The Nittany Turkey

Primarily about Penn State football, this is a tale told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

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Leaderlessness

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I’m just catching up with Penn State football news after having been out of commission for a while, so please bear with me if my ruminations reflect the obvious, which is that the Nittany Lions are clearly in need of leadership both on and off the field, and as more time passes before a new head of the football program is selected, the worse things will get. Last week Dave Joyner promised results from his search committee within thirty days, pushing it out until the conclusion of the bowl season. ????? ???? ??????

The present lack of leadership has fostered undisciplined behavior among the team. ????? ??????? ?????? For example, recently, a locker room scuffle  between Curtis Drake and Matt McGloin following a dust-up (“dey had words”) at practice probably would not have happened were it not for the vacancy at the top. Players now seem to feel as if they can do what they please. If our deposed legend had been in charge, those two might have thought before they acted. Lesser transgressions caused bowl suspensions in the Joseph V. Paterno Era. No one is handing out suspensions at the moment.

So, Drake beat the shit out of McGloin, causing the Irish kid a concussion and a seizure. No doubt there were enough flies on the wall at practice and in the locker room that we’ll know eventually what the words between them were. McGloin is well known for his cocky attitude and perhaps Drake had just a little too much of it. However, no matter what the genesis of this unseemly event, this kind of crap stems from the waywardness of the program.

 “Penn State doesn’t appear to know if it wants to try to remain a national power or de-emphasize football. Good luck trying to do both.” —Ron Cook, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Nittany Lions need a new head coach — and fast!

We’ve already lost three top recruits. The most recent of these is Tommy Schutt, a twenty-seven star (you know how I feel about those star ratings) defensive lineman from Illinois who de-committed from Penn State in favor of the Urban Renewal team in a neighboring state. “With everything that happened at Penn State, I really felt like I needed to look at my situation,” Schutt told the Daily Herald of Chicago, “I’ve always liked Ohio State and just felt comfortable there on my visit.”

Bob Flounders of the Patriot-News thinks that this is just the beginning. Why would anyone want to play for a leaderless program carrying the heavy baggage the Nittany Lions do? They have no idea what the coaching style will be, no clue whether anarchy will continue to rend the players asunder, and not the foggiest notion of whether Penn State football will go the way of Indiana University — except that Penn State doesn’t even have a basketball team that can redeem it. To be a football power once again? To be an academic power with football de-emphasized? Or for that ultimate pie in the sky, the “Grand Experiment” continuation with a candidate with strong credentials in both areas. Does such a person even exist?

Dave Joyner and his search committee seem to be dragging their feet. What are they waiting for? As Neil Rudel of the Altoona Mirror suggests, perhaps the leading candidates are in the NFL, such as Mike Munchak (who just took over the helm at the Tennessee Titans this year) or Jim Caldwell (who desperately needs to be rescued from Manninglessness but probably wouldn’t be considered by anybody for anything owing to his abysmal 0-13 record with the Colts this year — this just in: they beat Munchak’s Titans today). Many high profile college coaches have already moved to their new destinations.  Who is left? Would Pat Fitzgerald or Al Golden seriously consider heading up the PSU program? I suppose we’ll find out sooner or later, but the later it gets, the more speculation it will cause among the fans and, of course, the media; the more uncertainty it will cause among recruits; and the more frustration it will cause for existing team members.

Hey, ya gotta feel for those guys. It wasn’t their fault that Jerry Sandusky did what he did — whatever that was, in view of McQueary’s 19 versions of his story — and it wasn’t their fault that the Paterno/Spanier cover-up took place. Their 9-3 season was rewarded by a trip to the TicketCity.com booby prize bowl instead of a Florida game, which pissed them off. They look toward the future not knowing which end of the team is up or who will be playing on it. So, why not take their frustrations out on each other, smashing someone’s head into a locker or breaking some “minor” laws?

To add insult to injury, I hear that Rob Bolden has some “minor legal problems”. Who is going to quarterback the Lions in the TicketCity.com bowl, Shane McGregor? Hey, TicketCity.com, how about that for TV ratings? Being on ESPNU is bad enough without having the few people who found that cable channel being driven away by a third-stringer.

Does Joyner’s committee comprehend what kind of a person it is searching for? A competent football guy? A scholar with pristine academic standards and scruples? A disciplinarian? All three wrapped up in one neat package? Penn State is ideally seeking to replace a legend with another legend, and that just isn’t possible. Fuhgeddaboudit! Ron Cook of the Post-Gazette says, “Penn State doesn’t appear to know if it wants to try to remain a national power or de-emphasize football. Good luck trying to do both.”

