one of the 3 nicest we had all year. Why not move him to QB? Can he be worse than McGloin, or the field? At least hes an athlete.

Not a bad point on Drake to be honest.

If you have no legitimate QB’s on the roster, why not go for the spread the field option attack.

It's one thing to complete a pass

where both you and the receiver are wide open because of a trick play. It’s a whole ’nother ball of wax to get under center, recognize a blitz, and throw to the hot route.

True, but...

the current quarterbacks don’t do much better at hot routes and defense recognition.

I think this is going to have to be determined by the coach we bring in.

Honestly

I’ll be more surprised if Drake is still there than any underclass player save Kersey.

Hmmm, maybe Rivals was just wrong about Bolden

I remember my sons and I asking each other “why is Penn State recruiting this kid?” after watching him in the state championship game. While he ran the ball well, he completed less than half his passes and actually tripped over his own feet and fumbled the ball back to East Grand Rapids late in the game which basically lost it for Orchard Lake. I’m sure he looked like a superstar at all those ridiculous 7 on 7 things and I know Jay Paterno has been crucified by many on this site for Bolden’s poor play but could it be that he’s just not that good and never will be?

MB in MI - January 4, 2012 reply

Quite possible. Happens all the time.

Any chance we're wrong about Jay?

This may get me killed, but we’ve all bashed Jay Paterno for being unable to develop a quarterback for years. Is it possible he just hasn’t had good quarterbacks to develop? I know part of that is on him for not going out and getting them, but still:

Matt Senneca was never a good QB.
Zach Mills was on his way to being a good QB before he got hurt in that 2003 Wisconsin game and was never the same.
Anthony Morelli never learned the playbook and thought diving for a first down when he was 6 yards short was a good idea.
Rob Bolden appears to have been overhyped.
Matt McGloin was never supposed to be any good.
Paul Jones can’t get out of the classroom.

The only two solid QBs he’s really had have been Robinson and Clark, and they both played a specific style that worked. I’m not necessarily saying Jay is the greatest QB coach in the world, but maybe he’s not entirely the problem.

kflintosh - January 4, 2012 reply

Don't forget

He developed Pat Devlin. I’d say Pat Devlin did alright, even though it wasn’t at PSU

I disagree.

What makes you think he developed Devlin? Sure, he spent some time at PSU but he never demonstrated his development at PSU. It could have just as easy been the coaching at Deleware. After all, Flacco went through Deleware before Devlin and he did alright for himself.

He did look good when he came in relief though...

I think if he stuck around, he should have started over DC, and I really like DC, but this kid would have been good….

Because Devlin transferred there for 1 year

Sure, the Deleware coach could have taught Devlin everything he knew in 1 spring and Summer, but I’d say thats highly unlikely. Also, in his few appearances at PSU, he played quite well. Well enough that there was a massive debate about starting him over the B1G player of the year DC17

Definitely would have started him over DC.

Let’s also remember that Devlin did take his team to the national championship in a tournament, which is how its supposed to be (but I won’t get into all that here).

He played two years at Deleware.

And I don’t disagree with the fact that Jay influenced him some, but to call Devlin a Jay product is a little far-fetched.

I wasn't aware he had two years at Delaware

Still, he looked good enough when he got his chances at PSU that a large portion of the fanbase was calling for him to start over Clark.

Oh

And Newsome was a hell of an athlete that wasn’t suited to be a pro-style quarterback.

It's possible I suppose.

But when was the last PSU quarterback to do ANYTHING against a defense with a pulse? DC17 carved up bad defenses and fell apart against the better ones. MRob was the same way, but he was much more of a running threat.

It comes to a point where there has to have been a QB on the roster at some point or another that had the ability to learn if he was taught. I refuse to believe that Jay knows enough about the QB position to be an effective coach.

Matt McGloin

first half last year against OSU, at OSU….he’s was eating them alive.

BooyahPSU - January 4, 2012 reply

But then OSU adjusted defensively...

And PSU’s offense failed to adjust…

Gunslinger.

How’d the second half turn out? He doesn’t have the ability to adjust because he just doesn’t know how to read a defense. He drops back and slings it. If that receiver ain’t open, pick six.

QB#14

I seem to remember a few years ago when QB#14(I dare not speak his name) was locked in a tight game with a highly ranked Ohio State team and threw a couple nice TD passes to seal the victory. Oh wait those were INT’s returned for TD’s …….. But it did seal the victory for Ohio State. At least i was half right

AdamP84 - January 4, 2012 reply

to be fair

the number of quarterbacks who can “carve up” good defenses is relatively small. Keenum was definitely one. I wouldn’t put Russell up there, because their running game was so good and he had such pocket protection. Keenum didn’t truly have either and still looked amazing.

True, but...

There is a difference between carving up and having a pulse.

Against better competition, I can’t remember the last PSU quarterback to have a good (not great) game.

Clark's stats against USC were pretty good.

Remember...

Many of those stats were when they were behind and in “pass heavy” mode.

so?

USC knew he was passing. It wasn’t like they quit blitzing.

Well, they went more into a prevent and into a bend don't break mode.

All I’m saying is that allowed DC to accumulate some better stats, that is all. It’s a bit deceiving, since PSU was already getting blown out and the game was not in doubt.

no they didn't

revisionist history. The USC defense had an incredible second half record that season and they did not want to give up point. DC’s first half stats were not that bad , 7-13 for 109, plus ran for a TD. 2nd half stats 14-23 for 164 2 Td 2int

No revisionist history I swear...

I was at the game BMAN, they were down 31-7 or something like that by the fourth quarter. I’m not saying his stats were bad, I’m just saying they were a little deceiving. His pass yards in the second half were the product of the prevent defense. Remember Carrol is a product of the NFL, where they run the prevent all the time. PSU scored all its other points, besides the DC rush touchdown, in the 4th quarter, when the game was over.

And just to add...

I’m an anti-revisionist historian, so there!! Haha..

The only stats that really matter...

are W’s and L’s. I’ll take John Shaffer all day long if we win every game.

I always said that DC17 was the Donovan McNabb of college quarterbacking

When the pressure wasnt on DC17, he was great. When it came to the big moments where he had to step up… he seemed to shrink away from the opportunity.

Except in his last game.

dbl5030 - January 5, 2012 reply

I know he developed Devlin, but...

Again, I just don’t see him as a good QB coach, below average at best. He was rigid, unwilling to change, like most of the PSU coaching staff. He had a few successes, but far to little to be kept around. I agree with Swiggs on this one.

Valid points, but....

I still don’t think he’s that good of a coach. I think he compounded existing problems instead of getting the most out of what he had to work with.

I agree with this line of thought

He doesn’t recruit guys that fit his system. He recruits the most highly touted QBs, regardless of their playing style and then trys to force them to be pro-style attacks in almost all cases. The only times this hasn’t been true have been DC17 and MRob. There was some actual adaptation to their playing abilities.

I’m not saying he needs to recruit guys to fit the system, but he should at least be willing to adapt some.

And that has always been my complaint about the offense...

That it doesn’t adapt, it never does and the playcalling is predictable..

And part of that is because he wasn't a credible QB coach to recruits.

So instead of being able to create a system and recruits guys for that system, PSU had to essentially change its system on a year to year basis.

This is a fair point.

So why don’t the coaches stick with a system and recruit for it? Again, another reason to just start anew. No wonder these kids have “the deer in the headlights” look when they are under center.

I’m just curious as to the evolution of that reasoning. Once again, was it JoePa’s doing?

I don't know. I'm sure they would like to have stuck with a system.

But it goes back to a basic lack of identity with the offense since Zack Mills showed he could run the option. It’s been back and forth. Mills, Robinson, Morelli, Clark, Newsome, McGloin, Bolden. Not many common threads in that group of QB’s.

I can’t verify this without a little research, but it feels like they took whatever Best Available QB was left in the process and tried to reverse engineer the offense to fit his talents.

Interesting.

And makes much of the coaching staff look extremely backward & rigid.

Adjusting the offense to fit the qualities of the players in it is rigid to you?

skarocksoi - January 4, 2012 reply

But you can't do it every year...

Take the whole scheme one year and just chuck it and do the same thing every year with another scheme? Seems extremely obtuse and backward. Ok, really the opposite of rigid, so I forgive me there.

But no wonder why all these kids look hapless out there.

Schemes are dumb

they get you in situations like Richrod and Michigan.

Obtuse is probably the correct word for it, however I dont think “all these kids” look hapless. Only Bolden does. McGloin just makes the occasional terrible decision and has an ego bigger than his arm. DC looked good enough to win the B1G MVP. Morelli looked hapless when up against tougher opponents, but hapless is his natural state. NFL coaches couldn’t even change that. And he still set several PSU passing records. I dont get where this thought that all of our QB’s can barely hand the ball off because they are so dumbfounded. Its just one sophmore QB who has issues.

skarocksoi - January 4, 2012 reply

I would never say these kids are "dumb"

Though sometimes Bolden and McGloin make me rethink that, one kid has too much confidence the other one doesn’t have any.

But the coaches and the constant changing around definitely confuses these kids. I mostly agree with your statement schemes are dumb, but all I want is some consistency, and the coaching staff hasn’t been that way with either McGloin, Bolden or a lot of the previous qbs.

