[NU Sports] Fitz and Penn State

[Mike Nolan]

> Bradley surely will be considered, and I, too, thought they would stay in 
> house.  But now there are rumblings that Penn State thinks the football 
> program has stagnated and needs a jolt to lift them into Ohio State-like 
> consistency.  

I wonder who 'they' are?  The rumor a year or two ago was that Graham
Spanier wanted to 'retire' Joe Paterno, supposedly because Paterno has 
more influence at Penn State than he does.  BTW, I heard he thought the 
same thing about Tom Osborne at Nebraska before Spanier left to take the
Penn State presidency in 1995, but Osborne was in the middle of his
best (and as it turned out final) five year span, and was untouchable
at that time.  JoePa is not untouchable, probably.  

And, as that rumor goes, any suggestions that Paterno may have made 
regarding his successor would fall on ears that are worse than deaf.  
To me that suggests an outside candidate, though possibly one with
ties to Pen State as a bone to the fans.  

Personally, I'd like to see Joe stick around long enough to be the
coach on the sideline in Lincoln at least once more, but Penn State's
first visit to Nebraska isn't until 2012, and I don't know if Joe
will be able to hang in that long if Spanier wants him out.
--
Mike Nolan