Kick The Can

by Mike on Apr 10, 2008 10:12 PM EDT in Football

Guido D'Elia is a very smart man. He's built up boring old Penn State football into the "Greatest Show in College Football" with his marketing brilliance. But sometimes I wonder if he really gets it. For three months since the Alamo Bowl Joe's contract status dominated the headlines in Pennsylvania. So I suggested taking charge and changing the subject. Rather than address Joe's status they opted to open up an entire football practice to reporters and cameras for the first time in the history of the program. The result was a week of positive headlines about freshmen running backs and quarterback competitions. Mission Accomplished.

Then Chris Bell decided to go all West Side Story on Devon Still and we're back to saying Joe is too old and wondering if he's lost control of the team. Enter Graham Spanier stage left.

Joe Paterno and his boss agree: The 81-year-old football coach doesn't need a new contract to keep his job at Penn State.

Paterno's current contract is up at the end of the 2008 season, yet that doesn't necessarily mean the end of his record-setting tenure leading the Nittany Lions.

University president Graham Spanier told The Associated Press in an e-mail that both the school and Paterno agree that a contract isn't necessary for the man entering his 43rd season as Penn State coach. The sides agreed to meet, as they have in the past, at the end of the season to discuss the future.

"We are in agreement that a contract would have little practicality given Coach Paterno's seniority. None of us see that as necessary," Spanier wrote in the e-mail Wednesday night in response to a request for an update from the AP.

Asked Thursday to clarify the arrangement, Spanier replied in a follow-up message, "There will not be a new contract. We have an understanding that a contract is not necessary or practical.

"The absence of a contract with a specified number of years does not, however, imply any particular retirement date," he wrote. "We will review the status of the program at the end of the season, as we always do."

And so the big question everyone is asking today is, "Who won?" The answer is everybody and nobody. Spanier wasn't forced to grant Joe a four year contract extension. That's a win for him. He wasn't forced to name a successor from the current staff and he gets to have his national search he wants. Win. But he tried to wrestle the keys to the program away from the old man and was basically told to get off the grass. That's a loss.

Joe walks away with what basically amounts to a contract for life. He has Spanier's proclaimed confidence to continue to run the program as he sees fit. Put one in the Joe column. But Spanier basically holds the cards after the contract runs out in 2009. He can go out and hire someone and hold a press conference declaring him the new head coach and Paterno will have no piece of paper that says otherwise. That's a loss for Joe. And he doesn't get to name his successor.

In the end the Penn State football program as a whole wins and loses. Paterno seemingly has the confidence of the administration with what amounts to a lifetime contract. He can honestly look a recruit in the eye and say he might be around one year or he might be around in five years. But whether Joe decides to hang it up or Spanier decides it's time for a change, there is no plan in place for the day after and that is going to make recruiting difficult. This announcement effectively does nothing but kick the can down the road.

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Agree and disagree

I agree with the larger points that this essentially just kicks the can down the road, and that this will probably hurt recruiting a little. But on some of your other points, I disagree, or at least have questions.

Your write that Spanier "gets to have the national search he wants." How do you (or anyone else) know that he wants a national search? To me, it seems somewhat contrary to what Penn State football is (and really what PSU athletics at-large are) not to promote someone from within--why do so many people assume that Spanier wants to hire from outside the program?

Also, I disagree that "Spanier basically holds the cards after the contract runs out in 2009." Joe can stay if he wants; he has the media's ear and the devotion of hundreds of thousands of alumni and staff. It makes no sense for Spanier to push him out if Joe doesn't want to leave.

My read on all of this is that Joe doesn't know how much longer he wants to coach, so he's not going to sign a long-term contract. If the Nittany Lions do really well this year, he'll probably retire. If he still feels like coaching, he'll sign a one or two-year contract after the season.

by spakajewia on Apr 11, 2008 10:46 AM EDT 0 recs

National Search

We say this because if they were going to do name a succession plan, they would have done it a la FSU, Purdue, etc. in order to let things flow smoothly. The recruits would know, with confidence, whether Joe or Bradley will be the head coach when they graduate and it's not just warm air that the coaching staff tells them.

by Screen Name 20 on Apr 11, 2008 11:34 AM EDT up 0 recs

National Search

Curley was interviewed last year and he was asked about the future after Joe retires. He publicly stated he and Spanier would conduct a national search to find a replacement.