While schemes get you in trouble

Coaches like Nick Saban recruit for specific skillsets and size/speed/etc. I’ll see if I can find the article that talks about how he recruits, but its very interesting. He gets guys with specific physical tools that work in his offenses and defenses. Its somewhere in between Rich Rod and PSUs quarterbacks. It seems pretty damn effective.

Right.

And that “fit a player to a scheme” method generates program and identity confusion. No good for business when you’re trying to sell the program.

Its also easier for him to get exactly what he wants too

considering oversigning.

I like the idea of flexibility in the coaches. Put your best players in the best position to win. Its fine if you want to recruit a certain type of player because you can work with that player best, but as a coach you should be able to adjust your scheme to work with what you’ve got. Otherwise you’ve got nothing.

skarocksoi - January 4, 2012 reply

I see what you guys are saying...

And that to me, puts more blame on the coaching staff.

Saban can also recruit just about anyone he wants.

So theres that.

Don't oversimplify

McGloin had an even worse game against Alabama than Bolden just shat out. While McGloin had flashes of competency the remainder of the year, that one performance was still the worst I’ve seen by a PSU QB since at least Senneca.

Yeah

He does have the benefit of competing against 2011 Robert Bolden. Imagine the shitstorm that would have ensued if Bolden didn’t see the field at all.

Jay Paterno is not awful, but he's not very good either

A couple of his QBs have panned out. Most haven’t. During his tenure as the QB coach, the strength of the PSU team has rarely been the QB.

He’s not the worst coach in the world, and he definitely embodies the best of what the program should be. I think he’d be a good MAC or D-1AA coach, but he’s punching above his weight class in the B1G.

At best, Jay is a serviceable QB coach, but he’s not an elite assitant by any stretch. Uncle Rico or whoever that dude was that starred at Texas Tech and was the OC/QB coach for Houston was clearly much better than Jay at his current job.

spakajewia - January 4, 2012 reply

This is a fair evaluation.

And the one area I think Jay exceled in was media relations.

There's a rational argument in there.

I’ve struggled with it myself. Jay has always been a hate proxy for those who wanted Joe Paterno gone, but also because of PSU’s often anemic passing game.

I mean, picture your perfect offense. What do you want your QB’s to be able to do? Use all of the field. Go through progressions quickly. Don’t make stupid decisions. Be able to change plays and protections at the line of scrimmage. Penn State QB’s don’t really do that stuff.

Part of that was Jay. Much of that was Joe, for not demanding more out of Jay and the QB’s. I’m sure if Jay had his druthers, the QB’s would be permitted to change the play at the line, but Joe practically never allowed that. There was an in-house GoPSUSports.com interview of Derek Moye earlier this year, and he actually laughed when asked if the QB’s were permitted to change the play.

Well I'd hope Moye laughed

If McGloin were allowed to change the play at the line, I’d expect nothing but deep balls. Giggity.

If Bolden were allowed to change the play at the line I’d expect nothing but confusion and poor clock management

Yeah, as psuphysicist says, I would not trust either of these guys to change a play at the line.

Right, but that's missing the point.

The QB’s should be coached up to the point of being able to change a simple protection or play. If a defense puts eleven guys on the LOS and a fullback dive is called, PSU is running that fullback dive. That’s moronic.

Wasn't there a massive applause the first time a PSU QB lined up in shotgun?

Wasn't it Rashard Casey?

circa 2000?

There's another great failure...

I remember that kid was supposed to be awesome, and he blew chunks…

Oh, he wasn't that bad.

And he was ten times better than anyone on our current roster.

http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/rashard-casey-1.html

Here are Rashard's stats

I would love to have had Rashard

play this past Monday.

Well..

He showed the typical “PSU QB regression” pattern once he became the guy (I think he split with THompson in ’99).

“But man would I kill for 53% passing, 14TD/8Int” – said absolutely nobody other than PSU fans

Haha..true...

That's basically McGloin's line from this year, isn't it?

But at least Rashard could run when needed. Of course, he didn’t have McGloin’s pass catching skills.

I don't know, perhaps

Tracking QB stats this season was futile considering our relatively “QB Free” offense

McGloin stats...

8 touchdowns, 5 interceptions, 54.1% percentage, 1571 yards.

So Casey had more yards and touchdowns and McGloin had less interceptions and a higher completion percentage.

In an era when there was less passing.

And when Joe was more reluctant to pass so much. And the offense wasn’t geared as much for passing.

I think Casey would do much better in today’s game. Certainly much better than McGloin (and need I even say Bolden?).

He had a little over 2000 passing yards in 2000, so...

And nearly double the touchdowns. He definitely would have been better on Monday.

Ok, so he was alright...

He was definitely better than McGloin or Bolden, that’s for sure…

he also had one of the greatest QB scrambles of all time

his legal troubles seemingly affected him as well.

I've just forgotten many of those years...

like I want to forget this one….

arguably the greatest

WorldBFat - January 4, 2012 reply

Is there video of it?

Because I’d love to see it…

And I'm referring to the scramble not his legal troubles

3:12 of this video

Rashard Casey

I actually watched the whole thing at work. He was Michael Vick-esque with his feet.

This is awesome.

It’s too bad during his time there, he didn’t have a better team around him.

No, it's at 8:15.

oh man you are absolutely correct

i didnt watch the whole thing so I assumed it was the first one. But you are right thats the one i meant

It's just a shame...

…you can’t see Joe during it. I know there was another view of this out there a few years ago where you could see him – he was exasperated by it. Of course he liked the TD, but hated the way he got it.

Watching that entire highlight video made me wish PSU had him at qb this year. In today’s game with his talents…man, it would be fun. DR has nothing on him.

Yeah, you guys are right...

I just saw it myself, he looks about 50 times better than McGloin or Bolden. Of course, those receivers never dropped balls either.

He would have definitely beat Houston on Monday no doubt!

Well, it's a highlight reel.

You know how they can make almost anyone look all-world. Geez, look what the “Penn State Football Story” does a lot of the time.

Even so, he’s a million times better than what they have now. He was worthy of being a qb at a place like PSU….McGloin and Bolden have no business being one.

Yeah, I totally agree...

It is only his highlights for sure

but i dont think in the two years of McGloin we could come up with 9 minutes of action like that.

Good point!

I miss Tony Stewart.

Rashard Casey, 2012

“They finally appreciate me!”

Always did, Rashard! Always did.

He had some nice blocking on that run, too

Sure did.

Starting at around the 10 yard line, LJ really got him into the endzone.

PSUmob - January 4, 2012 reply

Great run to watch.

But it’s even better to watch Joe on the sideline during it. His reactions were hilarious.

Against Indiana?

Illinois.

Rashard fumbled a bit too much

And the commentators would often say he was carrying the ball like “a loaf of bread.” Who carries a loaf of bread with one hand like they might want to throw it?

reedjohnmiller - January 4, 2012 via mobile reply

Perhaps

But you are absolutely correct

there was definitely massive applause in the stadium. If I recall, there were rumors in the week prior to the game about this revolutionary new concept.

I don't think we did any shotgun until Mills in '01.

Because I distinctly remember wondering why we didn’t do it with Casey. He would have flourished in it, IMO.

icavalera - January 4, 2012 reply

You might be right.

2000. Casey.

Just found it, with this hilarious AP quote:

On its second possession, Penn State used the shotgun formation for what might have been the first time in Joe Paterno’s 35 years as coach. Casey, though, was sacked for a 7-yard loss. He then gained 9 yards rushing on third-and-16, and Penn State didn’t use the shotgun again.

Typical

And that is why a part of me is happy to see these coaches go. Obviously I never wanted it to be under these circumstances.

Which game was this?

I have a vague recollection of this sequence of plays.

icavalera - January 4, 2012 reply

Oh, Purdue. Sorry.

PSU won 22-20.

That was the first win post-Taliaferro injury, wasn't it?

One of my favorite PSU games of all time. So much emotion on the field, especially from the defense as Drew Brees threw all over the field but we kept them from scoring. The last series Purdue had the ball and the last play was a Hail Mary from Brees. Loud, loud stadium during that final drive.

That might be...

the last really good QB, PSU beat.

C'mon...Terrelle Pryor is much better than Drew Brees!

JK.

we practiced the shotgun the entire lead up to the 1999 alamo bowl

then took it out of the gameplan two days before kickoff

fuckin ridiculous

Sounds like Joe.

Those 2 lines...

explain so much, yet leave me with a million quesitons.

Shocking.

FTFY

shocking

well, TBH, you guys didn't really need it, did you?

Kicked some ass anyway.

no

and in hindsight maybe they just wanted to get Casey a look in shotgun for the next year….just seemed like a real waste of time and everyone was excited to have it in the gameplan

But then they didn't use it the next year anyway, right?

Except briefly in the Purdue game that Chris referenced above…

icavalera - January 4, 2012 reply

I don't remember much from 2000-2004

I remember Jay talking about the wildcat

he said he learned from his dad to add something when distractions are going on. They added the shotgun after Adam’s injury in 2000.

psupride - January 4, 2012 reply

Not sure, but I was sure glad to see it.

Like I wrote the other day, for too long a PSU qb would drop back in such a way (with the non-throwing shoulder in the rear) that he would have to stop, pivot 180 degrees, and only then would he be able to throw the ball.

