Black Shoe Diaries

If I had to chose,

Roman would be much better than O’Brien, admittedly of limited investigation.

I like him more cause of his statement above

dont know how i feel about him from a coaching standpoint

swiggy04 - January 5, 2012 reply

When this is all over

O’Brien’s agent and Joe Amendola should open up a marketing firm.

PSU_Buch - January 5, 2012 reply

They are doing a better job of marketing than the folks Penn State hired.

on all accounts!

phanatic's phloozies - January 5, 2012 reply

I'd like to think I'm not delusional...

and therefore I really don’t buy into any of the “rumors” that suggest one of Miles or Saban is already locked in but I also really have a hard time believing either of these guys are the best we can do. There seems to be a major disconnect there. Isn’t there a middle ground? I guess if you think the next guy still has coaching to do it could be a Kirby Smart or a John Chavis (who’s name really hasn’t been brought up) but still we’re talking a lot of risk either way. The flip side is that anyone that would fall in that middleground could have been hired weeks ago…oh well…

Clements.

If it were a NFL assistant, I’ll take him. It would be nice to have a coach who is competent at coaching quarterbacks.

+1- I don't think a screaming hissy fit on the side line counts as mentoring... just sayin'

Since the '09 season, he's been the main playcaller and coordinator

for one of the most dominate offenses in the league. I hate the Pats, but it’s hard to argue with what he’s done. True, you’re starting from a strong point when you have Brady as your QB, but what the Pats have done with Tight Ends this year, for example, is unique and very effective.

The guy can coach up an offense.

Sorry, but every coordinator to come from the Pats...

Has failed elsewhere. I’m not interested. Not at all.

that seems to be a popular sentiment

but i’m just as interested, if not more interested, in this guy than in someone like schiano.

Assuming we’re going to get a homerun-type guy, I’ll wait to see how the guy acts at his oening presser and how well he does before dismissing him.

If you’re going to be unhappy with anyone not named Bradley, Munchak, or Petersen, then at this point, you’re probably going to be unhappy. The point of college football, for me at least, is not to purposefully be pissed off. I’ll give whatever joker they throw in there the benefit of the doubt.

Yes to supporting the new coach whoever he is

but O’Brien doesn’t interest me. I’d take Clements or Roman over him. The nicknames for Roman would be much better.

at least he is

a coordinator unlike clemets who failed at Buffalo. Out the the NFL assistants I prefer Roman then O Brien. The worst of the three is Clements.

kingofsmoke - January 5, 2012 reply

Failing in Buffalo isn't exactly something that is exclusive to Clements

In fact, Buffalo's only winning season in the 2000's was with Clements as OC, right?

(Sorry.)

Correct

9-7, and couldn’t beat the Steelers backups to get the last wildcard spot.

I’m not permanently scarred by that team or anything.

It is ok

I am pretty sure those back ups were better than most of the AFC East that year.

I blame those God forsaken navy blue uniforms.

Running game

I’m a Pats fan and the fact that the offense relies WAY too much on the pass makes me sick. Penn State has always had a power running game. O’Brien would waste the talents of Redd, Dukes, and others.

cmdpsu15 - January 5, 2012 reply

PSU could use a little more pass-first offense IMO.

You make the running game better by diversifying, not worse.

Truth

BlueWhiteLife - January 5, 2012 reply

Oh I agree, I'm all for diversity.

My gut reaction was have you seen the MIA running game of the Patriots, but I just did some digging. Since O’Brien started calling plays in ’09 here are their regular season rankings:

Total Rushing Yardage:
2009 – 12th (1921 yds)
2010 – 9th (1973 yds)
2011 – 20th (1756 yds)

Total Rushing Attempts:
2009 – 10th
2010 – 10th
2011 – 17th

They started out with a more balanced attack, but this year fell off the wagon a little bit.

cmdpsu15 - January 5, 2012 reply

I believe diversity is an old wooden ship...

Ron, why would upper management be worried about an old wooden ship?

Um, no, he really hasn't.

BB and Brady sit in BB’s office and draw up all the plays and make tweaks. When the coordinator position was open because JD went to the Broncos, BB did not promote him to OC. What fine candidate did he choose over OBrien? Vacancy. Some vote of confidence in his ability that.

The obvious counter to this line of thought is the 2011 Colts.

You’re a genius until your top 10 QB of all time goes down, and then you’re the worst team in the league. It’s a QB league and everyone is running 90% of the same stuff anyway, so it’s not like there’s a lot of innovation happening. The vast majority of the time, if you have a good QB you’re good. If you don’t, you’re the Cleveland Browns.

As a Browns fan, I totally understand and agree with your statement.

PSUPing - January 5, 2012 reply

you guys got rid of derek anderson.

just saying.

mikeissurreal - January 5, 2012 reply

Although the Pats were still pretty good when Brady went down.

I would take your Browns

and ante with the Redskins

Cari Greene - January 5, 2012 reply

Any TE prospect

that doesn’t come to play for us if we get O’Brien is an absolute nincompoop. Look up the combined stats of Gronkowski and Hernandez this year.

he also made wes welker a perenniel all pro

devon smith = wes welker?

swiggy04 - January 5, 2012 reply

Well, he did have the "guts" to take Wonder Boy on!

However, in the big picture, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. He is young and we don’t have a clue to all the negotiations that went on with different people. We may be focusing on NFL types so that some of the current staff is retained.

As many have pointed out, there still may be some aftershocks (ie more bad news) to the Sandusky thing after the trial starts.

PaJoe - January 5, 2012 reply

here is the vid link I am refering to

http://youtu.be/8wYcMnxkc0o

Why is that when the QB in question is an all-star (Brady, Rodgers)

they weren’t helped by the QB coach (O’Brien, Clements)? But when the QBs at Penn State routinely fail to catch on in the NFL over the past 18 years, it’s all Jay’s fault?

Jeff Junstrom - January 5, 2012 reply

Why is the sky blue?

why is water wet?

O'Brien wasn't there when Tom became a star

Just saying….Clements is a different ball of wax though.

Rhetorical question, right?

http://blog.pennlive.com/pennstatefootball/2012/01/penn_state_football_coaching_s.html

Yes.

Jeff Junstrom - January 5, 2012 reply

Great Article on Penn Live about the search

I read it last night before bed and I have to agree with a lot of the article. I don’t think the names coming out now are the game plan.

From the linked article

The daily names being release have been a perfect way to expose those who leak inside information. You tell someone a name and then stand back and see if it pops out. Insiders are being picked off one by one. It is brilliant actually.

That made a ton of sense to me, especially in light of the memos that allege that there were leaks from the BOT. Maybe this search has, as some of us suspected, involved some red herrings. But those red herrings served an internal cleansing purpose as well.

I like to think that

keeping my fingers crossed.

Maybe...

but I doubt it. Why spend so much effort on finding some leaks in the athletic department? This isn’t an issue of national security. It just seems too…complex. It isn’t that they couldn’t pull it off, but why would they?

Really?

It is brilliant actually

Not sure that this phrase should exactly be applied to our coaching search, PennLive. As I’ve said elsewhere, I have a hard time seeing the point of some Machiavellian scheme to throw reproters off our trail…. why not spend the energy to, you know, just hire someone?

+1

That way they'll never see it coming

when we hire Jim Caldwell! [maniacal laughter][gets quiet][maniacal crying]

this would not suprise me

If this happens, it is a stopgap measure and would not be a long haul choice.

If this happens

I’m going to dig out my eyeballs with a shrimp fork and then find the tallest building I can to jump from.

You should probably find the building first,

then gouge your eyes out. You know, ’cause it would be harder to find said building without your eyes and all.

icavalera - January 5, 2012 reply

ok

so maybe I need to rethink this plan. But still, eyes gone, jump off building. Those are key.

Caldwell appears to have the personality of plywood.

Him vs. Urban in recruiting battles would likely be very, very, ugly.

Only makes sense if the true information is sensitive

if the real hire is someone who would not be affected by leaks involving his status, it’s pointless. If the real hire would be prejudiced or worse, if the real hire would have to back out if his status were leaked, then it makes perfect sense.

Uh-huh.

If they’re waiting this long, they better have a damn good reason for waiting this long. And no, “showing respect to Bradley and the other coaches by not making a move prior to the fifth-tier bowl game” does not qualify.

Does "Everyone we talked to said no except this guy" count as good or bad?

And "showing respect to Bradley"

would include letting him go right away after the bowl game if that was their plan from day 1. To string him along does a great disservice to a great Penn Stater.

I can agree with this.

Although, I’m sure Bradley’s already sifting through job offers — hopefully one of them isn’t DC at Iowa — while keeping a good public face on the PSU program (which really does him no harm at all, it only helps).

Better a lame duck coach than nobody

If they don’t have the guy just yet – either because they haven’t picked him or just haven’t got him physically in State College yet – then better to have the current staff out there doing whatever they can to recruit right up until the exact second the new guys can start doing it.

I’m sure Bradley knows the score now. If he’s got no chance then his continued efforts in recruiting just show what kind of mensch he is. He deserves whatever honors PSU can bestow.

hopefully one of them isn’t DC at Iowa

I am fully expecting this to happen, actually.

Cari Greene - January 5, 2012 reply

Nice article.

Could be true, but it is still speculation. What is the point of keeping such a tight lid? To me, they are not portraying confidence. Maybe this will end with a great hire, but I’m starting to think Dave and Ira are over their head here.

