Joe Paterno Donating Money, Mike McQueary Staying: Bill O'Brien Set Up to Fail

The Penn State drama just won't seem to go away. First it was the alleged sex scandal, then Joe Paterno getting fired, then Bill O'Brien getting hired, and now everybody's upset and more stuff is coming out.

It's now being reported that Joe Paterno and his wife Sure, donated up to $100,000 to the University of Penn State just weeks after he was fired. Also, that wide receivers coach Mike McQueary was going to stay on the staff before the scandal had broke.

Knowing all of this just adds to the fact that new head coach O'Brien is being set up to fail.

Then you add that former Penn State players refuse to support the program or the new head coach because he doesn't have any ties to the university. You would have thought that getting a new head coach would have been the first step in the right direction.

Guess not.

It's also hard to replace a legendary head coach like Joe Paterno, as we've seen how this movie ends before.

Lou Holtz retired from Notre Dame, and the Irish are still stuck looking for a good head coach since 1996. It took Oklahoma forever to find a good replacement for Barry Switzer. It appears Michigan found the right guy in Brady Hoke but it took a while to replace Lloyd Carr. 

Everybody is just truly upset because the current hire is not Joe Paterno. That's really what it all comes down to. When a coach has been with a program forever and wins a ton of games, you fall in love with him and think it will never end. When it does, the next guy will never be good enough—no matter what he does.

With everything going on at Penn State, it's hard to believe that O'Brien will survive long at this program. It's not about whether he's a good coach or not, it's that he may not get the chance to prove himself.

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers College Football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]