That may have been ok back in the day when football was all about running the ball, but once the speed of the game increased there was not time enough to do that routine anymore. PSU was a bit slow to adapt in that regard.

Well

You have to get to the line with more than 3 seconds on the play clock.

Man, I’m in a pessimistic mood today.

I believe that I've heard that they do come to the line with a pass play and a run play.

I've wondered about the role Joe has played on our offense

I don’t think Jay is great as a QB coach, but I do think he could be a decent o-coordinator. Isn’t he the one who primarily designed the Spread HD for Robinson? Without Joe, maybe he would be more creative.

I really like Jay PA and think he is a good coach.

The problem was the system / Cluster around him created by Joe.

2 OC’s is a joke and so is the play call system.

Big knock on JayPa is he worked for his Dad…One day when our fathers are long gone we will be envious of Jay, he had a chance to spend a ton of time with his father that he probably missed growing up…I envy the guy

SweepTheLeg - January 4, 2012 reply

I envy him too.

I’d love to have my dad get me a cush-gig coaching football at a D-I school as my “job.” Probably making a ton of loot too. And he got to hang out with the old man everyday.

Just because I envy him, doesn’t make him a good coach though.

At some point you have to stop making excuses and judge a guy on his record

Jay’s been the QBs coach for a while now and in that time he has had 2 good QBs and the rest were mediocre at best. If all the other guys besides MRob and DC17 weren’t very good to begin with, then it still falls a bit on Jay’s shoulders for not recruiting better talent. The record says Jay is, at best, slightly better than mediocre as a QBs coach.

No, you were right with your initial actions of bashing Jay...

He can’t coach for sh*t. Seriously, how many effin’ screen passes can you run in one game? How many end-arounds? The guy doesn’t have “it.” Simple as that.

His offenses did okay with mobile QB’s…Mills, Robinson, Clark. When he had to put together a game plan that didn’t include a QB that was really good at improvising or making something of a broken play, the offense was especially bad…notoriously bad…the worst. Even with a “bad” QB, a good coordinator or coach should be able to put together something to at least keep opposing defenses honest. Look at some of the teams that beat us this year. Bama used a base defense almost all game. Wisconsin’s defense was probably the worst defense of any top 10 team. Houston’s defense stacked 8 and 9 guys in the box all game long.

Sorry, but I hope Jay is the first to get the ax once the new coach is hired. Dick Anderson second.

Thank you for some common sense.

Although, my second would be Galen Hall.

I'd probably be cool with the entire offensive coaching staff

being second…you know, like a package deal axing.

You lost me

When you put okay offenses in the same sentence as Mills. I’m biased, because 04 was my freshman year, but saying that offense was anything above putrid is as generous as it gets

It's tough being the only person on your side of the ball who has any remote playmaking ability.

MRob was out there too

So was Austin Scott

Before he gained 30 pounds over the summer

And showed up to camp out of shape and lost his job to Tony Hunt

I wouldn't call Austin "butterfingers" Scott a playmaker

He showed some flashes, but nowhere near ever lived up to his potential.

I concur about MRob though.

well, Mills Qb'd a few seasons...

I’m not saying that every one of those seasons was an okay season. But Mills had his moments…‘02 was an okay season. At least for most of the year. By ’04, Mills’ arm was gonzo. He never returned to form after his injury.

#TeamHamSandwich

That’s an interesting point above regarding McGloin graduating. All of these guys have their flaws. We’ve dissected McGloin and Bolden plenty. They’re not guys you can win a conference championship with.

With Jones, many people are hanging their hats on two fade patterns against basic fourth-string defenses as a basis for him to be the starter. That and “well, he can’t be worse than the others”. And maybe that’s true, but we don’t know if the kid is ever going to be academically eligible. He’s had a redshirt year and what was basically a year-long suspension for his grades, and he still couldn’t get the bare minimum to make the bowl trip.

Mornhinweg. The redshirt depends on the guys in front of him, whether they graduate (McGloin), transfer (Bolden), or can’t pass Math For Plants (Jones).

Sounds about right.

Mornhinweg. The redshirt depends on the guys in front of him, whether they graduate (McGloin), transfer (Bolden), or can’t pass Math For Plants (Jones).

Paints a beautiful picture.

I'm telling you...

If Mornhinweg doesn’t decommitt, I have a funny feeling he may be the starting QB next season…

Of course, this is based on absolutely nothing but a gut feeling…

thats what id be telling him if i was the new head coach

of course, the new head coach apparently wont be named until the week before the season starts.

Zing (and Ouch).

CvilleLion - January 4, 2012 reply

The starting QB

will be named before the new head coach. Maybe Joyner is going for the old throwback, player-manager.

I'm not willing to completely discount MM yet

He’s, slowly but surely, learned to play within himself. He can manage the game, convert on third down, and on occasion lead an effective two-minute drill. He’s shown a good ability to win football games, which is nothing to sneeze at. With the right cast around him and a little luck, he could win the B1G, particularly as putrid as it’s been the past few years.

I don’t like the idea of Morninweg coming in and playing as a true freshman. My guess is that he’s more mature than Bolden, but playing straight away fucked Bolden up to the point that he no longer resembles the player he was touted coming out of high school. McGloin isn’t so bad that they need to go that route.

Jones is the biggest x-factor and it’s really all about hope with him. No one outside of the team has a good idea about his ability, but my guess is that he could reasonably compete with MM for the starting job assuming he can get his grades in order.

If I was the new HC, I’d be inclined to play MM next year unless someone really comes on in camp. MM is the safe play, he might not win you that many games, but if he keeps improving, he won’t lose you many either. In a more creative offense, he might be able to more effectively move the team down the field. A new coach will likely be searching for stability and an 8 win season; MM is the safe play if those are the year-one goals.

spakajewia - January 4, 2012 reply

I agree with all of this

Particularly the part about Morninweg. I really hope he redshirts so that he can mature and learn the offense from a safe distance. As JoePa said ’I’d rather start a guy two games too late than a game too early’

Also, start McGloin, keep the expectations low. Then an 8-4 or 9-3 season won’t seem so bad.

Also agree about Morninweg

We have a talented kid who apparently still wants to be here even after IT. Maybe Bolden wasn’t going to be good to begin with, but almost everything after he was named the starter as a freshman was handled poorly. Don’t do that to Morninweg.

JoePa'sHornRimmedGlasses - January 4, 2012 reply

Re: Morninhgweg...

…True about the freshman fragility thing but having watched him play for 3 years now at The Prep I really think his makeup is TOTALLY different than Bolden’s was. I just hope he still goes to PSU period. His drop-back, setup, mechanics and release speed are already Big11 level, coach’s son, whole deal. Size and arm strength there as well.

Good point on being a coach's son.

They’re more advanced/“ready” than most players.

I don't know

That same coach thought it was a good idea to name him Skyler

LAPSU - January 4, 2012 reply

I am just talking about my gut feeling...

And I mostly agree with your comments. If I were coach, I would try to develop that short passing attack to aid McGloin. No doubt he is the frontrunner. But I also agree with the comments about Morninwheg not being able to redshirt. I think he may be the most talented out of all these clowns. So I’m just sayin….

Yeah

But thats what everyone said about Bolden two years ago. Remember all his poise? Look how it has turned out so far. He was thrown into the fire before he could handle it and has crumbled under the pressure. He needs a reshirt year. I don’t want to see Morninweg meet a similar fate.

All the talent in the world doesn’t mean anything if you can’t figure out how to use it.

Once again, no argument there...

But again I would argue that Bolden was playing pretty well until the injury in the Minnesota game two years ago. Then you HAD to take him out against Northwestern and keep McGloin as starter. The injury and the way the coaching staff handled him afterwards really hurt Bolden. That is what I’ve maintained all along.

Thats a valid point

Although him being pulled against jNW had more to do with his inability to recognize a blitz. Although I’m sure he didn’t see it that way.

JoePa'sHornRimmedGlasses - January 4, 2012 reply

Well obviously..

..that all goes w/out saying with college prospects. I’m simply betting Mornhingweg pans out based on what I’ve watched.

nothing wrong with burning Morninweg's redshirt if you have to

I just don’t think he should be starting unless MM is hurt or, later in the season, he’s proven himself to be the best QB during practice.

Starting a true freshman on opening day says more about the rest of your QBs than it does about the true frosh.

spakajewia - January 4, 2012 reply

I think it has to be an absolute last resort

And you have to have a run heavy offense with a competent Oline that will take the pressure off of the QB. I’m not excited about next years Oline.

JoePa'sHornRimmedGlasses - January 4, 2012 reply

You're Right...

Mornhingweg is the most talented one right now. Can run as well and has good feel for the rush.

Please take this with the customary grain of salt...

An acquaintance of mine, is best friends with a scholarship player on the current PSU roster. According to said player, PJ and the scout team receivers shred the 1st team D.

Given the recent McG/Drake altercation, and the visible WR frustration w/ the Bolden passes on Monday, maybe some of that quote is truth and how much is just lack of support for the starting QB’s. I for one will be hoping for PJ’s grades to improve, so we can see for ourselves.

coachKofPA - January 4, 2012 reply

I'm glad to see somebody else noticed the WRs frustration.