Playing devil's advocate here because I know many don't like what is going down.

But what if they do get a homerun? Will this then be regarded as one of greatest modern day coaching searches? Think of what they would have to overcome in order to make this happen. I think there would be classes that would teach this as a lesson in athletic administration at its highest level.

If they hit a home run.

Then yes, masterful search. But after so long, if it’s not a home run (which I suspect), then this thing was botched if only for the long delay.

To be honest, we won't know if they hit a home run until the games are played

Very true.

I guess I’m speaking more from an acceptance standpoint. With every passing day, I fear those that will be unhappy with the choice is growing at a exponential rate.

Absolutely

There are few names that will satisfy the instant reaction crowd at this point, but the $$ comes from the long-haul

Tom Bradley is looking better and better

I hate to say

but if Tom Bradley was the guy I think it would be over and done with by now.

Just looking at Bradley's last two games proves to me he is not the guy.

TheCowboyFan - January 5, 2012 reply

It is not Bradley or Johnson and they both know that.

Their comments and body language at the Jokecity Bowl proved that.

Hey, I'm just saying he looks better

compared to these NFL wisenheimers.

I agree with you

I agree with you too.

I agree with both of you.

I agree.

Pete the Streak - January 5, 2012 reply

I DIDN'T GET A HARUMPH OUT OF THAT GUY.

I agree too

Hear! Hear!

So....

we’re in agreement.

Nice.

Two O'Brien bios (he has mostly college-leve, ACC experience)

From the Pat’s website:

Bill O’Brien was named quarterbacks coach on Head Coach Bill Belichick’s staff in 2009. O’Brien served as wide receivers coach in 2008 after joining the Patriots as a coaching assistant in 2007 following 14 seasons coaching at the collegiate level.

In 2008, Patriots wide receivers contributed to an offense that posted the third highest yardage output in franchise history despite the loss of starting quarterback Tom Brady in Week 1. Wes Welker produced his second consecutive season with 100-plus receptions and was selected to his first Pro Bowl. Both Welker and Randy Moss posted 1,000- yard receiving seasons in 2008, each achieving the first back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in franchise history.

Prior to entering the NFL, O’Brien coached in the Atlantic Coast Conference for 12 seasons, including tenures at Georgia Tech (1995-2002), Maryland (2003-04) and Duke H 17th Coaching Season H 3rd NFL Season H 3rd Patriots Season (2005-06).

O’Brien completed a two-year tenure at Duke as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2005-06. O’Brien joined the Duke coaching staff after spending two seasons as the running backs coach at the University of Maryland. In his first season with the Terrapins in 2003, Maryland finished second in the ACC in rushing and defeated West Virginia in the Gator Bowl.

O’Brien spent eight seasons at Georgia Tech (1995-2002), and served as the Yellow Jackets’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in his final two seasons. In addition to his normal duties, he also served as an assistant head coach in 2002 and was Georgia Tech’s recruiting coordinator from 1999-2000. He spent his first three seasons at Georgia Tech as an offensive graduate assistant (1995-97) before beginning a three-year stint as the Yellow Jackets’ running backs coach (1998-2000). In each of O’Brien’s three seasons coaching the running backs, Georgia Tech finished no lower than third in the conference in rushing. During his two-year tenure as offensive coordinator (2001-02), the team played in a bowl game each season. In 2001, under O’Brien’s direction, the Yellow Jackets led the ACC in passing and finished third in the league in scoring.

O’Brien began his coaching career at Brown, coaching tight ends in 1993 and tutoring inside linebackers in 1994.

Playing: O’Brien was a linebacker and defensive end at Brown University from 1990-92.

Personal: Bill O’Brien was born on October 23, 1969 in Dorchester, Mass. He and his wife, Colleen, have two sons, Jack and Michael.

From wiki:

O’Brien’s first coaching position was at Brown, where he coached tight ends in 1993 then inside linebackers in 1994. He would then spend the next three seasons (1995–1997) as an offensive graduate assistant at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He then coached the Yellow Jackets’ running backs from the 1998 season through 2000 season. From 2001 to 2002, O’Brien served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach and was named an assistant head coach for the 2002 season. In 2003, he left to coach running backs at the University of Maryland, spending two seasons there before being named the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Duke in 2005.

After two seasons with Duke, O’Brien was hired by the New England Patriots on February 27, 2007 as an offensive assistant.1 On February 21, 2008, O’Brien was promoted to wide receivers coach.2 He became the team’s quarterback coach and offensive play-caller following the 2008 season and the departure of quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. He was promoted to offensive coordinator in February 2011.

How much of the Pat's success can be attributed to O'Brien?

It is a wonderful system, and I would love to see it in place at PSU because it can work with just about any competent scholarship quarterback running it. But I have to wonder if O’Brien can be a head coach and the offensive coordinator at the same time at a major university.

They make

an excellent hurricane.

Speaking of Hurricanes

Why don’t we start a Mike Ditka rumor just to hear him go off on national tv about it.

+1

None.

He literally gets shut out of the room to review upcoming games and tweak the offense.

what? he's the offensive coordinator

how the hell do you know this? from that bellicheck documentary on the nfl network? that was filmed a few years ago…

From an offensive coach on the staff.

Maryland 03-04? Would that be under Vandy?

Nope, too late. That was 1997-2000, I think.

This is a publicity stunt

by O’Brien and his agent to get his name out there fro NFL HC jobs… nothing more to be seen here.

It’s so obvious. Mike London’s agent leaked the preposterous rumor that the BOD contacted him to be the coach something like 10 minutes after they called JoePa to fire him, and oh look a two year extension and $2.1MM annual raise.

Playbook was set from there, and because of all the concerns about leaks outlined above, it’s a zero risk strategy. PSU isn’t confirming, denying, or even non-denying anything and won’t until they hire press release goes out.

I'd do that too if I were an agent

It’s not a business that rewards a fanatical devotion to the truth.

Until I see solid evidence to the contrary, I will never believe we actually went after Peterson very hard. I think that was all a ploy for him to get a better contract. He may be a great coach, but he’s not a good fit here.

Likewise, it’s a stretch to say Tony Dungy “turned down the job.” Maybe we gave him a call. We might have also called Mike Tomlin and Nick Saban and the Harbaughs and the ghost of Amos Alonzo stag. Doesn’t hurt to ask. You never know. But I don’t think anyone involved seriously had any hope in that option.

Why do I hear the Jeopardy theme song in my head

every time I read about the coaching search? At the end of the day, I’m okay with all this if they get it right.

And no, O’Brien doesn’t make sense to me either.

Damn it.

Now that song will be in my head until the decision is made. Well done.

Well theres a month from hell

it's in mine as well

but it’s an upgrade from what was in my head before…the “my buddy” commercial theme music.

You’re welcome!

Cari Greene - January 5, 2012 reply

My order of preference with regards to the NFL assistants mentioned:

1. Clements
2. Roman
3. O’Brien

That said, I have my doubts about all of them.

psu2007 - January 5, 2012 reply

what???? Your not biting on Sekrah's game of Blues Clues?

My preference with regards to the NFL assistants mentioned:

1. Shoot my self
2. Learn the intricacies of soccer
3. Become a Pitt fan

Is it possible to agree with both you and psu2007? Because I do.

Substitute Pitt for a local D-3 team, of course.

I tried to think of something worse than death

and Pitt was all I could think of.

I’m going to go with the Bloomsburg Huskies.

I actually could cover Shippensburg U.

My brother in law does it for the c-burg paper and did it for the Shippensburg paper but I could jump on the gig for either the Ship or Carlisle papers. That would be very different than my game days at PSU but it is fun, i have gone to a couple games, home and away and sat in the press box and helped with stats.

Rocky is a great coach there also

If he is still the coach. Very nice from what I hear to anyone who sees him and says hi.

AriesGD - January 5, 2012 reply

Rocky Reese retired last year

and yes, great guy. Mark Maciejewski replaced him and is a young guy that seems to be a pretty good replacement. Rocky was basically a legend and is missed by anyone that knew him.

I never actually knew him

Just had a bunch of friends in the band, and he would always take time out of interviews to thank the band.

I was there when the great John Kuhn was playing, meet him a few times. He was a massive massive man, scared the shit out of me the first time i talked to him. A buddy of mine was friends with him and he came up behind me to say something to me, turned around and this giant of a man was standing there telling me something, about a play i was in that he saw.

But Rocky was also a big man.

AriesGD - January 5, 2012 reply

Dude, screw soccer and football.

Penn State wrestling: 2012-14 national champions. I guarantee it.

Not disagreeing

But I would probably become the biggest PSU hockey fan EVA!

Penn State is a wrestling school now.

You people who still care about the football team are sad, pathetic, little people.

I'm totally getting into wrestling

Especially now that Y2J is back

Cael's recruiting him for HWT

That's what I told my Ohio State cousins a few years back

Football is sooo 2005. Women’s volleyball is where it’s at. But now that too is passe. Wrestling is the new black.

I've been leading the hockey bandwagon for years

If we win one game next year, it will be progress.

I’ve been into college hockey for years and have gone to Icers games since I was a kid. The day they announced PSU was going D1 was one of the best of my life (I’m not married, so I can say that safely).