In The Republic, Plato employed the leaderless ship metaphor to describe the political state of Athens at the time. Those who were qualified and capable, the philosophers, eschewed leadership roles, while those driven by power hungry incompetence took over the helm.  After a half century of Paterno, how will this ship of State handle a new captain? Joyner and Company must hire a very strong, competent leader very, very soon in order to avert an inmate takeover of the asylum, with negative implications for the future. ???? ??????

Are you feeling confident in Joyner’s search committee? Are you optimistic about Penn State’s football future? Or, on the contrary, do you fear that much like the early 2000’s, the program is facing another set of “Dark Years”, this one more protracted? Please share your thoughts.

The Winter of Their Discontent?

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Having stealthily invaded some of the premium Penn State message boards, this mouse sniffed around and found some very interesting information centered around dissent in the coaching ranks.

The Turkey himself would not post this because of the unsubstantiated nature of the information; however, this mouse, who is normally a political commentator, can smell a rat when there is one.

“The dissention amongst the staff is at an all-time high. When Joe is not there, it’s a contest to see who can act like they are in charge.” —Anonymous Poster

What I will post below was originally unearthed on Sunday, and since then has created much stir on the board, which I will not identify. Some of the responses, purportedly from people close to the program, including former players, have corroborated what you will read. Others have scoffed at parts of it. As people who post on the particular message board on which I found this do so anonymously, I have no way of knowing whether any are credible.

With all those disclaimers having been stated, I shall shall share the post with you. Anything that would serve to identify either the poster or his/her informant will be elided. Otherwise, it is verbatim from the source.

The last two home games we’ve been lucky enough to tailgate with a member of the coaching staffs family before the games. We asked one of the coaches wives what was going on with the program and the staff and the answers were disturbing to say the least. She said………

1. Joe is not at practice more than an hour a day. He also rarely if ever attends any of the coaching or game prep meetings. She said people don’t know how sick he was in the offseason implying that he went through a serious medical issue that has not been publicly reported. He has absolutely zero input into the gameplanning, and doesn’t even know what it is until Friday night. ???? ?????

2. The dissention amongst the staff is at an all-time high. When Joe is not there, it’s a contest to see who can act like they are in charge. There have been verbal arguments in front of the team in the middle of practice sessions between assistant coaches yelling at each other that they are in charge and are going to do what they want at that point of practice.

3. Multiple coaches on the staff have been reaching out to gauge interest from other programs as they are worried about their future in the program. One “high profile” coach on the staff actually reached out to the head coach of another PA school over the summer saying he was worried about his future at PSU and laying the groundwork for a possible move in the future.

4. There is a process in place amongst the staff to determine if a high school prospect should get an offer. Some of the coaches will vote against offering or recruiting certain kids just to spite the coaches who want them offered or are their primary recruiters. Whether this is actually going on or not I do not know, but at least one coach on the staff feels that way. For this reason, the coaches who actually do recruit have basically thrown their hands in the air and almost stopped recruiting all together.

5. “If Tom Bradley is the next head coach, the real coaches will leave in about 30 seconds.”

After hearing this stuff, I really feel bad for the kids on the team. This staff and Joe in paticular should be completely ashamed and embarrassed at their behavior. The sad part is I don’t think Joe even has a clue what’s going on because he’s never around. ????? ?????

I don’t know if we’re going to win a game the rest of the year. The team has quit, the coaches have quit and morale is at an all-time low.

This mouse believes that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Some of the above could be bunk, but based on what we casual observers have seen happening with our beloved football team this year, some of this is quite possibly accurate.

Of course, there’s the possibility that either the poster of this message or the coach’s wife had an agenda and wanted to spread some rumors. This mouse decided to take a chance on that not being the case. If this turns out to be completely unfounded, I will apologize to you all for the false alarm.

I have no malicious intent in re-posting this. I believe that our football program—and Joe Paterno—deserve better than to suffer through a period of entropy. It is my hope that any such dissent can be dealt with before it becomes a mutiny.

Many people feel that this is Joe Paterno’s last year. It would be a shame if he were to go out with this kind of turmoil as his legacy. However, if the program is falling apart, as it seems to be from the casual observer’s viewpoint, Joe should resign, the administration should hire a new head coach from outside the program, and that new coach should clean house. ???? ?????? ????? That is my opinion, not the message board poster’s.

In any case, I wanted to share this with you. Comments are welcome, as always.

Eating Crow and Other Birds

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This Turkey’s so-called infallible season forecast was so putridly protounprescient that I might as well have predicted a (still somewhat mythical) national championship.

Reader Parkeyboy was the first to react to my flawed prognostication. He was right on the money when he said, “You usually have a bleaker outlook which I find somewhat comforting. This year’s forecast has me feeling a little uneasy. No offense… How long will it be before we beat Michigan? Who knows? But you’re right, I do not see it happening this year.” I had predicted that the Nittany Lions would win games with all but two regular season opponents: Michigan and Wisconsin. Hey, at least I was correct about Michigan! So, let me apologize to Parkeyboy for screwing up the season.