I noticed it big time in the bowl game with Bolden. Can’t say I noticed it with McGloin, though.

That Jones gets his act together and lives up to his pre-college hype is really our best hope. Bolden to me is a lost cause. He’s beyond terrible and I don’t think he’s salvageable either. I don’t think all his problems are mental…I think he also is just not that good. McGloin is also awful and only plays because everybody else (eligible) suck even worse. Oh, he’ll beat the NWs of the world and sometimes tease you against the better teams (1st half at OSU 2010), but his limitations are many and eventually get exposed.

If Jones is eligible I say play start him game 1 in the fall. I’ve seen the other two and frankly wouldn’t mind not seeing them again.

Same here. I have heard that Jones tears it up and I expect him to get his grades together and

Shred other teams defenses next year.

After this team's last two games...

…maybe tearing up the defense in practice isn’t all that great an accomplishment.

J Breezy - January 5, 2012 reply

dude

it might have changed since the mid-90’s, but The Math For Plants prof was a real ball buster back then. HATED fb players

McGloin could be a decent enough QB

in the style of Kevin Thompson or Mike McQueary. Those guys had great rushing attacks to support them (and great o-lines who could get the push on those attacks). His strength is in completing the short pass, so design an offense around that, one where he’s rarely asked to chuck it deep into coverage. (as a contrast, Bolden’s strength is dropping the long bomb into the receiver’s hands, but that’s a low percentage play to begin with)

Of course, that idea presupposes better o-line coaching and ditching the slow-to-develop-pass-route playbook.

Yeah, the poor O-line play year after year is infuriating.

Football is won in the trenches. And we have a decent O-line every 5 years or so. That’s not going to cut it, especially when we seemingly get decent recruits up front.

SkellerDweller06 - January 4, 2012 reply

This offensive line got Silas Redd over 1000 yards and it gave up less sacks than Alabama (Who has the Outland Winner) and the same number of sacks as LSU (Who has an All-American or two and is playing for the MNC).

There is nothing “poor” about this offensive line. They may not better than decent, but then they’re still decent.

ReadingRambler - January 5, 2012 reply

Please sweet, tiny, infant baby jesus

Let the new coaching staff speed up the pass routes, and the offense in general. Of all the ways to describe Penn State’s offense the past several years, I think that “plodding” is as appropriate as any other.

Coaches preach that you should practice at game speed. At PSU, we play at practice speed.

Doesn't say a lot for the intensity of PSU football practice sessions....

Plodding??

I thought it was “Spread HD”!

Obviously (I hope) I’m just messing. I agree completely with what you wrote. I’ve been saying the football product at Penn State is stale. I’m looking forward to a complete change. I’m excited to see what a different set of eyes can do when they look upon what PSU’s roster holds.

Somebody mentioned Drake as the full time qb. While I think he’s just too fragile for the job, especially with his weird leg condition, I can also envision him being a lot like DR at Michigan.

Totally agree with this...

Which is why it always was vexing that the coaching staff never took appropriate steps to help McGloin (or Bolden). It’s clear that a short passing attack would have benefitted PSU this year. This is why I go on about Jay Paterno and Galen Hall here, because they had no imagination and weren’t willing to change things up.

I always wonder, though

How much of it was on Joe not letting people change things up.

A valid point.

And Chris Grovich says that Joe was a main influence above.

O-Line, O-Line, O-line

They either need to fix it or beam me back to the 1990’s so that I don’t self-immolate.

CvilleLion - January 4, 2012 reply

The only thing I've looked forward to with a new coaching staff

Has been a change in the Oline coaches. It seems that we routinely get great prospects, but very few pan out. Wiz, Shiply, and Levi Brown come to mind.

The tragedy of the oline

Is that it’s only as good as it’s worst player. A single brilliant pass rusher can create all kinds of havoc for opponents, but a single good blocker among a bunch of stiffs isn’t very useful.

And even our relatively good o-lines in recent years haven’t been able to do much against the best defenses. PSU olines should be able to hold their own against the best d-lines in the BigTen and dominate the Indianas of the world.

That’s the one area where improvement would make the biggest difference for us. We always seem to have decent running backs and I think we should be able to always recruit another Royster/Redd/Hunt-caliber guy. Nothing makes a QB look good look a solid o line. Just think back at how many random forgettable QBs for Michigan State, Illinois, Ohio State, etc, etc, that we made look like Joe Montana in those bad years when we couldn’t get a pass rush going.

reedjohnmiller - January 5, 2012 via mobile reply

May be my memory slipping but

I remember Thompson and McQueary completing a lot of long bombs, actually. Didn’t Thompson hit Chafie Fields against Miami? And MM, of course, started bombing even as a 3rd stringer vs. Rutgers, leading to the infamous mid-field confrontation?

This is true, and the analogy isn't perfect

it’s more along the lines of neither guy was a superstar QB, but they had great players around them and were able to fill a role. I think McGloin can do that. But if the line doesn’t open up holes in the running game and receivers don’t get separation, McGloin is not good enough to pull them along, instead he’ll be chucking it away or throwing picks.

They both

had some monster statistical games, by our standards at least, though. Probably because we didn’t pull away from a lot of teams those years, but still.

They weren’t John Shaffers. Both were competent D1-caliber throwers, although Thompson had some bad periods.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eV4No5wvHY

Tipping point

That 99 team’s oline was weak.

reedjohnmiller - January 5, 2012 via mobile reply

The center was the weak link.

Think they had some injuries or something and were forced to go with a freshman at center.

The Minny game could’ve been won easily if they had just gotten a first down. Minny never would’ve gotten the ball or would’ve gotten too late to do anything with it. So one more 1st down and the whole season is different because obviously after the Minny game the team quit.

J Breezy - January 5, 2012 reply

um...not the best site to post this :)

Cari Greene - January 5, 2012 reply

nah

it’s true…there were some HORRIFIC personnel decisions made in ’99 with regards to the line

hbeach08 - January 5, 2012 reply

well, if you sanction it, I'll allow it

Cari Greene - January 5, 2012 reply

Boom!

Mike Pettigano - January 4, 2012 reply

I was at that Miami game

I swear I saw the hand of God reach down from the clouds and touch Thompson’s arm before he threw that to Chafie Fields. It was glorious.

reedjohnmiller - January 5, 2012 via mobile reply

Call me crazy

But I have a gut feeling that Daryll Clark somehow, someway makes it on the new staff at PSU, and that will somehow, someway make our QBs better.

I have no idea how or why, but I just feel it.

farzyness - January 4, 2012 reply

But if Jay is gone,

who’s couch is he going to sleep on?

Unfortunately...

his dad’s.

And when I say unfortunately, it's for JoePa

also this tweet was kind of awesomely cryptic

here

Cryptic and so true...

But also sad, just sad.

I'm not Twit lit....

Please explain what it means.

somebody basically sent Michael Robinson a message

saying “we need you back on our sidelines to help show these players how to be a true leader.”

He responded “in due time” which makes me think he wants to come back and coach post NFL career. Which would be awesome

Thanks.

I got the first part, but somehow missed his response.

I remember at the Blue White game, when I came home and watched the replay

and in the booth MRob was talking about one day coaching at PSU.

I actually tweeted about the new staff needing DC17's passion and leadership

he replied and said he is working on making it happen for next year. Not sure how this is possible w/o a HC, but he’s prob at least taken steps to become a grad assistant if things work out accordingly.

Jared Slanina - January 4, 2012 reply

That would be so great

To ahve someone with a little passion and get the troops riled up in a tight spot. Can we also add LaVar to the sidlines and coach…anything.

AriesGD - January 4, 2012 reply

Come on!......

Bagadonutz has a better chance of stepping off of the bus than Paul Jones….he’s wasted 2 years and we all know what Rob is capable of….DC17 will not be staying if a new HC is found and there is no guarantee that the QB stepping off of the bus tradition will be continued. All I know for sure is that we are in day 4 of 2012, NHC.

NHC = No Head Coach

Thanks...

I thought it meant “No Hairy Chicks”.

Either translation would work for me.

Go easy on Jones.

This year will be the year when we can really judge whether he can handle PSU academically.

New LO tweet

(quoted since I can’t get on Twitter at work):

“PSU source: Current football coaching staff scheduled to meet with AD Dave Joyner this Friday”

To be handed their walking papers.

That should have been done immediately following the bowl game so at least some of these guys could go after other jobs. I feel bad for them.

Yeah, it is a classless move....

It would be a classless move

if it happens that way. Just to be fair.

FB6244 - January 4, 2012 reply

Yeah, that is what I meant. My bad...

Russ Rose....

comes back from his hiatus on friday….that’s so the vote will be unanimous….I always like a unanimous search committee.

They should really be fired by phone.

But don't call them

send a messenger with a dial-in number for a conference call.

They should have Fran Ganter deliver a fancy old-timey phone on a big silver platter.

Come on now...

Nobody at associated with Penn State would ever do that

Or just text them...

Like that classy former HC at Pitt did…

Always remember that at least we're not Pitt.

Yeah

Especially since almost all of them currently have job offers from other schools. Almost all seem to want to stay at PSU.

Its a real dick move on the part of the search committee.