This is not at all unprecedented. When Rene Portland quit they looked outside of the program in bringing in Washington and looked over the long time assistant coach on the staff (her name escapes me at the moment). Ed DeChellis has PSU ties, but he was not hired from within the program. So I believe Spanier and Curley when they say they will conduct a national search. I'm sure Tom Bradley will be interviewed. Vanderlinden and Johnson may get a look too and nothing says the next coach may already be on the staff. I just think Spanier and Curley don't want to limit their options. They want to hire another coach who will be around for 20 years. They aren't going to just hand it off to the guy who has been around the longest.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

Hail to the Lion!

by Mike on Apr 11, 2008 11:52 AM EDT up 0 recs

Fair enough

This makes sense to me, that is, Curley and Spanier don't want to limit their options. I find this idea much more plausible than conspiracy theories, i.e. the job's already Schiano's.

by spakajewia on Apr 11, 2008 12:02 PM EDT up 0 recs

Maybe not a done deal with Schiano

But I think they made him aware that [1] that the jod is not definately going to an assistant coach; and [2] he's definately got more than a sporting chance at getting the job.

Otherwise, I have to think he's the coach at Michigan.

For the Glory National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994,

by jesse. on Apr 11, 2008 12:19 PM EDT up 0 recs

Schiano

The rumor goes that somebody called Schiano last fall to ask him if he would be interested in the PSU job when Joe retires. Schiano told them "don't call me until you have Joe's resignation letter in hand" and hung up the phone.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

Hail to the Lion!

by Mike on Apr 11, 2008 1:06 PM EDT up 0 recs

Joebegone

I think it's time for the Athletic Department to carefully leak that Joe will be done after this season. This, of course, only holds if it is actually true. We are hemorrhaging recruits in Pennsylvania and will continue to do so until he's out.

Joe would never acknowledge that the university will not permit him to coach next season -- he's far too selfish and delusional for that -- but if it is commonly known the current coaching staff is on its last lifeline, we may be able to put the program back together sooner rather than later.

by happyvalleytom on Apr 11, 2008 10:49 AM EDT 0 recs

Schiano

I still think they made a secret deal with Schiano so he wouldn't take the Michigan job. If it leaks that Paterno is done at the end of the season, then Greg gets a whole year of "are you interested in the Penn State job?". He'll have to say no a thousand times, and then he'll like like Rodriguez when it happens. It will make everybody involved look like shit. Nobody wants that.

So, shhhhhhh, it's a secret.

For the Glory National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994,

by jesse. on Apr 11, 2008 10:54 AM EDT 0 recs

Whether its Schiano or Bradley

i agree with Jesse...I truly think there is a deal in place in the background. I am not convinced that the person is Schiano, but I am convinced that it is either Schiano or Bradley.

When 2009 rolls around, I think Schiano or Bradley will be the PSU Head Coach.

However, this decision of the "lifetime contract" will hurt recruiting due to all the uncertainty within the program.

2008 is critical for two reasons...

We have a legit chance to be a national power this year and have our hands in a national championship for the first time since 2005.
We need to have a superb recruiting class.

Pat Devlin in '08

by Nick7 on Apr 11, 2008 11:30 AM EDT up 0 recs

If it's Bradley

why not just say so? For all the reasons you just said.

For the Glory National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994,

by jesse. on Apr 11, 2008 11:39 AM EDT up 0 recs

Bradley

I don't know about Schiano, but there isn't a deal with Bradley. If there was, why wouldn't they have let Pryor in on it? By everything Pryor has said, he was never given an indication that Bradley was going to be the successor. It would've meant a lot in recruiting the kid had he known.

Luring recruits with my new "Posting HD" scheme since '08.

by 06Lion on Apr 11, 2008 12:00 PM EDT up 0 recs

It makes you wonder...

what Joe and GS talked about when GS called him in regards to his thoughts on the UM job.

by Screen Name 20 on Apr 11, 2008 11:46 AM EDT up 0 recs

National Search...

A truly national search needs to be conducted. All due respect to Bradley and Schiano, but we can't assume those two are the best candidates. That's replacing a living legend with a) a guy who's never been the head coach and had everything that goes with it or b) a guy who's only been head coach at Rutgers. If they do hire Bradley or Schiano, they need to make absolutely sure that's the best they can do.