Guy Gadowski is the absolute ideal hire. He has an excellent track record in building projects at Princeton and Fairbanks. He took both of them from complete doormats to respectability. At both places, he had to recruit from the whole continent since, unlike in Michigan or Minnesota, there’s not a ton of talent in the nearby area. Perfect preparation for this gig. His time at Princeton shows he cares about academics. He never played in the NHL, but scrapped in all kinds of minor leagues, including professional roller hockey, which shows he knows something about fighting uphill battles. He also coached minor league hockey and has recruiting contacts all over western Canada and all sorts of places people around here have never heard of.

He’s one of a string of “home run” hires for the athletics department in recent years. Sadly, the guy leading that was Curley. Whatever his sins, he did a good job at hiring in the lower profile sports. I’d love to believe we can do the same with football but it’s not the same situation. We can afford to spend a lot of money and offer great facilities but its not like wrestling where what we can offer is heads and shoulders above most of the competition. We can offer great facilities, but so can a few other schools. We can offer a lot of money, but not the most. We can offer a great fanbase, but so can others.

I learned the intricacies of soccer

Really. And now I like it more than football. Really. I love that the action is constant. No TV timeouts.

This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?

Only the action from a book about war is more exciting. Mind you, a book about war, not war itself.

amen sister

don’t let the haters get you down

The only thing I find more boring to watch than soccer is horse racing

I’d rather eat a horse than watch it run in a circle. I do appreciate the soccer WAGs though.

You're all missing out

But I understand why people not raised with soccer don’t understand it.

No I watch, and support my school's soccer team every spring when they play their games

But I don’t care for it. Could you put 18 little boys in uniforms and on a baseball diamond and it look like the world series? No. Could you put 22 middle school boys in uniforms and pads on a football field and have it look like the Super Bowl?No. Could you put 22 six year olds on a soccer pitch and have it look like the world cup? yep.

Thats not true

theres less crying when the 6 year olds go down.

That's overstated

Most of the time, the guys who are rolling around holding their knee are just catching their breath. I wish soccer had a rule like football where if you delay the game for an injury, real or fake, you have to go off for a bit.

football is filled with breaks so its absurd when after 6 plays

a guy can’t go on and must take a knee. in soccer, its 2 45 min periods of constant running, any elite athlete would need a break in the midst.

Its definitely not constant running

The closest it gets is for the midfielders, and even they get a number of breaks

its definitely more constant than any other sport

and its not even close really

I used to play soccer

Rugby has way more running and a lot less breaks.

And thats not even close really

Also, you have to take a hit, get up and sprint back to your position. In soccer you can roll around like a baby (well if you play in Italian or South American Leagues). Incidentally, FIFA refs kill the world cup every year when they let the South/Central American teams and the Italians dictate the pace of the game by flopping around like fish out of water. Every other country seems pretty content to actually play soccer.

Rugby is awesome to watch

I just have no idea whats going on.

I play

And still don’t really know whats going on half the time. I just like hitting people. Also, I like that its a rule that you have to wrap up when you tackle. None of this James Harrison headhunter bullshit. You hit someone head on like a man.

yeah

I have a friend that plays. He tries to explain it to me but I dont know much aside from the basics. I’d love to play but I’m a little guy, so I’d just get destroyed (also I’m way out of shape for rugby).

Our flyhalf was a little guy my junior year

But he was quick, skilled, and played like a big guy. You could always play wing.

Its an awesome sport to get into. The best part is after every match you go drinking with the other team. Its great.

my friend said wing was the position for me if I played

I’d be good at hitting people. Especially now with all this pent up football rage just wanting to get out.

Yeah

Its a great outlet.

Collegiate Sevens

championship back at PPL Stadium this summer!

Went last year, first time at a rugby match. Had a blast.

I played rugby in college

Still get to once or twice a year. I like it better than football.

I know I'm just kidding

except for the italians. Bunch of whiny girls.

That is true.

I’m not a fan of the Italian team.

Their whole football culture is rife with corruption and racism too. It’s nasty really.

The Budesliga is where it’s at.

Bayern Munich

or Bayern Munchen even!

loved watching the German team in the World Cup

only because I could yell Sweinstiger! (Or however its spelled)

Have you ever seen some of their WAGs (Wives and Girlfriends)?

Totti’s Wife:

Buffon’s Wife:

Del Piero’s Wife:

Luca Toni’s Wife or fiance:

Christian Vieri’s Ex (also George Clooney’s Ex):

Christian Panucci’s girlfriend:

And to show they age well, Paolo Maldini’s wife (he’s 44, been married for 14 years with 2 kids):

I was hoping I didn't have to make the obvious joke

but here goes…

If any of those women were my wife of girlfriend, I’d also do a lot of diving.

badum-CHING

Stuck in the Plains - January 5, 2012 reply

I want to be Christian Panucci for a day...

…or a really long weekend.

I'd trade places with him permanently.

Too soon?

automatic +1

mikeissurreal - January 5, 2012 reply

If you watch the highest levels of soccer

And appreciate the intricacies and subtleties, it’s really amazing. If you’ve played soccer for any appreciable amount of time and then see Messi’s ball control and vision or Cristiano Ronaldo’s physics-defying free kicks or Rivaldo’s bicycle kick for a hat trick which made me physically ill to witness, you’d be just as impressed as watching Justin Verlander paint the black at 99 mph or Jerome Simpson do a flip over a safety (OK, the Simpson thing is always more impressive, but he’s only done it once!)

Watching the great players play is beautiful

Watching the MLS…not so beautiful. And of course the women’s <3 <3

eternalpessimist - January 5, 2012 reply

So true...

Growing up with a hatred of soccer, even though my cousin started out on a soccer scholarship at PSU, I had an immense hatred for the game. Living in DC for 3 years and working with a bunch of foreigners allowed me to gain an appreciation for the game. While I’m a staunch USA supporter, I have a hard time getting into MLS, because as you said it is “not so beautiful”. On the world stage though, it is a thing of beauty, although unfortunately the same thing cannot be said of the USMNT.

That's absolutely not true

The difference between even MLS and La Liga is obvious to the casual fan.

a dislike of things unfamiliar

I wasn't raised on hockey but I get it and understand it and love it

And it was really unfamiliar when I started playing in high school, so that doesn’t fit.

hockey is a bit easier to get into

more goals, faster pace, hitting, etc.
I’ve turned lots of friends onto hockey. I haven’t had as much luck with soccer. Likewise, I haven’t got any of my European friends to like our football.

Actually, I just sort of liking teasing soccer fans

It isn’t meant to be malicious. I really do hate horse racing though.

Kenny Powers Says

In America people f*cking hate soccer, and honestly, that’s the way it should be.

I hate soccer, and I hate when people do it around me

PhilaLion - January 5, 2012 reply

And FTR

I have no problem with soccer. I just like Kenny Powers more

PhilaLion - January 5, 2012 reply

Oh man

a day at the track is way more exciting than your average sporting event. I mean, if you don’t personally bet on that sporting event. There’s nothing like having your own money at stake on a result to get you out of your seat and yelling “GO FOUR! C’MON FOUR! YAAAAAAAAIIIIIIISSSSSSS!”

I'm so with you on this.

Similarly depressing

spending an afternoon in an off-track betting parlor.

First horse I ever bet on

the jockey fell off out of the starting gate (no lie). It did get better after that . . .

first bet I every made at a track

hit a tri fecta. That was the worst thing that happened to me

he bet the horse?

Mush bet the F’ing horse….

All in

on Pie O’ My

The lack of commercials

is one of the reasons I like soccer.

I also like soccer

Soccer and football are my two favorite sports to watch. Baseball is my favorite to attend live and break down on a statistical-fantasy level. I also like basketball. I’ll watch hockey. Not sure why people always hate on one sport or another.

I like soccer live but don't care for it on TV, same as hockey

though I watched some hockey on a large HD TV last weekend and I think I could get into it much more with the new TV’s I loved hockey as a kid in Lancaster Pa, played all the time, a seepage area near the Kmart froze over and we would all go play, ages 8 to 18 playing. I was fast but couldn’t turn.

It is much better live

That’s what so many people don’t get about MLS. It’s not so great on tv, but watching MLS live – even watching college soccer live – is better than watching any soccer on tv.

Philly Union’s stadium is great.

The thing I enjoy most..

about soccer on TV is that it is over in 2 hours. I love football, but the constant stopping and commercials make a 4 hour game tedious at times.

Esteban d' Amur - January 5, 2012 reply

This is why I rarely watch the NFL lately

The whole score, timeout, extra point, timeout, kickoff, timeout fire drill is a bit too much.

RedZone

The NFL RedZone channel is the only way I can stand the NFL now.

There’s a college version of that, but I don’t care about non-PSU college football to bother with it.

If it weren't for RZ...

I wouldn’t watch the NFL.

Esteban d' Amur - January 5, 2012 reply

I like soccer

#COYS, y’all

#COYS!

agree with that list

A dark thought just occurred to me

What if O’Brien is willing to work cheap and that’s why he’s being considered?

If he is jockeying for the Jacksonville job too

He isn’t going to be had for less than $1.5 mil by PSU.

jacksonville

Apparently jay gruden has it. Waiting for bengals season to end. Gruden supposedly is getting the credit for and dalton. Jags want him for gabbert.

Jog73 - January 5, 2012 via iPhone app reply

Can't be true

Jay is coming to PSU to be the OC under John. oooh, maybe wrong Jay……

No.