What more or less can one expect....

from a loser like Joyner…he is not the man for this job…however I will change my mind if he just hires Tom, but that just ain’t gonna happen….I am sure that if he does summarily fire the whole staff, it will happen after all news deadlines are due on a friday.

Come on

what’s the story with Joyner? Is it just that he’s a former BoT member, or did he run over your dog too?

Joyner is......

from the “school” that says the JS Scandal is/was a FB Program Scandal…he is looking for a HC that will bring “integrity and the academic standards” back to the program. What?! He just doesn’t represent. My dog’s dead and no, Joyner didn’t kill him. But he does qualify as a former BoT member, and he acts just like that sorry bunch. As it is being written, I wouldn’t be surprised if he does fire the FB Staff by phone.

I also have some reason to not trust Joyner

that is more based out of pre-2011 behavior than anything else. When I found out he was going to be acting AD, I thought “uh oh”. Hopefully I’ll be proven wrong.

Go on....

Bob Sacamano - January 4, 2012 reply

To encrypt sufficiently

back when he used to be a surgeon, I have direct anecdotal evidence that on at least one occasion, he chose a surgical option which by contemporary surgical standards was far from the most effective. It required more recovery time for the patient and had a lower success rate, but took about half as long on the operating table. Another surgeon, when told of the choice Joyner made, said something like “wow, Joyner must have been having a bad day.”

Apparently, he’s more patient now. Remains to be seen if his judgment is better.

You just depressed me...sufficiently...

Judgment is always a quality that is slow to change within a person and depends on positive and negative effects of their decisions. I doubt he has changed much. Hopefully, I’m wrong.

While sorry about the gist of that story

I love that the anecdotal evidence you have is direct.

To clarify

by “direct” I mean that the person involved was either myself or someone with whom I’ve directly communicated and have reason to trust, and not one of those pieces of anecdotal evidence that is passed down through the grapevine and/or internet. Like, for instance, if any of you brought up the anecdote I just gave, I would classify that as indirect.

lawls!

Sweet! Ladies and gentlemen, I am now in possession of one very juicy indirect anecdote about Mssr Joyner.

And now I love the deliberate ambiguity you’ve built into in your definition of direct (that person being either yourself or someone else trustworthy to you).

Octa single-handedly giving me my language fun fix for the day.

I am either extremely deliberate

or entirely careless.

See, I have backed off on my hatred of Joyner

Because he’s backed off on his stance on Joe. He seems to be backpeddling away from distancing the university from Joe and that in time they will give Joe better treatment.

Not that it changes the scub bag way they treated him earlier… but its nice to see him coming around some.

Have any of them publicly stated they have other offers?

Yes.

Bradley, Johnson and Vanderlin all have stated they have other offers.

It's for the customary year-end pizza party.

Someone tweet this to ESPN. If it’s not on the bottom line by noon, I will feel as though you failed me.

Anyone hear about a supposed players meeting with Joyner also on Friday?

There was an article on Laschout

I posted it in the fanshots. Take a gander

AriesGD - January 4, 2012 reply

Anybody watch Skyler play last night?

I caught a few moments of the Semper Fi bowl

-Nice release on his passes
-Decent Mobility
-Tended to overthrow his receivers on deep routes

I'll take the overthrow on deep balls

than the underthrow. I’m still having nightmares about Bolden’s propensity to underthrow wide receivers. I just don’t get it. He could probably throw the ball 50 yards from his knees, how could you short passes like that? Sigh.

Eh...

If a team is playing zone, the safety over the top is going to pick those overthrown balls.

But who knows, he was playing behind a new OL and throwing to brand new receivers. Those games are hardly perfect from an execution/coaching standpoint.

youd hope he recognizes the safety over the top

and doesnt make that throw

In a game like that, you shouldn't even look at results at all

Just things like movement, release, confidence, ability to adjust, etc. I thought he looked pretty good.

Also, suitable for your discussion.

Mike Poorman and Ben Jones are saying that signs point to Schiano for PSU HC.

"I’ve been hearing a lot of talk throughout the agent community that something is going on with Schiano," said the agent, who handles both NFL players and coaches, and is familiar with Penn State football. "His name keeps on popping up in conjunction with Penn State among people I know."

According to public flight records available on FlightAware.com, on Dec. 27 one of Penn State’s private jets flew to the Morristown Municipal Airport in central New Jersey. After a layover of 3 hours and 12 minutes — ample time for a substantive meeting or interview — the jet flew back to University Park.

One trip to the Morristown airport — less than 30 miles from Schiano’s home in Piscataway, N.J., north of the Rutgers campus – may be innocuous. But paired with two more trips, it could signal a coaching search pattern.

Records available via FlightAware.com indicate that a jet owned by a Penn State supporter with professional sports ownership experience made trips to the same Morristown airport on Dec. 26 and Jan. 1. (The airfield is not the home airport of the jet owner.)

In addition, a university aircraft flew to the Trenton-Mercer (N.J.) Airport on Tuesday, with a layover of 3 hours and 10 minutes before returning to University Park. Schiano’s home is 33 miles from the Trenton airfield.

In all, the two aircraft made four trips to the Morristown and Trenton airports from Monday, Dec. 26 to Tuesday, Jan. 3.

To me, this is stupid on about sixty levels, but…it’s not my name on it, so I don’t really care. I hope for Ben’s sake that there’s some truth to it, because Poorman has been straight guessing this entire time and I’d prefer for Ben to not get dragged down by it.

Yesterday it was Roman

Today its Schiano.

Tomorrow probably somebody else.

But eventually they're gonna get it right

How many remotely viable candidates are left? That is the number of days we wait until the announcement is made

Does anyone think that.....

….“eventually they’re gonna get it right”? Eventually they’re not gonna have a viable candidate left.

if they do get it right

im not looking forward to them bragging “told you so” You know they will. Im not talking about those guys in general, FWIW, i just mean every beat writer will link to an article where they mentioned the eventual hire. Cause they all have one. cause they all have named about 250 different people as potential candidates.

And it will just reinforce how supersmart they think they are

If we've waited all this time to hire Shiano

I’m going straight to Home Depot to purchase Pitchforks and torches for anyone who wants to join me on the way to Joyner’s house.

Are you familiar with the environmentally-acceptable manner in which to destroy pitchforks?

I’d guess you can’t just pour em out like beers at an underage raid.

no, i'm not familiar.

If the torches have been used correctly,

then there will be no pitchforks to destroy.

Everything will have been destroyed.

SubLime - January 4, 2012 reply

Sign me up!!

Eh, I'd rather have Shciano than an NFL assistant with no HC experience or PSU/regional ties

I'm tempted to flag this

If you are referring to Clements. Definitely better than Shiano.

I was thinking more of the other (unfounded) rumors about Roman and O'Brien

But even with Clements (who I would be OK with), I don’t think you can say they are definitely better than Schiano. They have no HC experience at any level. Some of them don’t even have coordinator experience. They’ve got little college experience and/or no ties to the region. We have no idea how they would recruit.

Maybe they’d all end up being amazing HC at Penn State, but they’re risky. With Schiano, or Golden, or some of the other college guys that may or may not be realistic candidates, you at least know what you’re getting. And with Schiano, it actually isn’t all that terrible. He wouldn’t be my first choice but at this point I could live with it.

That's exactly how I feel about Schiano.

Not my first choice or dream choice and not somebody I’d get excited over, but I wouldn’t be majorly disappointed either. Like you, I could live with it.

exactly, me too

I couldn't live with Shiano over Bradley though

If Bradley wasn’t in the mix, I’d be alright with it. And yea, Roman and O’Brien I would have been pretty pissed about

honestly, Bradley probably ISN'T in the mix.

I'm on the record as being against Schiano as a hire

but he’s a far better candidate than Tom Clements.

Always worry about the guy who doesn’t get his “break” until just about the time when he should be preparing to retire. If he was a real leader, someone else would have noticed before now.

You're referring to Clements or Schiano? or both...

with that last sentence?

Clements

Schiano has head coaching experience. He’s not in my top five, but he wouldn’t be learning the college game on day one.

I am ambivilant about both...

But neither is terrible and each is better than someone like Cutcliffe, or some other middling NCAA Football coach, or mediocre NFL coach.

I'd take Clements over Schiano.

Did you see Roger’s back up in the game against Detroit? Ridiculous.

They guy can coach some quarterbacks up theres no doubt. I also like Roman over Schiano. The more I read about the guy the more it screams winner. And Roman also stated that for him PSU is a lifetime job. I like that attitude.

I dont want O’brien at all.

Schiano's only what, like 45?

45

and he’s been at Rutgers for ten years. That’s a flag for me, since Rutgers is not a destination job. However, it also means that when he was 34-35, somebody in North Jersey thought “this guy has the makings of a head coach.” Nobody has thought that about Tom Clements until now, and he’s 60 years old. What’s his upside?

The age thing is why I think it won't be Clements...

Even though, as I mentioned I am neither opposed nor for his hiring.

Exactly why Clements could be WORSE for recruiting than our current situation.

At least now we can try to sell the hope of a big-name coach. With Clements, everyone knows he’ll be gone within a couple years anyway, so why bother?

And other than getting us one or two good QB prospects, who else would he be able to bring in? We have plenty of 4 and 5-star QB recruits, thank you very much.

