Penn State Football: Nittany Lions Officially Cutting Ties with Tom Bradley

Following the firing of legendary head coach Joe Paterno this season amid the Jerry Sandusky child sex scandal, the Penn State Nittany Lions named defensive coordinator Tom Bradley the interim head coach, but he won't have a chance to remain at Penn State.

According to the Associated Press, Bradley will not be retained by the Nittany Lions following the hiring of former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien as the new head coach.

What it Means

Bradley was one of the most prominent assistant coaches during the recent years of the Paterno era, as he succeeded Sandusky as defensive coordinator in 2000. Although the Nittany Lions performed well defensively this past season, this is obviously a move to wipe the slate clean following a tumultuous year.

Bradley went just 1-3 in four games as the team's interim head coach, but he acquitted himself well and will most likely be on the radar for a coaching job elsewhere. This leaves Penn State with a big void at defensive coordinator, and it is a continuance of sweeping changes across the coaching staff.

What's Next

O'Brien has already named six coaches to his staff, so it would seem as though he will pursue a replacement defensive coordinator next. The Associated Press report says that former Auburn defensive coordinator Ted Roof has already accepted the job, although that has yet to be confirmed.

Despite the fact that O'Brien retained two members of Paterno's staff, letting Bradley go is basically a signal that the program is trying to leave everything that happened this season in the past. It may take a while to recover, but a completely new regime is a good start.

Bradley has essentially been a Penn State lifer both as a coach and a player, so the adjustment may be difficult to him. It was very obvious how much he loved the university based on his press conference when he was named interim head coach.

Life goes on, however, and there has to be a market for Bradley seeing as the Penn State defense has been among the country's elite for much of his tenure. The writing was already on the wall for Bradley and much of Paterno's staff so it stands to reason that he was ready for this news to come down.