Please.

What's your diagnosis, Doctor?

BAD BABYSITTING!

Speaking of NFL assistants coming to PSU.

Think we have any shot of hiring Anthony Lynn away from the Jets? Especially if our new HC/OC is a QB or OL guy?

SkellerDweller06 - January 5, 2012 reply

If they wind up hiring someone good-to-great...

I will have learned a lot of things. Two of which are:

1. Don’t ever play poker with Dave Joyner or Ira Lubert

2. Don’t ever trust a single article, outside of a box score, printed by sports media

Lots of people making fools of themselves during this search.

Glad we’re in the “LOL look at this rumor” game and not the actual rumor creating game.

We should get back into that game, that was fun.

I have an idea for one late tonight/tomorrow.

Be sure to check Penn Live =)

bill o'brien's wiki page as actively asking to be edited...

I can't do my IP address is blocked here at school

Might work on it from home though….I need some twitter help though.

I'll do it.

I’ll even cite one of the bullshit speculative articles as “proof” so it lasts longer. Give me a few minutes.

I did it with Richt and it lasted for a couple of hours

The picture didn’t though. I actually spent 10 minutes working on that Penn State logo on the shirt.

Done and done.

Link

All hail head coach Bill O’Brien! Hail ants!

How long before it hits twitter?

Not my problem.

I’m no twitterman.

We need a twitterman

Otherwise our wiki jobs are nothing.

About a minute.

https://twitter.com/#!/runthedive/status/154951170501263361

NICE! We got a twitterman

Well played.

I hope ESPN runs with this

David Jones will

ahh the power or the interwebs

where you can make anyone believe anything

"Donor-type people"

I fear that Joyner may be making the biggest fool of himself of everyone

I was on the side of “wait-and-see” and “they probably have an ace up their sleeve” until that NY Times article came out and quoted some agent as saying that Joyner was learning on the job.

Everyone should be preparing for the worse, in terms of the cache of the hire at this point.

Who needs "cache??"

Cache didn’t work for Charlie Weis at Notre Dame or for RRod at Michigan or for any number of hires where the team picked somebody that the fans had heard of.

Having said that, O’Brien doesn’t make much sense. Just looking at resumes, Clements and Roman are both far more qualified. As is Bradley, for that matter.

I don’t trust any rumors. They’re almost all obviously from agents. If I were an agent, I’d be making up rumors too. Anything to help my client’s leverage.

I'll give whoever they hire the benefit of the doubt

and I agree with you that cache is over-rated. But some of the other folks around here seem ready to buy extra pitchforks if a homerun-type hire isn’t made. And it seems unlikely we’re getting someone, who at first glance at least, is a homerun.

Isn't it cachet?

Hell, every computer has a cache.

it is cachet

thank you

I wasn't all pitchforky

Until Tuesday. Now, its been way too long and their screwing over loyal guys on their staff. It had damn well better be a homerun hire, and even then I don’t know how justifiable it is.

Every AD is learning on the job

If an AD, any AD, has experience hiring a football coach for that particular school, it almost invariably means that the guy he hired before just got fired. So obviously, he/she did it wrong the first time.

And nobody has hired a football coach at Penn State, a unique situation even if this Sandusky disaster hadn’t hit, in 45 years. 45 years. In real life, that’s a long time, but when you think about how much college football has changed in that time, it might as well have been the 16th century.

People can bitch about Joyner, but who, exactly, would they suggest is more qualified to lead this effort? The guy is one of PSU’s most accomplished athletic alums ever. And he’s said that they’re getting advice from all sorts of football people.

I’m not saying I know for sure that the next coach is going to be great, but nobody has put forward a realistic suggestion for a better way for PSU to have done this.

I would rather have someone who wasn't on the BOT.

That’s a place to start.

That's not realistic

I think I understand your point, but at the end of the day, the board has to sign off on it, so as much as we might not like the board right now, there’s no way to get around them (which, in the grand scheme of things is how it should be. It’s better than having the governor just rule the university or something like that). So they had to pick somebody they already knew and trusted.

They needed somebody who they could plug into the job immediately. Somebody who could drop whatever else they were doing and do this. Who else fits that description?

The fundamental problem is that this is an enormously big job that has huge implications for the health of not only the whole athletic program but the university (football helps donations, PR, admissions, etc) and yet because of the insanity of college football recruiting, they’ve had very little time to make this happen and are hiring from a pool of people who are all working 24-7 at their current jobs right now. In any other business – or any other part of the university, for that matter – you would not hire a new manager of a $53 million, high-profile operation within only a month or two of the firing the last guy, especially if you just fired the CEO and the COO too. You’d probably take four, six, maybe even 12 months. In any other business, that would be considered insane, because it is.

This deserves a rec for perspective.

you could have experience hiring other coaches for other sports

or your coach could have gone on to greater things…

The NY Times quote indicated, to me at least, that Joyner’s approach has been unconventional and not in a good way.

The truth is we won’t know for 2-3 years whether or not the person they hire was a “good hire,” and I’m willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt until he calls a reserve or end around on 3rd and 3 from the opponents 22 that loses 15 yards.

Could you link this article?

I don't trust the NY Times on this

Their coverage of this whole affair smells a lot like “oh look at those rubes in PA with their barbaric games.” F them.

The problem with getting people with experience hiring other coaches for other sports is that the one guy we have around who fits that description is Curley.

Also, I believe the non-Joyner members of the group do fit that description. Lubell was key to getting Cael and maybe others. Russ Rose knows something about coaching in general too, I think. And they probably called others for advice.

it's a pretty fair, straight journalism piece

the intimation that Joyner’s a joker is mine.

I don’t think having someone without AD experience prima facie meant that the search would go poorly or be poorly handled. Increasingly, it seems like the balance of the available evidence is that the search has gone poorly.

At first, I expected Joyner and Ira to do this quite well. No that all of the best guys — Munchak, Petersen, etc — are effectively out of the running, it seems like the search has been handled poorly. Of course, this is just speculation, but of course, this is the internet where everyone else is incompetent and i’m a genuis.

Haha, love the last sentence.

The thing is, the search will be very results oriented and backwards looking. If the hire is acclaimed, then the search was brilliant. If it’s BOB, then it was the most poorly run effort in all of academia ever conducted.

As always, that won’t make either of those conclusions true, it could very well be that this is a masterfully run search and no one decent is interested. Or it could be the bumbling mess you contemplate and they could get lucky with one great candidate that imposes their will to get hired and succeeds.

You're forgetting option three

which is that the job really IS as toxic as the media conspiracy said it is (and I said it is, but those jerks don’t invite me to their parties so I can’t claim to be a conspirator).

They could just be doing their best with an impossible mission.

M1EK - January 5, 2012 reply

There is something that could very well cure the toxicity level thought.

Money. I think Joyner, Lubert et. al. would have to take some blame in that scenario by not paying enough to assuage potential candidates’ other fears.

Not buying it

When you’re talking about the difference between a couple million and a couple more million, I don’t think the couple more million is going to be enough to persuade somebody who thinks the job is toxic to come on board anyways.

Now, could you hire somebody like ME for a couple million dollars that you couldn’t get for my current salary? Yep! I’ll be right there!

M1EK - January 5, 2012 reply

Ok, well, don't agree.

A couple million per year can erase a lot of doubts no matter how much you are already making. There is a price for everyone, in my opinion.

Exactly.

I think you’d be surprised what some people would do if they were offered double their current salary.

Gonna come out and say it

I dont get the toxic thing. Maybe its just me, but I think its a perfect situation to be in. For an outsider, you dont have to worry about scandal issues because your standard response could be “I wasn’t here when that happened”. Sure, he’d have to answer a couple of dumb questions every now and then, maybe deal with some negative recruiting, but he has a built in excuse if he doesn’t do well. Its a get out of jail free card. And if he does a good job, he’s set himself up for a number of great opportunities, or can stay and Penn State and look like a hero. I think the benefits far outweigh the perceived negatives.

Total get out of jail free card

A kid accepts a free tat?

Hey, at least he didn’t molest any kids in the shower! Next question.

kids misbehaving on your watch would be the one bad thing I could think of

as you’d be continuing the “football over everything else culture” if you tried to give them some reasonable discipline, but if thats the case then just suspend him and you’re the good guy again. And honestly, the general public is going to forget all about this in a year or two. And after that you get a touching Rinaldi story about the revival of Penn State with you at the forefront and piano music in the background.

Year or two?

I give it a few months tops. Something about Presidential elections coming up I think. Will probably steal the focus….

I've always felt this way as well...

And a big thing is ego, these head coaches have plenty of it. Imagine if they led PSU shortly to a Big 10 Title or even the the National Championship…they would be labeled the savior of the program, of the school. Whoever the next HC is would love that possibility, they’d take a bath in it!

The big question is if the BoT is utilizing all of this as a selling point.

Right

honestly, if Joe had just walked away with no scandal, I would think less coaches would want it. Right now Joe is painted as the bad guy and you can start over completely with little repercussions from the fans and media (media especially).

This line of arguent through here

is pointing straight at Little Nicky’s ego.

My point

is that if there are 10 potential great hires and only 9 of them think it’s a toxic position…

then it’s not toxic.

I get what your saying

I just think it would be the opposite position. 9 out of 10 think its just fine. Maybe a guy who’s well established and a football god like Meyer can say “no thanks”, but he could literally get a job at just about any school in the nation as well. And for boatloads of cash and whatever else he wants.