With Clements, everyone knows he’ll be gone within a couple years anyway, so why bother?

Thats what they said about Joe when he turned 60…. in 1986

I'm intrigued by Clements, but for mostly selfish reasons.

I loved the guy as a HS athlete (and later at ND)….one of my idols growing up. Plus if things worked out…and it would be an extreme longshot, but there is a connection and a chance…I could end up being extremely connected to the coaching staff should Clements get the job and make the right hire of his own.

Taking that out of it, I honestly don’t know what to make of him. I tend to think it’s a big step up for him and am not sure if he’d be up to it or not. BUT….the guy’s succeeded at everything he’s ever done so that makes me feel good about him.

I remember him as well.

For some intangible reason I think he could be great.

SubLime - January 4, 2012 reply

It's Breezy's last sentence.

Clements really has succeeded at everything he’s ever done, if you throw out being a 3rd string NFL QB for one year in the middle of a CFL Hall of Fame career.

You're right -- that is the reason.

Some guys just seem to have a way of figuring things out.

SubLime - January 4, 2012 reply

I'd take Clements.

At least we would have a prayer at having a decent quarterback at some point or another. That itself would be a vast improvement.

He was 3rd string because like Flutie he was short.

You know how it is in the NFL for a qb that’s not, at that time, at least 6’.

Another thing about Clements success… he’s done it all while being expected to do it. What I mean is everybody knew he was a rare talent and thus expected a lot from him and he delivered. Whoever takes over for Paterno will be under a lot of pressure just from replacing a legend, not to mention the scandal. Clements has proven throughout his life that he can rise to the occasion.

It's not that I'm necessarily against Schiano.

I hope we can get someone who, in my unqualified mind, might be better. But he’s not the end of the world, and would certainly upgrade the energy put forth on the recruiting front.

He makes about $2M at Rutgers and both his salary and the Rutgers stadium construction are frozen due to NJ’s financial difficulties. He has all sorts of reasons to leave, and might not even require a salary increase.

Yeah, but I just looked at his record again

and his teams have been pretty terrible in an awful Big East. He’s been there eleven years, so even if you throw out the first three awful season he’s still averaged a tie for 4th place in the BE for the past eight seasons. There were only eight teams in the BE during the majority of that time. I’d be hugely disappointed with Schiano; just more so with Clements.

I don't disagree about his record. It is what it is.

But if we’re at the point where it’s Clements vs. Schiano…I mean, bleh. Hold your nose and pick one.

I'm really hoping

that Schiano is a “Plan B” type guy that they’re talking to just in case things with the top choice somehow fall through.

It's kind of like holding out your finger

and playing “name that smell.”

Batwing - January 4, 2012 reply

The other thing about Schiano...

Is even in his best year (the year they took down #1 Louisville, etc.) they couldn’t win the Big East. That to me, more than anything says a lot.

You've got to consider

that he’s recruiting kids to go to Rutgers. Rutgers! At least Pitt is in Pittsburgh and WVU is an insane party school.

Have you been to Rutgers? It sucks! The only thing it has going for it is that it’s easy to get to NYC from there. The fact that he’s been moderately successful is a plus in my book.

I’m not sure any coach could ever turn Rutgers into a powerhouse.

I'm not saying that his team had to be a perennial powerhouse, but..

That team was clearly his best and had some great players. It was clearly the best he had and yet he still could not coach that team to winning the Big East. That team should have won it and blew it after the Louisville victory. It tells me that maybe he can get his kids to win big games here and there, but can he get them to win the big game for the conference, can he win the bowl game, etc. I don’t know if he can dow that.

Schiano will bring some energy.

But I just think overall he’d be more of the same….cut from the same cloth, so to speak.

And the fact that he couldn’t win the horrible Big East makes me wonder how he could ever win the Big 10. RR dominated the Big East, but was embarrassed big time when he stepped up to the big leagues….I can’t see why I would expect Schiano to do better.

I didn't like Schiano at all til his BSD profile

Still not a top choice but one I could live with. I didn’t realize how historically awful Rutgers was. I’m no longer convinced we can do better but I know we can do worse.

"I know we could do worse."

That pretty much sums it up for me on Schiano.

"I’m no longer convinced we can do better but I know we can do worse."

Basically, that is how I feel as well.

He was a lawyer for five years before he left to pursue coaching.

The guy brings stability and the backing of just about every player and coach he’s ever come into contact with.

I'm against Shiano

I’d rather have a ham sandwhich coaching. At least Clements might do something with our QBs. Also, I have a one track mind and right now its focused on the piss poor play of our QBs the past two seasons

So we'd have good QBs and what else?

Great, we could be Hawaii or Houston. Pass.

I don't think he'd only focus on quarterbacking

Just because he’s developed QB talent, doesn’t mean that he will ignore the defensive side of the ball and the Oline/run game. I’d be interested to see what staff he would bring to the table.

Unless he can convince Aaron Rodgers to retire and discover some unused eligibility

I’d still pass.

Well he's not my top pick either

But the fact that we’re debating Clements versus Shiano right now is leading to the formation of an ulcer in my stomach.

Agreed

Agreed +1

My concern with Clements and his defensive staff hires...

If they come from Green Bay, it might not be good, considering that Green Bay has been bad on defense for quite some time now. In fact, to be real, they weren’t all that great last year, but did have a lot of injuries.

I wouldn't expect that

I’m not familiar with GB’s staff, but other than Darren Perry, who has been a successful assistant, I can’t see why defensive coaches would follow him here just to work with him. They didn’t work “under him.” I wouldn’t be surprised if the defensive and offensive staffs barely even know each other.

reedjohnmiller - January 4, 2012 via mobile reply

Well, we DID just lose to Houston.

/trollgaze

If we waited all this time to get Schiano

I’m guessing it means we struck out on the first couple choices. Which is not a good sign.

just more Rutgers leftovers

for Good Ol’ State

ill go with

i could use another space heater, this will save me a trip

Looks like we can chill

source has confirmed, per Ben, that Schiano is not even interviewing for job

Per MikePoormanBenJones

I wonder if they ...

have even interviewed anyone other than Bradley.

/only half kidding.

I wouldn't be kidding at all.

Him and LJ might be it. Sigh.

I thought it was confirmed that Clements got an interview

TheWrathofQBEagles - January 4, 2012 reply

Commentators said something in passing during the Packers game

that Clements was getting an interview “this week” I think.

It was also reported in the Pgh papers.

Clements was getting a 2nd interview, in person this time.

I heard Clements had two interviews, the second was on skype.

Schiano..

If offered the job, I think he would take it.

Back in ’06 when he won the “Coach of the Year”, during his speech I remember him saying that he had a large book containing things he learned from Paterno and how much respect he had for him. It seemed like he went out of his way to say it.

Agreed

Those tag-team efforts make it impossible for the reader to tell who’s contributed what to the article.

Muddies the byline brands.

I don't even open links to Poorman's articles anymore.

For awhile this morning, reading your tweets

I was getting my Mans mixed up. Poorman = State College.

Musselman = Pittsburgh

Miss = Former gym teacher:

Now there's a face for radio.

Owen Wilson

in drag?

Jayne Trcka

Bio.

Also, somebody spent an awful lot of time on the Scary Movie wiki.

"It's a MAAAN, Baby" - Austin Powers

I'm rooting for Schaino...

if for no other reason than to stick it to Rutgers fans. Went over to their SB site and one commenter admitted to reveling in PSU’s misfortunes. Cause, you know, you’re allowed to revel in the fact that children were hurt if your football program is made better by it.

Anyway, Rutgers will remain middle of the pack Big East which is equal to bottom of the barrel in any other BCS conference. Schiano has maxed out Rutgers. I don’t think its his fault Rutgers can’t do better than it has the past few years, its Rutgers’ fault that Schiano can’t do better than he has the past few years.

NittanyBlueHen - January 4, 2012 reply

Brian Schottenheimer

After he’s fired from the Jets…

Probably Tom Bradley....

after he gets fired from PennState….makes about as much sense as all of the other rumors.

NO

NO NO NO NO NO

OH GOD.

NO.

One Penn State Plane Headed to Chester Country today

Not sure what the hell is there.

They don’t use those planes for recruiting trips, do they?

http://andrewrmcgill.com/projects/psuplanes/

linky

West Chester is a lovely town.

I know..

went to HS not too far away

#RayMigneco4PSU!

Who's that?

I thought it was one of your twitter names at some point?

:)

—

Did I spell it wrong

Or misremember it?

I'm just playing coy dude

aaaand

you got me.

Sucka is as sucka does…

Chester or West Chester?

Worlds apart..,

reedjohnmiller - January 4, 2012 via mobile reply

I heard from a trusted source that

Penn State, in an effort to throw off the media’s search even more, has hired Phil Margera to shave his head and beard and wander the campus in University of Kansas attire.

Hopefully he left his wife at home..

because those college boys would run a train on April

/googles April Margera

/was underwhelmed

yeah wouldn't touch her with a 10 foot stick

I'm guessing the original post was in jest

Because eww

yes

You are overrating the standards

of college boys.

