If Joe Paterno's Fired, Where Does That Leave Penn State Football?

The worst possible scenario for Penn State is about to come to fruition.

Joe Paterno, head football coach since 1966, is about to step down and leave the program in devastating shape.

No team, not even Miami, is currently in the state that the Nittany Lions are in. The school has to hire a coach that has had no previous connection to the program. With how tightly knit the Nittany Lions community is, the program needs a clean slate.

Is it Urban Meyer? I doubt it, considering that any big opening is his for the taking, and this one is going to age him about 20 years in the next 12 months.

In reality, Penn State is going to hire a mid-major coach (MAC?) that brings little cache to the program. It’s the only realistic scenario for this unprecedented situation.

Then there is recruiting…

How are you going to convince a 17-year-old kid from Ohio to go to a school where there is now such a horrendous stigma?

How in the world is Penn State going to sweep this under the rug and move on? This is potentially the biggest college sports scandal of all time, and you expect to bring in five-star talents that are willing to be thrown into the fire, despite having absolutely nothing to do with it?

It’s not fair to the kid.

If you are being recruited by Penn State, then obviously you have D-1 talent, which means you have options.

Is there that big of a difference between a crippled Nittany Lions team and Pittsburgh? This could also help lesser Big Ten teams such as Indiana and Northwestern to provide kids with the opportunity to play in the conference, without having to be involved in this horrific scandal.

Let the cherry picking begin.

Happy Valley is the last phrase you want to call the middle of Pennsylvania right now.