A somewhat unproven guy could be in the ultimate buy low sell high position. And chances are he could demand a much better salary than he is probably worth.

I also don't get the toxicity

In the immediate aftermath it seemed like everything surrounding Penn State was dysfunctional and completely negative. Although some of the actions since those first 2 weeks have pissed us off as fans, I can’t say they have seemed completely incompetent. And the hate has already died down (internet comments not withstanding).

I would expect anyone under consideration for a Penn State HC job to be smart enough to realize that those first 2 weeks were not representative of what this University is, or of what the next several years will be like.

If that's true

and it might, just give up and hire Bradley.

Stop turning over rocks hoping to find some genius hiding out.

Exactly, if that is the scenario...

It’s what they should have done all along as I’ve pointed out below.

That possibility exists

But its pretty damn low. I don’t buy that PSU is a toxic program.

Especially in light of the fact that most of our commits are remaining committed to the school. If it was really that toxic I’d imagine all of their 18 year old peers would have shamed them into decommitting.

link below

here’s the link

the quote i’m referring to: according to agents who have been dealing with Penn State, they have spoken directly with Joyner, not with a search firm. Instead, Joyner, an orthopedic surgeon, has been learning the world of coaching hires one phone call at a time.

Things I don't find credible:

(1) The NYT
(2) Agents of someone in a job search

Not necessarily in that order. It also is the writer editorializing that he is learning one phone call at a time.

That said, if it’s O’Brien, I agree with the whole thing.

do you think there is any chance we have even considered the computer that beat Ken Jennings

gumbercules - January 5, 2012 reply

Watson? I like it.

That computer turned us down. We are moving on to backup plan Deep Blue.

that is some old school shit right there

If he declines interest, I hear we're going after HAL.

And given that our interim AD is named "Dave"

the stage is set perfectly.

"Take the job, HAL."

“I’m sorry Dave, I can’t do that . . . "

this has to become green.

I'm more partial to the WOPR.

“WOPR, let’s run a fullback dive.”

“Greetings, Professor Rambler. How about a nice game of chess?”

“WOPR, seriously, fullback dive.”

“Greetings Professor Rambler. How about a nice game of Battle Of Chickamauga?”

/plays Battle Of Chickamauga

I tried Chickamauga on that game.

It sucked. The Confederates always win unless I replace Rosecrans with Grant before the battle even starts.

Having been born in the 1980's

I thought the “the only way to win is not to play” strategy made it a clever movie, and then I read Bobby Kennedy’s Thirteen Days and I was like ‘these people basically just took ideas from the 60s and added a computer’.

gumbercules - January 5, 2012 reply

I tried to create a Bielema rumor.

It didn’t generate much interest.

Good points.

I’m still questioning whether this unfounded rumor mill is good or bad, but after nearly two months since IT happened with no coach, I’m leaning toward bad.

Another reason not to hire O'Brien?

The New England Patriots are a Godless, piece of shit organization.

Thassarec

Besides, has anyone actually looked at the track record of Belichick’s OC’s as head coaches? It ain’t pretty.

I am more worried about cut-off hoodies on the sidelines at Beaver Stadium than anything else

at this point a rancid ham sandwich could do a better job of running the offense than what we have had this season.

I'm prepared for "Shock and Blah" whenever the choice is revealed.

And an epic thread immediately following.

Regardless, it will be better than this interminable being on the clock.

There will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

My default setting is NOOOOOOOOOOO at this point.

this sounds almost like the end of the world

is it 2012 yet?

No it won't

These here are good times.

jtothep - January 5, 2012 reply

If you mean what I think, then I agree.

SkellerDweller06 - January 5, 2012 reply

What about

Bradley being retained as coach (its his dream job) and one of these guys are being looked at as an offensive coordinator? Scrap may not mind (pure speculation) that one of these NFL guys may make more $$ than him (again see “dream job” above). Again, pure speculation on my part.

Another scenario: Hire some hot looking babe to be the “coach”. Every recruit in the country will be ours! Who cares about the W’s and L’s as long as she wears tights!

OK, back to reality. Any thoughts on Jeff Fisher (sp?). IMHO he seems to be a good motivator. More than likely not coming here at the same time I was wondering….

unitboy - January 5, 2012 reply

Roman > O'Brien

SweepTheLeg - January 5, 2012 reply

We've made it this far...

There’s no reason that Joyner and Lubert won’t be able to keep this totally under wraps until the moment they announce.

I’m pulling for a serious press conference, during which Lubert wheels out a giant cake, from which bursts the new head coach. Show Girls form a kick line behind the cake/coach, streamers fall from the air, Lubert/Joyner high five, and coeds from the comm school in playboy bunny outfits bring out trays of champagne.

And we find out our new head coach is Dave Wannstedt.

Central Pa will sound like the first day of Buck Season with all the guns going off.

Too bad the coroner will be too busy to celebrate.

The riot police better be ready and waiting.

The BoT, having learned nothing,

will announce it at a 10 p.m. press conference.

That was one of the dumbest moves ever

That thing needed to be announced at 8:30 am when most of the students would have been to tired to riot.

It was an epic piece of stupidity IMO.

The minute the announcement was made I told some of my coaches who are NOT Penn Staters

That if they fired Joe at 10, there will be riots. I made a cool 100 bucks off. I felt like Judas for taking it, but it did get me a big bottle of Granddad’s

And one hell of a hangover

Without being political...

how does the PSU “riot” (lamest non-riot ever) get condemned as the worst thing ever, but the Occupy Wall Street stuff, where there were actually assualts, rapes, etc. gets treated as just young people showing their displeasure with authority?

Esteban d' Amur - January 5, 2012 reply

Because OccupyWallStreet

really HATES child abuse. PSU doesn’t.

Simple, really!

I was floored by that too. I saw the news van flipped over I don’t know how many times. There were literally fires burning in the streets of Oakland and the response was, “Look at State College”!

PSUPing - January 5, 2012 reply

You're not wrong

But part of that is just that the media was pushing this “nestled in the hills of Pennsylvania” crap about SC, while Oakland is Oakland. It’s pretty much always on fire, isn’t it? Or at least, that’s the common perception.

200 or so kids (maybe), with most of them just milling around...

does not equal a riot…

Not at all.

But it’s not about what happened, it’s about what they can say happened. When the lie is more interesting than the truth….

As it is, I think the total arrest haul is going to be no more than 50 and a lot of those are just “refusal to disperse” or vague “disorderly conduct” which, I’m told, can be almost anything from pissing in the bushes to getting into a fight.

Also, a number of those arrested aren’t students. I don’t really understand who those people could be. Are their people in Altoona or wherever who troll the police band looking for trouble to be a part of?

When you looked at the some of the views of what was going on...

I remember that it was quite clear that many of the students were just hanging out watching the others…when I heard the media blow those up as riots, I was fuming because it was so clear. This wasn’t anything like a riot and nothing like the Arts Fest riots that occurred some years ago….now those were riots!

They have an encampment in Tyrone.

Oakland has been on fire

at least since the days of Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Rap Brown, and the crew.

SkellerDweller06 - January 5, 2012 reply

Or a replay of Lebron's "Decision" Special

….or we have Jeff Fisher sit at a table in his high school gym with all his classmates around him, and three hats on the table…Penn State, Miami Dolphins, and St. Louis Rams. He picks up the Rams hat, throws it away Corso style, then dons the PSU cap.

I love this so much

Its's All A Crapshoot.......

But I think, given the circumstances, a coach with NFL experience is a good move in terms of recruiting. That may be obvious to a lot of people, but unfortunately, I don’t think you can sell the Penn State Football brand/team/program whatever you want to call it on the “Grand Experiment” notion at this point in time. We need good players and that might be hard when the good players have their choice to many schools. Maybe the , I can get you to the NFL, is the short-term bridge and differenitator that helps us weather this storm and avoid 3 or 4 “dark years”.

ech2os - January 5, 2012 reply

O'Brien looks like the lovechild of RichRod and Bielema

No thank you.

Quite unpleasant to look at, ain't he?!

I created a twitter rumor myself

at the request of my best freind’s mom – she said with the utmost sincerity that she heard Lou Holtz’ name mentioned. She said “well, if all of these other names are mentioned, why not his? We should throw that out there”. It made us all LOLOLOL, so I tweeted it. Too bad I don’t have enough followers. I did have one reply, who basically told me I was just a little out of bounds, and told me with certainty that Tom & Clements were lining up for their second interviews. Of which I knew at least one of those was NOT happening. It was funny & sad.

PghNittany - January 5, 2012 reply

if we waited this long

For obrien or roman the bot should do just as much time as sandusky

Jog73 - January 5, 2012 via iPhone app reply

Dear Penn State football

I hope you rest in peace, but the trouble is, you owe me forty bucks.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/conversation?gameId=320020213

Anyone paying attention to this m_mckinley guy on espn.com?

usually commenting there sucks but he states that he’s involved in the contract writing process and has been pretty consistent with what he says.

people who frequent the board seem to say he has a good rep as well didn’t just spring out of the blue like @sekrah…

their commenting system SUCKS but worth going through and seeing what he says…in short:

- there is a plan a (HR hire) and a plan b(bigger risk but not an nfl asst)

- they are very close with plan a, 85%, but there were some family issues they wanted resolved

- tomorrow afternoon seems most reasonable for an official announcement as the new coach might be part of the “staff meeting” rumored for tomorrow AM

Come across that guy before on the ESPN boards.