What's the next part of your master plan?

apologies to those who didn't see the Dark Knight Rises prologue

I knew it was Bane...

but I haven’t seen this in the trailers.

it's not from the trailer

It’s from the 6 minute prologue. Search around the web and you might find a bootleg version.

Will do. Thanks.

GREAT SCENE

can’t wait for the film

My only complaint...

That scene where the football field just caves in under Hines Ward’s feet looks pretty hokey. Other than that, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen so far.

My problem with that scene..

is that Hines Ward wasn’t sucked in.

Bane truly failed in that regard

Not really, he's focused on creating mayhem for Gotham City

Hines Ward is incidental.

I'd like to see McGloin be the starter to begin next season

But if he shows he doesn’t have it then I would be open to the others excluding Bolden. People have often mentioned about how Bolden was handled in terms of his poor development, but I also think that additional reps and McGloin knowing he is the starter (without having to worry about one mistake putting him back on the bench) could have possibly helped his development as well. Perhaps his ceiling is not as high, but I still think there is more potential than what we saw this year.

But whoever is the QB we need to see more out of that position than what we saw in 2011.

mundyscorner99 - January 4, 2012 reply

This Rob Bolden

is the best QB on the team, and moving forward: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFXKzj-r238

the man looks like a pro prospect, that throw off the back foot to Smith is a real tough throw.

The guy has boatloads of talent, he just has the mental makeup of my unborn daughter, and you can’t play him if he until he gets that straightened out. There was even a point monday where he hit two passes then threw a deep ball to Moye that was on the money (he dropped it) that he looked really good on, but after the drop he regressed right back into bad Bolden.

Dmad - January 4, 2012 reply

Night and day between that game and either of the past two bowl performances

and I write that not just because he completed a screen pass and three to the guys in the white jerseys. He looked really good.

So, is it a case of the QBs not trusting the receivers....

And the receivers not trusting the QBs? That would say a lot…and would also beg for someone new, either PJ or SM (if he stays) next year.

Wow

I just watched that video. Bolden looked beyond impressive. For his sake, I hope he figures it out.

Part of the reason why...

Galen Hall and Jay Paterno deserve to be axed. They’ve clearly aided in this kid’s demise.

Lets remember they were playing Minnesota

While I agree

He was making passes. On Monday they played Houston. Houston. If I have to choose between playing against Houston’s defense or Minnesota’s, I think I choose to play Houston’s. But thats saying exactly nothing.

In fairness, he looked good before the Minnesota injury.

This Rob Bolden

Wasn’t too shabby either. I was partying my face off in Tuscaloosa, so I didn’t do any video analysis of the dropped passes in the 2010 Bama game, but I’d posit that the shattered confidence we’re seeing in Rob Bolden right now actually began before his Minnesota concussion with dropped passes in the Bama & Iowa games. Remember Iowa’s beastly Dline in 2010? Our dudes catch a few of those 6 dropped balls and Bolden’s numbers would look much better against them:

Now, about 4 of those were gimmes and two or so would have been tough, but great, plays. Had all 6 passes been caught (MAKE PLAYS!), Bolden’s completion percentage would have been 70% instead of 54%, and his passing yardage might have been around 287 (rough estimate) As it was, Bolden passed for 20 completions on 37 attempts for 212 yards against a great defense in a tough Big Ten night road game. A game where points and first downs were extremely tough to come by. While the offensive coaches unveiled seldom-or-not-seen-to-date plays, including plenty of rollouts, tight slants and even a few shovel passes (?!!) designed to give the freshman the best possible chance against an unleashed pack of monsters, the Penn State receivers let him down by failing to seize these opportunities to help the team’s cause. While it’s nice to witness youngsters (musbooger’d) Devon Smith and Justin Brown continue to step up and make plays, it’s downright heartbreaking to see the formerly-reliable elder statesmen drop the ball.

As I said, the QBs and receivers clearly don't have confidence in each other.

Give me another MRob.

Who took all of that time in the summer of ’05 to work tirelessly with those incoming freshman. Give me a leader.

If you want to be a big time QB you have to be able to rebound from a few bad games

especially when they aren’t your fault. I’ve really felt bad for Bolden over his time here…I feel like he didn’t get much help, but at the same, he has to be able to toughen up after a dropped pass or INT, not fall apart.

Agreed on all of that

And yeah, not only did he not ‘get much help,’ it was pretty much a perfect storm of Fail all around him, including at the homestead.*
-
-
-
-

-* from what very very little I know about the pops

That shattered confidence, tho

Was exacerbated by JoePa and whatever locker room environment was going on up there pre-Nov 7. Don’t get me wrong, I saw what Joe was trying to experiment with—against his historical instincts—vis a vis the teachable moment he experienced in the Devlin departure, but it didn’t work, this year, with Rob.

Chris is right: Joe dragged that experiment on far too long and a broken psyche is what we’re left with. Joe wasn’t the only culprit (again, who knows how mentally fractured that squad was in the locker room. The Drake-McGloin knockout underscores how tough it may have been to be led by, let alone get along with, McMoxie). Plus, who knows how Bolden’s season may have progressed if freakin Dayvon had caught that opening pass against Bama this year. It’s super-tough for me to get over WR dropped passes when evaluating QB play.

Lots and lots of factors go into these kids’ performances. That’s why I’ll take a scheme-mediocre coach with a willingness to try some new things (like a little less Cover 3!), who graduates his players, avoids putting a product on the field which would jeopardize the delicate PSU athletics micro-economy and who can lead and foster unity.

If we can get one.

I remember that Devon Smith drop...

I almost threw my beer at the TV. That blown catch and that ridiculous spot Alabama received on the fake punt play were seminal in turning around momentum (what little PSU had) in the game.

I was mostly over it

Til every time I’ve seen Dayvon pull up from a route with a pout. Then I get mad at him again for it.

He really needs to be an H-back or something. Like a Reggie Bush/Darren Sproles in New Orleans type.

Because he sure is hell ain’t a WR. He has dropped way too many balls the last two years and he is like 5 feet tall. Give me a break.

That and the fact that he struggles to stay on his feet whenever he is running

GMac14 - January 4, 2012 reply

See, there. Decisive, poised, knew where he was going with the ball and just threw it.

Not to totally excuse the guy from his own current demise, but I really believe he was mostly ruined by the coaching staff.

The coaching staff didn't help

But to be an athlete at this level you need to have a certain mental toughness. He will either get it, or he won’t.

The kid was given the chance to take back his job in spring practice and couldn’t get it done.

This.

As questionable as Jay’s track record is, I can’t put this one entirely on him.

Joe and crew bent over backwards to kid this kid every chance to be “the guy” and its a friggin’ miracle that the only Bolden starts resulting in wins were ’Bama and the Bowl game.

wins = losses

I think you're overestimating the maturity of 18 and 19 year olds.

The importance of leadership shouldn't be underestimated

Robinson’s poise in ‘05 against Northwestern followed by that play against Minnesota where he accidentally ended that guy’s career with his massive quad muscle went a long way to turning the whole program around, not just those games.

reedjohnmiller - January 4, 2012 via mobile reply

Maybe...

its just good memory bias, but, while PSU was never innovative on offense, in the 90’s they seemed much better at getting their better players the ball in positions to make plays. They did whatever they could to get Bobby Engram the ball. Hell they threw a slip screen to beat MSU on the last play of the game.

It seems in the last several years, the offense just didn’t do that.

Yes

I was on Team Bolden so long because of that Bama game. He looked like he was on the way to being Kerry Collins II.

My father has been saying for years

I’m talking back more than a decade, even before Jay, “every season our QB’s get worse! the coaches ruin them!” But to be honest I thought he was just being dramatic.

If you could point to one prime example that I actually agree with him, that would be Bolden. He came in a bright young star who hung around with national champion Alabama in his first road game, and now can’t hit his FB 3 yards away with no one around.

I can't help but wonder about the game plan for the bowl game

The coaches know that Bolden is struggling with confidence and I’m pretty sure anybody who watches him realizes that he’s thinking too much. So why not push the tempo? Why not line up in shotgun, give him 3 or 4 receivers and let him make a quick decision and just throw the ball? In that scenario, he can just make quick decisions, get to the line, and just hopefully let his ability take over. Instead, the coaches do the exact opposite. They slow the pace. Run on 1st and 2nd down constantly, and then ask him to make multiple reads and try and complete 3rd and long. Just doesn’t make sense. I get that Bolden didn’t inspire much confidence and that they wanted to scale down the playbook to help him, but even when they did that, I don’t think they handled it well.

GMac14 - January 4, 2012 reply

Pretty sure our coaches don't believe in an up tempo offense.

Bolden running a no huddle would not be pretty. I don’t think the coaches understand how that works. Sure would be nice to PSU run it though.

He ran a no-huddle in high school

and even THIS season, he’s seemed at his most comfortable in a no-huddle scenario where his reads are limited and he’s given quick routes to look for.

Thinking too much?

Get him some booze. Can’t be worse, right?

Give me a ham sandwich and a decent o-line

People complain about Jay, but our QB’s have been the absolute least of our offensive problems during his tenure here. How many truly great offensive lines did that two headed dipshit put on the field in 20 years? 1? 2? How many seasons do we read “questions on the offensive line” “shuffling of players on the offensive line”?