Another big booboo was my preaching gloom and doom about the offensive line. I opined, “Even to become a mediocre Big Ten line, they’ll have to play together for a third of a season to understand what real game pressure and speed is all about.” They did better than that, obviously. I had stated that A.Q. Shipley was “barely adequate” at center. He turned out to be not only an excellent center, but also an inspirational leader for the unit—perhaps the only true leader on this team.

I could not have foreseen the demise of Austin Scott as a player or the effectiveness with which Rodney Kinlaw and Evan Royster stepped in to salvage a running game (with the help of the unexpectedly good offensive line). Had this duo not replaced Scott, the season would have turned out worse than it did, although how much worse is debatable, in light of some of the coaching decisions that left us bemused, bothered, and bewildered throughout the season.

Holy crap, I don’t want to harp on the coaching, which is an issue that I managed to avoid in my season prediction. As such, it is not germane to this self-critique. However, this being my blog, I’ll digress when I feel like it—and I sure as hell feel like it. How can I fathom the weird coaching about which the curmudgeonly Joseph V. Paterno continually deflects press questioning with a hand wave and an irascible, “You guys don’t know what you’re talking about!” at every press conference? How much longer can we tolerate the “none of your business” attitude expressed by Paterno, who has repeatedly issued crapolalia about leaving running the football team to him? Some coaching low-points of this season—nah, I’m not going to list them. You all know what they are. Paterno is not accountable to anyone other than God Almighty, whom he sometimes addresses in the first person.

My pre-season sentiment was that this group of Nittany Lions had the talent to go 10-2, and I still feel that way despite the underperforming proof in the pudding of a 8-4 actual record. How the talent was used was a problem but so was the motivation or lack of same evident throughout the season. I’ll stick to my guns about something that I’ve said regularly: this team lacks an inspirational leader. The tri-captaincy of Connor, Golden, and Morelli failed miserably. How could you call it leadership when Morelli taunted fans in an opponent’s stadium during a losing effort? Did it smack of leadership when Golden took that taunting a step farther with crotch-grabbing gestures? Aside from losing their captain status, their asses should have sat for several games for that infantile behavior. Nothing happened. It was business as usual. If these guys were supposed to be leaders, they should have carried the team’s weight on their shoulders, and that means not shielding Morelli from the press after losses, for one thing. This all smacks of, “You can be captain, son. Dad is the coach.” In any case, without leaders the team came out flat week after week, starting slowly and finishing weakly. They played down to the level of inferior competition and failed to rise to the level of better foes.

The big, winning Wisconsin game could have heralded a turn back to team health, but it didn’t. It turned out to be a big tease, a momentarily positive anomaly in the midst of a negative year.

Who would have foreseen a defensive collapse this year? This Turkey sure as hell didn’t. Yet the Penn State defense, long a reliable cornerstone, was weak in 2007. I didn’t think that could happen and neither did anyone else. Although I had some queasiness about the defensive line, I hopped on the bandwagon with respect to linebackers and secondary. I was pretty much 180 degrees out of phase with reality about the secondary, which proved to be no great shakes. Scirrotto disappeared for much of the season and Justin King did not perform anywhere near close to his vaunted potential. To compound their problems (or perhaps in recognition of them), the coaching staff saw fit to play them so far off receivers that the McCabe Sisters lined up in trips bunch with Alan Greenspan at quarterback could have burned them for 500 yards a game. This legacy of the 80s defenses of Jerry Sandusky must go. It does not work with the big, fast receivers of the modern era in college football. Hell, Buffalo and Indiana torched this pass defense. What further evidence does anyone need?

I need to reread this before I issue any more projections. Penn State’s football woes will not miraculously disappear no matter what I predict. It might be a long while before the Lions are competitive again in the upper echelon of college football. Assuming that they still can recruit talent—and that’s a big if—the coaching issues must be resolved eventually. That’s not an overnight fix. (I marvel at the commentary out there that suggests that if Penn State brings in a big name coach to replace Paterno, whenever that time comes, everything will be OK instantly.) Hell, Notre Dame must have thought that when they replaced Tyrone Willingham with Charlie Weis; just observe what that did for the Fighting Irish. Some programs go through several iterations of coaching staff replacements after the departure of long-time coaches before they get it right. Alabama in the post-Bear period is an example of how screwed up things can get. Doesn’t look like they’re ever going to get it right. But we’re Penn State, you say—it can’t happen here. Oh yes it can, homies! The same folks who will be choosing and hiring the new coach whenever that happens are the folks who have accepted the current situation for years.

I am optimistic about next year’s offensive line. Beyond that, I’ll reserve judgment for now.