Penn State Football: What Will the Theme for 2012 Be?

With a new coach and coaching staff in place and the entire university looking to start fresh, in a sense, in 2012, it should be relatively easy to come up with a theme or motto for the football season at Penn State. The problem is finding one that is not already played out or unoriginal.

So scratch the following suggestions right now.

"A New Chapter Begins."

"The Dawn of a New Era."

These are just too obvious, and stale.

The 2011 season for Penn State was off to a fine start before the world came crashing down off the field, hurling distraction after distraction toward the football team, whether it was fair to them or not.

Joe Paterno was fired, then succumbed to illness. In between, the school took an incredibly long time to find a head coach to take over on a permanent basis, a process which was highly criticized—perhaps fairly—by many. Penn State, it seemed, could do nothing right.

"Moving On" might sound decent, if not for the negative overtones that would surely accompany it from national pundits, who might suggest that the phrase is in poor taste and suggests the entire school is forgetting the past.

Of course this would not be the case, but it would sure be an easy article the media to throw together, rehashing a number of the tired arguments that have been thrown out there in recent months.

In fact, perhaps there should be no public motto or theme to the season, at least at first. Sometimes the calling car takes a few games to come together, such as in 2005 when Michael Robinson and a trio of freshman wide receivers took Penn State to a Big Ten championship.

"They Were Wrong" became the message during that season, answering critics who had written off Penn State as a relevant football power after years of mediocrity and ineptitude.

Will it take time to figure out the message on 2012? Perhaps. There are so many questions about the team with the coaching changes, and the bonds still have to be made between players and coaches.

Spring practices and summer camps will begin that process, but it will not be until Penn State takes the field in the fall before anyone really gets a feel for what this team will have to show.

What do you think the theme for the 2012 season should be?

Kevin McGuire is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook and add him to your Google+ circle.