Houston was getting pressure on Bolden, and about half of our running plays there were offensive linemen just jogging around without so much as looking at a defender.

I’m sorry Bolden couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn last week, but if you ask me, he shouldn’t have needed to. We couldn’t run the ball against Houston. Houston!

This is also a valid point.

Considering that they were not that terrible at run blocking during the year. I was also just surprised at how ineffectual they looked. Again, and I hate to say this, part of me believes they mailed this game in. Hate to say that, but look at the results and their attitudes two days ago.

There were like 4 seniors on that offensive line

They have to at least entertain the idea of getting picked up by an NFL team right? Block someone! Just grab the guy in front of you and blow him off the line for the film alone, you might just get rich for it.

I can see how our younger players mailed it in, they didn’t want to accept the bowl bid in the first place, but a veteran senior offensive line just getting mauled by Houston was by far the most embarassing aspect of that game for me.

Yeah, no argument here...

It would surprise me if the seniors bought into it. Heck, you’d think they have some pride, right??

Danny has pride

Or does he? We never learned the answer.

reedjohnmiller - January 4, 2012 via mobile reply

I think our best line was this one

Rec'd!

might be actually.

this picture’s from 2008 right?

tlrpsu - January 4, 2012 reply

And it's still an auto-rec.

Strawman!

Couldn't agree more.

If we had a good o-line like we had pre 1995, we could do sooooo much more. With some blocking, we could just use a guy like Belton as QB platooning with whatever enthusiastic kid from Allentown/Scranton/Clearfield turns up next, run all day with the occasional lob to tight end or fullback and score 24-31 pts a game, at least. With just a little more talent in the secondary, our defense could make that hold up against anyone.

The battle on the line is really the key to the whole sport.

reedjohnmiller - January 4, 2012 via mobile reply

I don't know why...

every team doesn’t use some form of a running QB. Tim Tebow might be the best college player ever and he can’t throw with sh*t. Florida had about 3 pass plays in their playbook.

Look at how successful Ohio State has been this decade

And look at their QBs. Troy Smith – mobile, competent passer but by no means dangerous.

TP – Mobile, Running QB. Arm punter

Braxton Miller – Mobile, primarily running qb, arm punter.

Schiano....

not a horrible hire. You weren’t going to hit a homerun after the “Scandal”. You’ll get 4 or 5 years of 8-4, 9-3 from him and then you can fire him for not winnin the division or not beating Ohio St. and then go get the big name hire.

I'm not thrilled about Schiano. In fact, I rather he stay in Jersey.

But you make a good point. I think our hire will be a “long-term temp” hire. In that regard, he would be a decent catch.

The next HC will not be on the current staff

How can it be if it was going to be on the current staff then they would have already said it would be one of them. The only way I see someone on the current staff getting the HC job is everyone else would have to turn it down. Schiano will not be that bad of a hire but I would be happy to see someone else. I except ManChuk to be the next HC.

jetskijoe - January 4, 2012 reply

Very true.

And I don’t think it will be a NFL assistant because that probably would have been done already as well. You can’t wait until these teams are out of the playoffs — that could be past signing day!

I’m moving into “whatever” territory with the coaching hire. It won’t be Petersen and he’s really the only guy I would have been 100% happy with it. I think the hire will generate a “meh” reaction from the majority of folks and I think we’ll be a .500ish team the next few years.

I still think Munchak is not coming to Happy Valley.

I just don’t see him abandoning the Titans, and even though he didn’t make the playoffs, they had a good comeback year.

But that poses another question. Maybe Schiano or Clements, or someone else, is a bridge hire for an eventual Munchak hire?

Well, in that case

Either Munchak does a poor job at Tennessee, and thus becomes more available for Penn State, or Munchak proves to be a very good NFL coach and thus becomes less available. In one cases, you get a less sexy option. In the other, you don’t have a shot to pry him away.

You have a point.

I was merely speculating, Munchak was never my first choice. However, there is some precedent for coaches leaving a team even when they’ve been successful to start anew somewhere else. Not saying that it happens often, just saying it can happen.

I'm not sure about that

They may be waiting to see how Bradley did in the final games while also not wanting to announce it until the season is over out of respect for Jay, Galen, et al, who are going to be canned. Of course, if that’s the case, they should be ready by now, but that’s true regardless. These last 48 hours could be lining up assistants. Who knows?

I’d take Clements or Roman. I think they are a risk but have big upside, to use NBA draft lingo. They’ve succeeded at all their previous jobs. If they come with a relatively cheap buyout, it’s a risk we can take.

I’d pick Munchak over either of them, but I think he’s content in Tennessee.

Schiano seems like too safe of a pick, but his record at Rutgers is hard to judge. It might just be that Rutgers is a shithole. I don’t know. I’ve never been there, but certainly few great players from NJ want to play there, it appears. How many 4 or 5 star guys from NJ actually picked Rutgers over bigger programs because they really preferred it and not because of academic issues? That was true pre-Schiano but even moreso.

I’ll give the benefit of the doubt to anybody for two years. We have to support him at least initially. It won’t help the team if the fans are already against the coach. They should change the name of Paternoville. Not to dis Joe, but to show total support for our new overlords.

I’ve always accepted that whoever follows Joe might just be the bridge. Nebraska, Michigan, and UNC basketball have all successfully rebounded from similar “great long-time coach followed by a loser” situation. The next guy will be on a short leash. He may get a five-year contract, but he’ll have to show significant progress in three to earn the last two let alone a new contract.

I don’t think we ever really tried hard to get Peterson. I think that story was all ginned up by his agent for leverage at BSU. He’s a west coast guy. He could be waiting for USC or Washington or Cal to open up and surely he could have had UCLA or ASU or Az, right? But apparently he likes Boise. Or maybe he wants the NFL. Either way, he was never going to come here.

Same with Richt. I think that was all his agent’s ploy.

Now watch me be wrong…

reedjohnmiller - January 4, 2012 via mobile reply

You have an error in the title.

Please correct it to read Depth Charging, not Depth Charting.

Am I the first to post in the comment section?
/projecting Bolden’s pocket awareness to blog reading

bscaff - January 4, 2012 reply

Now StateCollege.com is reporting...

…Schiano has no interest and hasn’t interviewed.

A source close to Rutgers coach Greg Schiano has contacted StateCollege.com to report that the former Penn State assistant coach is not interested in becoming the next head coach at Penn State. Schiano, the source reported, has not interviewed for the position.

Maybe Mike Poorman should sit out a day or two, hmm?

Maybe they should all sit out a day or two.

It’s becoming a daily event. Speculation in the morning. Dismissed in the afternoon. Been hard to take anything seriously for the last month.

So you're telling me that everything that is reported isn't actually true??

I feel shocked…..since PSU would have at least 10 coaches by now if all of the “reports” were correct.

GMac14 - January 4, 2012 reply

Someone should tell Ben and Mike

that those PSU planes are not jets.

We should all just pick a name

When it’s announced, someone will look very smart. The key is doing what Sekrah is doing, just pick one name, stick to it, and act totally confident.

Our next head coach will be Dabo Swinney, I have no doubt, it is set in stone, Mark it down. Dabo Swinney.

But seriously, that guy’s name is Dabo? I googled “Clemson head coach” and had a laugh. I’ve never heard of him before.

Oh boy, another year of McGloin and Bolden..

Another year of debates. At this rate, we have another ex-coach showering with boys. Another legendary coach to fire. Ugh.

What up with the other PSU QB's?

After watching another dismal performance by Bolden at the bowl game, I have a hard time believing that he is the best we can do at backup QB. I don’t subscribe to all the scouting/insider sites and such, but what is the scoop with the other QB’s on the roster??

I know MacGregor and Venuto are a bit small, as are Belton and Drake ( I know the last 2 are not technically QBs).

What is the story on this John Cabot? Looks to have good size. I know he’s a walk-on too. In fact, walked all the way from Cali to be on this team. Are his feet still sore, or is he redshirted? or what?

Cabot left mid-season.

"Another one bites the dust...."

We may be saying that a lot in the coming weeks….

Odd that he's still listed on the roster at gopsusports.com

There will be no debate...

I’m telling you guys, as my gut has told me, it’s going to be Skyler Mornenwhig next year…I just have a feeling…they are going to throw him out there, birth by fire….

Geez I hope not, Look how well doing that did for us with Bolden

Not that I am in full support of that move...

but I wouldn’t be surprised or opposed to it, remember different coaching staff so there may be different results (at least he’ll look better than Bolden or McGloin).

PAUL JONES HEISMAN 2012

ICEICETHATGUY13 - January 4, 2012 reply

Too much emphasis on the QB

We went 22-0 in ‘68 and ’69 with Chuck Burkhart and he passed for a total of 8 touchdowns. It’s a team game – everybody has to execute.

I’ll take a smart QB over a “pick a number”-star QB any day.

GoodOleDays - January 4, 2012 reply

I get what you're saying and I actually love old time football.

But the game has changed dramatically since then. No longer can you win consistently with the Chuck Burkhart type qbs.

But it is a team game. I still think PSU’s qbs are bad, but their o-line certainly didn’t help them much. And the receivers had way more drops of easy/nice passes than great catches of bad passes.

Or, put another way.

It's Mick Jagger

Hey, you, get offa my cloud!