Joe Paterno Fired: Why Penn State Should Hire an Unknown Coach, Not Big Name

It’s hard to think too far ahead amidst the incredibly disgusting allegations currently revolving around former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, but now that Joe Paterno has been fired, Penn State has to find a new coach.

Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley will coach Penn State for the rest of the season, but he’s just keeping the seat warm.

The Nittany Lions don’t need somebody like Urban Meyer, they need a guy who you and I have never heard of.

Penn State needs to completely clean house on the coaching staff, as it’s the only option. The main story that nobody is talking about is the culture that was cultivated in the Penn State hierarchy over the years.

Mike McQueary, the grad assistant who didn’t go to police after witnessing Sandusky in the shower with a boy, did so because he was afraid of messing with the hierarchy. He didn’t want to hurt his superiors. That’s the sort of culture that takes years to develop.

Penn State needs to hit the reset button and completely start the program over. The recruiting fallout is going to be devastating for the next few years, almost like a team starting from scratch.

That’s why you need a young coach who has an incredible amount of ambition and a ton of patience. This is going to take years to fix…possibly decades.

Give an unknown coach, who has absolutely ZERO connections to the college, a shot. Give him the longest leash ever, and let him slowly rebuild a program that has been shattered to pieces. This is a unprecedented situation and a big name coach can’t fix it. It’s going to be a long time before this school is back to being competitive in football.