Penn State: Who is Really Running the Nittany Lions These Days?

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer)

There are some who say the Joe Paterno has become just a figure head at Penn State, that the real coaching and decision making are done by the assistants and coordinators. Much of this was said about Bobby Bowden in his final years as well.

The media speculates on Joe Paterno's day-to-day activities and how he interfaces with the team. Some are questioning if he's really running the program these days or has he turned that over to the assistants.

Penn State does have some fine assistants there who doing a wonderful job.

Galen Hall is a former head coach himself. Most Alabama fans remember him as the head of Florida Gators program from 1984 to 1989. He won Coach of the Year honors there.

He was a running backs coach in Dallas during the Emmit Smith years and took over as head coach of the Rhein Fire in NFL Europe from 1995 to 2000. In that time they went to three World Bowl berths, including NFL Europe titles in 1998 and 2000. There he earned three Coach of the Year awards from the NFL Europe League.

This is his eighth year in charge of the Nittany Lions offense and he has done well overall. Make no mistake about it, Hall designs the offensive strategies for each game and the offense is his.

On the defensive side of the ball, Tom Bradley has been around forever—well, for 12 years, and everywhere except for Penn State, that is forever in the coaching business.

Bradley has guided several nationally leading defensive units and coached many athletes into the NFL. He is a tireless recruiter and his boys would walk through fire for him. Make no mistake about it, Bradley comes up with each defensive scheme for each game and he has control over the defense.

Other coaches work under these men and each works tirelessly with the men under their direction. The consistency of the main coaches means that Penn State's coaching program is a well oiled machine. Dick Anderson, Kermit Buggs, Larry Johnson, Bill Kenney, Mike McQueary, Jay Paterno and Ron Vanderlinden are good coaches and they are working hard and getting results.

But the reason the coaching machine runs well is because that's how Paterno built it, runs it and tweaks it. Make no mistake about it, Paterno is in charge.

He doesn't coach from a tower or a golf cart, he roams the field and rarely misses anything. He is constantly amazing the players during the practice that Paterno will yell at them from two field away for a hold or push in the back.

Lots of players have stories of being yelled at and be left wondering how he saw that mistake from that far away.

And then there's the heavy-handed Joe. There's an old saying that he sometimes sees that players need a kick in the pants, Paterno has been spotted more than a few times, quite literally kicking a player in the pants. He's involved.

Take this instance for example from an  ESPN article a few years ago. "I've never snapped before in my life," says Lucian, who this spring (not this year) moved from guard to center. "I'm having a lot of trouble with the shotgun snap. [Quarterback] Paul Cianciolo, another fifth-year guy, is working his butt off. It doesn't help him out when I have a bad snap. So Joe came over and gave me a kick in the rear."

Paterno gives fifth-year offensive lineman Mike Lucian a kick in the pants. That's usually a metaphor. Not at this practice. Paterno kicks Lucian in the seat of his pants.

He comes to coaches meetings with legal pads full of notes and observations, suggestions and criticisms from watching video at home or from just waking up at 2:00 am with a great idea.

Paterno likes the old "Bear" Bryant quote: "I don't hire anybody not brighter than I am. If they're not smarter tan me, I don't need them." And that's the way he's assembled his staff.

There is not question with the players or the assistant coaches who is in charge of the program at Penn State. That is only in the realm of the media.

Make no mistake about it, Joe Paterno is in charge, it's his hand on the wheel and it will be until he finally decides to call it quits.