I can second that he isn’t a troll and has been a good guy to talk PSU with. However, I’ll believe it when I see it. I trust no one at this point. No one.

I have been.

The guy’s a phony. Someone found his real identity and posted it, then deleted after the backlash from other fans. He’s a hotshot pittsburgh lawyer and went to PSU, but other than that he has no sports contract credentials at all.

But like Swiggs said, he’s intelligent and can carry on a conversation, so at the very least I can discuss things with him.

He lost me when he said

he’s a big Joe Schad source. And that he’s written the contracts for 4 different potential hires, and that the PSU administration knows he’s on ESPN boards and is telling him what to say.

Unless he’s part of the “weed out the leaks” conspiracy alluded to above, then maybe.

they are saying on BWI.com that the hire will be announced today at 1

Then that mckinley guy starts saying that that jives with his 10 am staff meeting.

there would be a leak by now if there was a presser.

They would have to start getting the press in line to cover this.

I would rather it be done without press.

Honestly, just like the rest of the search seems to have been done.

Nah, if they feel it is a good guy then they should publicize it

Makes a bigger splash for recruiting, me thinks.

I think the kids will know.

Probably through Pony Express or something.

The name will come out before the presser happens.

Well, at least that’s the way it usually works…but I’d guess no press conference today. I’m guessing tomorrow or Tuesday.

They'll know, but it can't hurt to hear the media talking about it in a positive light

Assuming it is an exciting hire, of course

Maybe they could put 3 NFL hats on a table and choose one.

That would be cool.

you are assuming they left

He preys on the ESPN boards

because that’s where those who aren’t intelligent enough to see through him congregate.

And to further prove that you shouldn't believe guys on message boards,

He was 95% positive it was gonna be a top-5 hire as recently as Monday, down to 85% yesterday, and now all of a sudden “Plan A” is at 20%. Right.

lol, so is there really an announcement today?

I can’t tell what’s real, who’s being sarcastic, if this is a joke, what?

Extremely doubtful is my opinion.

At this point in the day, a presser would have been announced. Unless, the BoT are going after that 10p target again.

They found that the 10 pm pressor generated a lot of local response!

BWI also has an article which

seems to suggest multiple PSU coaches have visited Wartman. I really love this coaching staff for what they are doing under these circumstances.

Yeah Illinois's coaches threaten to boycott their bowl game.

PSU’s are still recruiting for the next group of coaches, without even knowing who that will be.

Totally different standard here.

And why I love this school

+1

And why I love these coaches

O'Brien will not be at practice today per Belichick

Presumably to meet with PSU

boston_zenos - January 5, 2012 reply

Or the Jags

Shefter and Pats beat reporters say its PSU today

boston_zenos - January 5, 2012 reply

Ugh.

Well, then it MUST be true!

Ok, latest flightaware

shows a jet making two trips from Columbia, SC to State College — one yesterday and one today.

Ole Ball Coach?!

Well, State College does have a nice golf course...

DABOS COMIN TO TOWN

AND HE'S BRINGIN' HIS BINKY

And his defense!

shudder

Imagine if Spurrier had both Garcia and Fera at his disposal!

Yeah, that be rec'd.

TheWrathofQBEagles - January 5, 2012 reply

I can't stop laughing at this picture

Like, it’s unhealthy how long I’ve been laughing at this picture. Amazing.

DABO would leave from Greenville, or Spartanburg where there are plenty of flights

Nobody puts DABO in a corner!

Pittsburgh?

Saw 5-6 flights from Pittsburgh into SC this morning. Is this common?

Usually, yes

I’ve seen that most days that I look. I suspect it’s Fedex and operations like that.

Got it.

I don’t check that often, so I wosn’t sure.

There's no regular commercial flights from SCE to Pittsburgh anymore

Your choices are Detroit, Philly or Dulles.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

True Spurrier story

At our coaches clinic each July you can count on USC and Clemson coming because they like to get in good with the high school coaches. Two years ago at Charleston, Spurrier was speaking at 4pm on the first day of the clinic, which was a Sunday, so we went to hear him talk. He was pretty good. About 2 hours later, and I know it was two hours later because I was at the manager’s reception at our Embassy Suites and it was only an hour in to the fun, and we got a photo text message with a picture of Spurrier with his head on the bar passed out at a dive bar on the beach at Isle of the Palms. He wasn’t seen again that clinic.

And remember the G.A. Mangus public urination deal? We were at Carolina Ale House with him that night, and he wasn’t the craziest person there by far. The cops just lucked into him in the alley outside taking a wiz. I walked out to catch a cab and saw him getting cuffed and stuffed.

This is some epic stuff carolina...

I’d love to hear more.

I can't some of it might get it's way back to me

Don’t need that. But I will say that the coaches have a “good time, a real good time”

So you're saying..

they all get together to drink soda with prostitutes at a rave under a highway overpass.

Sign me up.

Weren't there pictures leaked a few years ago of one of these coaching conventions

I recall seeing a bunch of drunk guys in hawaiian shirts doing the limbo.

!!!

Participating in this life style is why I went to law school

1988 – yuppie cocaine culture
2012 – you can taste all 23 flavors if you drink it slow, baby

Amazing. All of it.

One of my fantasy ideas

Is that, if Bradley leaves, that he becomes the HC at one of those nasty football powers in the WPIAL and funnels all of his stars to PSU.

Completely unfounded rumors...

I hear Andy Reid may be looking for a job, even though the boss says he’s good… and he’s got an OC he can bring with him. Apparently the OC’s kid has an arm.

Or I heard Lou Holtz was getting tired of a Pitt grad’s BS and is ready to jump back in.

No wait, Tony Dungy is reconsidering.

And Terry Bradshaw has never tried coaching, but hey, he’s got Super Bowl rings…

OK, you heard it here first – we’re hiring the East Stroudsburg coach. Although at 70 he’s a bit young for PSU.

Smee - January 5, 2012 reply

No, it's Bill Cowher.

Or maybe Paul Chryst….. hey, Pitt would know how to handle two coaching searches in three weeks, right?

multiple searches in 3 weeks!

Plan B

I still think that O’Brien, Clements, etc. are our Plan B targets. Have they been/will they be interviewed? It’s possible. And they may have even been told they are finalists. But I still think they are only finalists if Ira’s top dogs aren’t available.

Jeff Junstrom - January 5, 2012 reply

Ira's List

probably resembles the following at this point:

They’ve Done It:
Urban Meyer
Nick Saban
Les Miles
Bob Stoops

Winners one step removed:
Chris Petersen
Gary Patterson
Al Golden

Very Solid, Not Spectacular:
Mark Richt
Greg Schiano
Kirk Ferentz

No One Knows With Certainty:
Dan Mullen
James Franklin
Mike London
Tom Clements
Greg Roman
Bill O’Brien

Thanks for Stopping By:
~~Tom Bradley~~

bscaff - January 5, 2012 reply

In all honesty, this is probably pretty on par

are you an insider?

Rec'd for truth

Although I imagine you’re missing the “Good Character Guy” category, perhaps populated with ~~Tony Dungy~~

Good Character Guy

is only on Rod Erickson’s list. And Ira says that’s where it can stay.

bscaff - January 5, 2012 reply

What happend with Richt?

Has the Richt possibility died? Has there been anything out of UGA on his status? Several weeks ago he was supposedly renegotiating his contract, then nothing, then they lose to the over-grown skunks … where is this one at?

oops, meant sparty instead of the Wolvies

Still re-negotiating, I believe

The fact that it’s taking this long might be telling…but if it’s Richt, why wait to announce it? His season’s over.

Flight from Georgia

I feel like such a stalker now, but this search is driving me to drink. There was a direct flight into SC from a small airport an hour south of Athens, GA on Tuesday. Could be anything, but why not throw it out there!

Totally true

someone tweeted a photo of him wearing a PSU polo shirt.

Obviously, someone from the search committee sent him that to wear at the press conference

/internet scam’d

I got banned from Wikipedia over that

I had created an account called Hillshirefarmssausage and some butt hole from wikipedia banned me for trolling wikipedia. Dick.

they're the scum of the earth

+1 for saying butt hole

That's kinda funny.

Although I know they take their website pretty seriously. More seriously than the general public, I believe.

My wife teaches some writing classes for a local college and she tells her students on the first day that Wikipedia is not a legit source to cite as research. Every term someone tries it however.

I'm proud to say one of my phony edits was once cited as the reason why Wikipedia can't be used as a source by my friend's brother-in-law, a professor.

I hope you did a screen capture.

I don't know which specific one he cited.

A Federal Court of Appeals judge in Chicago...

Judge Posner uses wikipedia all the time in his judicial opinions and he doesn’t get much flak over it!

Yeah, but he's all sorts of awesome

picking out his wikipedia usage would be like telling Lady Gaga that her shoes are eccentric.

He is awesome.

I don’t always agree with Posner’s reasoning, but his opinions are always entertaining to read.

People don't give flak.

My boss told me he’s cool with me citing Wikipedia in correspondence with the patent office. I still don’t do it. It’s all fun and games until some jackass edits wikipedia, cites his edits, and gets hit with disciplinary action.

I just want to be a Federal Judge...