Now, let me take you through some things a recruit will be looking at. They have no successor for Joe. They have no plan for his retirement. They have no idea what will happen next year, let alone five years from now. Will Galen stay after 2008? When Galen leaves, does that make Jay in full charge of the offense after 2008? Did they realize that Jay had no quality experience as a coach before they hired him to coach quarterbacks? Can they ever develop a big-time quarterback instead of throwing them into a system and hoping it will work? Do they still have two offensive line coaches and no full-time special teams coach? Do they still have a quarterback teaching wide receiver fundamentals? Do they instill discipline in their players, or are their players roaming the campus with 8-inch knives, tossing around couches looking for their iPhone, jumping off the top rope, and getting into drunken brawls at the Nittany Apartments? Do they favor blind loyalty instead of actually making each individual player earn his starting spot? Are recruits from the local area (Altoona, State College, Harrisburg) or the state (Jeanette, Philadelphia, Aliquippa) going there, or are they going out of state? Why does PSU lose so many high-profile recruiting battles where they've won over the parents but can't win over the player (Terrelle Pryor, Broderick Green, Vidal Hazelton, etc)?

When faced with all that, if you're a five-star recruit and not biased toward any program, would you want to come to Penn State?

WE ARE...

by dmoney350z on Apr 11, 2008 3:26 PM EDT up 0 recs

Let's not forget

That's replacing a living legend with a) a guy who's never been the head coach and had everything that goes with it or b) a guy who's only been head coach at Rutgers.

Our current head coach, or the "legend" as you call him, had no head coaching experience when he was hired. That turned out ok.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

Hail to the Lion!

by Mike on Apr 11, 2008 3:32 PM EDT up 0 recs

Point taken...

But that was also in 1966, in a completely different situation.

WE ARE...

by dmoney350z on Apr 12, 2008 7:45 PM EDT up 0 recs

I know I sound like a broken record,

but the uncertainty is the killer here. Personally, I would much rather deal with something bad than not knowing what I'm dealing with at all. How many recruits this year are even going to want to come up here and look at us when we have no idea in fucking hell what's going to happen beyond 2008? Spanier's got his hands full here. If he sits on this and dawdles and this football team collapses, it's going to kill the entire atheletic department. Let's face it, since joining the Big Ten, we have more total league championships encompassing all sports than any other school. But what funds it? The football program. And with gasoline approaching $18/gallon, how many people are going to continue to donate money to the NLC and pay for tickets (the price of which are increasing every year) to watch a team go 7-5 or worse year in and year out.
Is Spanier a mad genius who is so confident in what he's doing that in five years we'll want a statue of him across the street from JoePa's statue, or is he an arrogant know nothing that's going to have us storming Old Main with torches and pitch forks? Spanier had better know what in the hell he's doing, because if he fucks this up, he'll be gone right behind Joe. Remember, our beloved university's growth can be tied in to the success of the football team. Joe's genius was using the attention lavished on the football program to spur growth across the university as a whole. That's what makes Joe special, a treasure, a true legend, and one of a kind. That's why, in my opinion, he is the single most important individual in the history of our university.

by Ab4PSU on Apr 12, 2008 3:21 PM EDT 0 recs

What gets me about this debate...

Is the assumption that Paterno is being selfish. The truth is that Paterno has been putting Penn State first for more than forty years. If you can't trust JoePa, you can't trust anybody. He's doing what he thinks is best for Penn State, and he hasn't steared us wrong yet.

I know, I know, academic problems, discipline problems, recruiting problems...I got it. Things are not perfect. But when in doubt, I roll with Joe Paterno.

For the Glory National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994,

by jesse. on Apr 12, 2008 9:14 PM EDT 0 recs

You're right.

They wanted him out after '04, and JoePa said they were fine. What happened in '05? Two phantom seconds from being undefeated.

by Ab4PSU on Apr 13, 2008 12:40 PM EDT 0 recs

The most important thing...

JoePa's tie, with the whales. It matches the whale pants from the early 80's. If you think it's a coincidence, your crazy. That guy is great.

For the Glory National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994,

by jesse. on Apr 13, 2008 6:04 PM EDT 0 recs

I truly believe

that JoePa wants nothing to do with a farewell season and the media circus that would go with it. My guess is he'll announce a retirement in the offseason, whichever offseason it happens to be.

by Joe 96alum on Apr 13, 2008 7:39 PM EDT 0 recs

The more I read about Spanier

the more I really dislike the guy. You don't "show Joe the door". Joe decides when it is time. The man should have a contract for life (Joe of course). With everything he's done for this university it is silly to crazy that they haven't offered him a long term extension.

by Umberto on Apr 15, 2008 2:03 AM EDT 0 recs