Joe Paterno Fired: Why Big Name Coaches Must Avoid Nittany Lions

Why would a big-name coach want to succeed Joe Paterno as the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions? What seemed like a tough gig a week ago seems downright impossible right now.

Paterno meant everything to Penn State; it was unknown when exactly he was going to retire. He holds records, everyone knew and respected him—he virtually ran the entire town.

Not only are you going up against over 40 years of history, now you have this scandal, one of the worst in sports history.

In a whirlwind 72 hours, the quiet and virtually unseen mid-Pennsylvania campus has been thrust into a bigger spotlight than anyone on campus could ever have imagined, and boy is it a negative one.

While Paterno has lost his job, and rightfully so, the future is damp at best. Finding a new coach is always difficult, but this search will be one of the hardest in college football history.

Would Urban Meyer want to get back in the coaching realm and restore Penn State? I don’t see it happening, especially with the problems he has had with his health issues in the recent past.

Would any other big-time coach take the responsibilities of this coaching job? Not in the upcoming future. This situation will forever taint the program for its existence.

It’s going to be somebody from within the program or somebody that they are going to take a chance on, but it won’t work. This program will be restored several years down the road when they build up trust and restore their image. This won’t be for some time, however.

Who would want to take this job? It’s going to be in-house for awhile. No big-time coach would want to take the extra duties of not only restoring the program, but restoring the small town that is State College, Pennsylvania as well.