So I can use wikipedia all the time and not even be criticized for it….

I want to be a Federal Judge

because those dudes have pretty sweet jobs and are all respected and stuff. But also so I can be different than the average Federal Judge.

Agreed.

And if I were in the Senate, I would vote for you Octa…

I can't even get a job from a headhunter right now

so I’ll table the Federal Judge plans for a couple years, at least.

Well, Good luck on the search and keep at it.

I will refrain from the usual pep talk, but I was out of work for nearly a year before I got a nice gig. Hate to sound cliche, but it is true, don’t give up..

Also don't be afraid to take jobs in "unusual" locations.

Thanks for the advice, guys

I’ve been ignoring jobs in other locations and telling my family and friends who offer help or connections elsewhere to hold off for a little bit. If I keep hitting brick walls in my search after a little longer, I’m going to open it back up. Though I am now single and almost 28 and thus would prefer the location to not be too unusual.

Also good advice: send resumes to people and accept interviews if offered!

Though I am now single and almost 28 and thus would prefer the location to not be too unusual.

-WorldBFat, 2009

In 2010, a single and 28 year old WorldBFat moved to a legitimately unusual location.

Ha

I fear that if I don’t get something within the next 6 months, I’ll legitimately be practicing law in that part of Pennsylvania that is above route 80 and between Erie and Scranton.

You might make it big with a deer stand malfunction class action.

Just don't become this guy....

Oh well, that didn't work...

Well, I'll take the advice anyway

and not become a red X

Do they need lawyers in Yellowknife, NWT?

Sadly there's not a lot of reciprocity between Canadian and US law degrees.

I checked when I was in Octa’s shoes.

Just leak some tweets

from your agent that you’re prepared to sign a contract with someone somewhere.

You’ll have a job in minutes.

At your cable model or router, release and renew your IP.

Instant access.

HA!

I was so bummed it was taken down- I actually used it with one of my my 5th grade classes to show why they should not use wikipedia! I was hoping it would be there for the class today, but it was down, I told the class about it though.

wonderlin - January 5, 2012 reply

Unless we want.........

Penn State players dragging themselves across the grass acting the fool after virtually ever routine play, we should probably forget about Richt. I think he’s a great guy, but for some reason he let’s “the kids have fun” too much for my liking.

ech2os - January 5, 2012 reply

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES.....

we get someone not mentioned by ANYONE and is still a good hire?

the entire country has been mentioned at this point

i would be shocked if it was someone that hasn’t at least been mentioned

Anyone remember the JIm Cantafio rumor that lasted a day?

Halcyon days.

or the howard schnellenberger (sp?)

Is Schnellenberger still alive?

Seriously. I thought he died.

Bite your tongue!

Schnelly just retired as coach of FAU.

Long live Schnelly!

Retired, died, whatevs

I heard some story about him and got it mixed up. SOrry.

point taken....

I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head at the moment

Am I off base...

by feeling less than satisfied and uncomfortable with all this talk in the media pointing to Bill O’Brien as our search committee’s current #1 target? I just don’t like the sound of it that we might be gladly opening a door to a coach from a team that really seems like they don’t at all mind showing the door to.

CyphaPSU - January 5, 2012 reply

agreed.....

and i assume you just saw the same news brief on ESPN news that I did?

an ESPN update video online, yes

CyphaPSU - January 5, 2012 reply

Reporting something new?

nope, nothing new

The Patriots are gameplanning for the playoffs and allowed their OC to miss practice

Not the most ringing endorsement.

they probably don't even notice his absence

The two Boston papers don't seem to care much about O'Brien leaving

Part of that is that Boston, despite having a zillion colleges, doesn’t care at all about college sports. At all. It’s really uncanny.

And part of that could be that they don’t see O’Brien as remotely important to the Pats, which bodes ill.

And why would they care?

Every time a coordinator leaves, NE there is no impact on the field. BB and Brady run the show so they couldn’t care less. You would think that this would throw up a giant red flag while sounding obnoxious sirens. You would think.

They sure didn't seem to miss a beat

when Fat Charlie and Josh McDaniels left.

Joyner and Ira have to realize that, right?

Just as they have to realize that if BOB is the hire, the backlash against them (and by proxy, the entire university administration) is going to be deafening, right?

They realize that

And I doubt o’brien is anywhere near SC today

Speaking of SC

Do any of these potential hires plan to, you know, visit State College? Have any of them ever been here? I love it, but it’s not for everyone. You’d think they’d want to look around before committing their family to this.

That might be part of their plan

I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these rumors are deliberate leaks to see how the fanbase/boosters react. I think MLB and NFL teams do that all the time. Get a rumor on talk radio to run it up a flag pole, so to speak.

Well then, let's hope his interview goes something like this:

“Bill, we’re sorry to have wasted your time, but it seems our entire fanbase would commit seppuku in stereo if you were to be hired. We’re re-fueling the plane; it’ll be ready to go in 15.”

Not to go all conspiracy theory, but...

Any chance the ESPN guys are doing this because they don’t like BOB? I mean, Bristol would be Pats territory. If they wanted to get him gone, rumors would be the best way.

PSUPing - January 5, 2012 reply

Sounds like something ESPN would do.

Haha, #OccupyESPN.

Your are not off base. At all

OmarLittle - January 5, 2012 reply

fail

reply to Cypha. Dammit

OmarLittle - January 5, 2012 reply

Hire O'Brien...

And I’m sure Hot Rod Erickson’s meetings are gonna go real well next week.

ESPN NEWS DISCUSSING RIGHT NOW

on the van pelt show

they are mocking the bill o'brien rumor

Really?

yep

saying that we should still go after golden. I agree

Intersting...

But Shefter seems to have such great confidence in this, I don’t know why.

Shefter.

Can no longer take that guy seriously. He is a leader of the ESPN rumor mill.

He knows nothing of college football

he is a michigan alum after all.

ah so he's just trolling us then.

makes sense

If Schefter had something to say about the NFL, I'd take him seriously

but anything he says about college football is usually pretty ill informed.

Throw LaCanfora on that heap too

for the NFL Network and he’s usually pretty good about things.

cmdpsu15 - January 5, 2012 reply

if we haven't landed him already....

that would be sweet!

Correct me if I am wrong

but didn’t he start off doing draft analysis? Weather men have to be right more often…

Could it be this?

mwb124 - January 5, 2012 reply

I am really starting to get nervous it will be

O’Brian. Oh god.

Yeah, me too

I feel like reality is catching up

This really can't be happening, can it?

"What do you think the chances are of a school like you and a coach like us... ending up together?" - Board of Trustees

(Shown in actual attire.)

Jerks.

Think Dumb and Dumber tuxedos.

The worst part about this is

whomever we hire, we have to quietly accept it with no joy or vitriol, otherwise we’re furthuring the cult of football that indoctrinates Penn State instead of thinking about THE VICTIMS.

Yeah but....

I’m starting to think the length of this search was premeditated to let the dust settle, and allow the focus on the victims through the end of the season. Haters would have said “look at PSU…. they’re just moving on like nothing happened.” But they can’t say that now. I think now (in January) this hire will get attention much closer to a “typical” college hire, as opposed to being viewed as a scandalous hire like it might have been in December. Thoughts?

Well see,

you’re doing things like using reason and logic in your argument….there is no chance the media and others will see it that way.

GMac14 - January 5, 2012 reply

you might be right....

but at least we’re not the leading story on ESPN now. There is no “Penn State Scandal” tab running across the bottom of the screen during Sports Center.

when I feel like giving our leadership an iota of doubt

this is the story I tell myself. They throw $4M after some splashy hire before the season ends (cough,OSU), then the story is, “CHILD ABUSE FOOTBALL FACTORY BACK IN BUSINESS; SEND US YOUR CHILDREN SO WE CAN ABUSE THEM WITH A HIGHLY PAID NEW HEAD COACH”

Maybe now with some time behind it, it won’t look as unseemly.

Or, they’re just idiots. Or, no one wants the job. Whatever, really.

I keep saying "whatever" too.....

but then one minute later I’m searching the internet for more information. This is affecting my life, as much I a do not want it to. I wish I could just forget about it it and be pleasantly surprised when they announce (or devestated), but I haven’t been able to walk away from this one.

You've just described the last 2 months of my life

I call it

coach search porn.

Nittany Merle?

You are my favorite BSD poster ever.

I'm thinkin that shouldn't bee too hard right about now

quietly accept it with no joy or vitriol

jtothep - January 5, 2012 reply

Pretty much.

Bill O’Brien is the one arguing with Tom Brady during the Redskins game???

HOLD ON A SECOND!!

Not sure if you actually didn't know this, but yes

no I didn't

I mean, I saw the footage during that week but I didn’t know it was O’Brien. Good grief. This guy is a tomato can, right?

Correct.

Now imagine what O’Brien would do with a McGloin/Bolden combo. It wouldn’t be pretty.

If he has a right hook as good as Drake's, watch out

TheWrathofQBEagles - January 5, 2012 reply

He would 95% of his time on the sidelines

Screaming at McGloin and Bolden on the bench. That’ll be really distracting, I’d imagine.

fail

He would spend 95%

TheWrathofQBEagles - January 5, 2012 reply

Ben Jones Tweeting...

that satellite trucks are starting to show up in SC…and the Sandusky trial is months away…

phanatic's phloozies - January 5, 2012 reply

does the truck say BTN on it?

We have a home basketball game on BTN tonight against Purdue, don’t we?

could be for the meeting tomorrow

I would assume they would want quotes from Bradley either way after the meeting tomorrow if he got the job/was told he wasnt getting it

I was looking for Flowers By Irene, but this is close:

Mother of god no.

Ben Jones is saying news satellite trucks are arriving in SC for the announcement. If it’s O’Brien I’m going to be an inconsolable baby for the next . . . I don’t even know.

That's it, I'm getting pre-emptively upset.

This process, and decision are biggest bumbling clesterf*6$ I have ever seen in major college sports.

Yeah, I really want to give the next hire the benefit of the doubt

But this guy stretches that…I mean realllllllly stretches that.

fuck that

irrational hatred starts now

Incorrect.

Rational hatred. Trust me on that.

split the difference

irrational timing on rational hatred?

Oh that's totally fair.

I'm with you

Fuck this, I’m leaving work to get hammered. All I wanna know is who’s coming with me?

If BOB is the hire and it's announced this afternoon.

there’s a 50% chance I’m getting “not-making-it-in-to-work-tomorrow” drunk tonight.

That was already kind of my plan, but this would give me an excuse.

To be fair

like Ben said, they could just be getting here in advance of the announcement next week. But still…the BOB rumors coupled with the appearance of the the media trucks is…disoncerting, to say the least.

See my theory above - televised basketball game at the BJC tonight

They are the WRONG KIND OF TRUCKS.

You people aren't panicking enough for my taste right now.

IM IN A GLASS CASE OF EMOTION!!

Sums things up accurately

I'll believe the announcement is coming when..

blue smoke starts to billow out of the clock tower on Old Main

(like when they announce a new pope)

Wouldn't it be white smoke?

And the Blue smoke is for having not chosen the candidate? I would feel so much better if someone had a picture of O’Brien walking out and the Blue smoke coming out of old main in the background, signaling that we do not have a coach.

I forgot they used different colors. Yes, I like your plan and I hope someone will make such a picture.

I was in Rome for the last white smoke

I was actually in the middle of an exam. In retrospect, I made the right move…getting an A or A- istead of a B would have had little to no effect on my life, but running to the Vatican and being part of that will always be a memory.

Definitely the right decision.

Awesome to have experienced that, even from my non-Catholic perspective.

Im already drunk

DRUNK ON PANIC. AND BOURBON. This is really getting out of hand fast.

You need to melllow out

with some gin.

Professor, without knowing precisely what the danger is, would you say it's time for our viewers to crack each other's heads open and feast on the goo inside?

Uh, yes I would, Kent.

please no, please no, please no

Maybe it’s not o’brien?

I want to believe that.

I really do. Maybe there have been extensive secret meetings with Munchak, who knows? But we’re getting to the point of no return on accepting that it’s O’Brien. Well, maybe not accepting, but acknowledging.

less emphasis on football indeed

Less emphasis on common sense?

The way they fired Paterno was so wrong, so unjustifiable that I told myself I would quit if they didn’t hire someone who could start a healing process and someone who would actually be competent.

Less emphasis on football indeed.

Ugh

I really want to believe this is a smokescreen, but it’s taking off a lot more than the other rumors. I just don’t see why we’d want this guy. He’s more like a Plan D. I’d take Clements, Roman, Cutcliffe, and the like over O’Brien and I can’t imagine that crowd isn’t interested.

kff5006 - January 5, 2012 via Android app reply

I'm running for my Xanax bottle!!!!

Could be worse. It could be raining.

The fact

that the satellite trucks are there, and that Ben says that they’re in the wrong place for the game tonight, and that O’Brien isn’t at Pat’s practice when they have a playoff first rounder coming up is giving me cold sweats. I think I’m going to be sick….

LAPSU - January 5, 2012 reply

I wish they were just in the wrong place for the game.

Because, you know, they’re trucks. But they’re the wrong KIND of trucks for the game. Sweet jesus please no.

phanatic's phloozies - January 5, 2012 reply

Hopefully its simply a few news outlets being extra, extra, extra prepared. Not that you would expect all that much national interest if this is indeed the guy

I'm telling you people

It’s Spurrier! There were two trips to State College in the past two days from Columbia SC, so presumably one had his family on it. And there were no flights to KUNV from Boston, so did they make O’Brien drive into town? This would be the Sekrah home run hire that no one has guessed.

And I have absolutely no more evidence than what I’ve stated above.

/allwishfulthinkingonmypart

I think I might want O'Brien more than Spurrier

Bite your tongue, NR!!!

Not cool, bro..

really? i'm not high on spurrier, but still.....

I don't like Spurrier

I never have. I’ll take my chances on some guy from the Patriots, and that’s saying something.

I can't see any reason why Spurrier would want to leave USCe

SEC school with reasonable year-to-year expectations, and some of the best golfing/country clubs in the nation. I imagine Spurrier loves being down there.

had that hunch yesterday..... i'll take him WAY ahead of BOB

At this point in the game

it’s last call and we’re all on the verge of blacking out. We’d take anyone over BOB

LAPSU - January 5, 2012 reply

+1

That must be my new tag line…

It’s last call and we’re all on the verge of blacking out. We’d take anyone over BOB

Home run, my ass.

Maybe if Penn State football didn’t have any class.

Is Spurrier any different from Urban Meyer?

the last “Home run” guy?

Yes, Spurrier shoots his mouth off. But if I recall, he runs clean programs.

He’s 66, so this would only be a caretaker hire anyway.

You're gone.

I can’t stop you. You’ve gone too far.

I think it's because I'm about ready to throw in the towel on success with honor

I mean, given that Curley, Schultz, Spanier, Surma, Frazier, Erickson, Joyner, and maybe or maybe not McQueary and JoePa depending on your point of view, oh, and also Sandusky have pretty much crapped all over the honor part of things, I think I’m about ready for a refreshing change to winning at all costs and being a witty smart-ass about it.

So why not Spurrier and an “Ohio loves Outbacks” type comment?

Conspiracy time...

What if we intentionally have the BOB meeting and the appearance of these trucks are a mere coy…the REAL HC is revealed tomorrow when these window-licking journalists are expecting BOB.

Think about it, up until this point, this disinformation operation has gone off pretty much to the T and this would be Lubbard’s final act…

Irrational? Bet your ass…but I’d SAVOR a closing act such as this!!

~error~cannot compute

too much credit being given

But it won't work if O'Brien is back here at practice tomorrow.

I never though I’d say this, but please let BOB be back here in foxboro tomorrow for practice.

Sekrah tweeted that he's "very confident" O'Brien isn't the coach about one minute ago

All hail Sekrah!

I may or may not be Sekrah

Any port in a storm.

Let's be reasonable

If these trucks were amassing for a news conference to announce the next HC, don’t you think one of the news organizations would have said something like “Penn State announcing new head coach today at 4:00 PM. Tune here for live coverage!!”

That's where I'm at.

Watch the announcement be at an irrational location just to spite the national media!

and at 2:30 AM on BTN!!!!

Perfect timing.

Just as the bars close in State College. Uh oh.

Seems reasonable.

I’ll allow it.

Maybe

The trucks are here to hire the women’s hockey team’s crucial weekend series with URI.

I hope Joyner announces Tom Bradley

Via satelite from the 9th tee of Pebble Beach. And then they both moon the camera, hit their tee shots, and the feed cuts out.

Or

they hire Rick Neuheisel and have the press conference at his booth in the corner room

Or!

They hire Cael Sanderson! Joyner and Cael do a press conference in front of a pickup trunk on a farm near Bellefonte. In the back of the truck is a gagged and bound Tom Brands. Cael releases Brands and challenges him to a wrestling match. Cael wins. Then Cael says, “I’m already the wrestling coach so I’m going to become a figurehead for Joe Paterno. Also, the offensive line coaches will be replaced by Mike Munchak and the offensive coordinator will be Chris Petersen.” Then Joe Paterno says, “Say hello to my little friend!” and gives the finger to the BoT.

And then I wake up.

Can the wrestling match be basically a WWF match?

With like people getting their heads “slammed” into the bumper of the truck (but you can tell they’re both choreographing the hit) and then using found weapons to hit each other flat on the back?

Which is why I'm hoping

that they just decided they wanted to get to SC early to make sure they’re there when it happens.

Maybe Rick Neuheisel saw Jesus in a coffee stain on his Corner Room menu?

Calm down; O'Brien won't be the coach

It’s well known that Paterno hates the Irish.

oh, wait…….

http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ap-femalecoach-turkeybowl

You guys are all wrong...

This is our next head coach….

And another thing...

If after all this time they’ve decided on Bradley..what a slap in the face that is for him. Of course, he’ll be happy to take the job, but it would be terrible that the BoT went from basically telling him “you’re under consideration, but don’t really have a shot” to “well, we couldn’t find anyone better, so..you’re hired!”

What a rude, classless gesture toward a guy who has given his life to the PSU football program. Keeping him and the staff in limbo is totally wrong.

The right move all along after “the situation” was to let Bradley remain head coach, fire some of the offensive assistants, and let Bradley stay for a while to see what he can do. Then you move on if it didn’t work out maybe 4 years down the road.

And out of BOB, TC, GS, and Roman…don’t tell me Bradley isn’t the better choice! If they settle on one of those guys, I won’t be happy.