Joe Paterno Fired: Why Recruits Will Never Have Faith in Penn State

Joe Paterno's head coaching career is over in less-than-ideal fashion. After years of retirement rumors, it was, ultimately, the worst scandal that many of us will ever see that brought him down.

The Penn State Board of Trustees made the decision late Wednesday night, and now the entire program is in a state of complete chaos. Obviously, all of our thoughts and hearts are with the alleged victims in this case. 

But just trying to look forward, you have to wonder what is going to become of Penn State's football program and future recruits who were thinking about attending the university. 

Noah Spence, a high-profile recruit, tweeted that he might not want to play for the Nittany Lions in light of everything going on. 

Spence did apologize for the tweet, and, according to his father, Greg Spence, is still considering attending Penn State.

"We still have a great deal of respect for Penn State, a great deal of respect for Joe Paterno and [defensive line coach] Larry Johnson and a great deal of respect for Coach [Tom] Bradley [the Lions' defensive coordinator],'' Greg Spence said.

"The allegations are horrendous and I was very upset to read any allegations like that, that had Penn State's name tie to it, but we just have to sit back and let things play out.''

(Note: Greg Spence made the statement on Monday and Paterno was fired on Wednesday.)

You have to believe that a lot of players feel the way Noah Spence did upon hearing about this scandal, and it is going to be extremely difficult for the university to get the same caliber of recruits it is accustomed to. 

Things might be different if Sandusky had been exiled from the Penn State family and the proper authorities were notified as soon as the allegations were said to have taken place. But they weren't, and now the university is in too deep and no one should ever trust the Penn State "powers that be" again. 

The current coaching staff should be gutted, and that is starting to happen now, but the name Penn State is still there, and that is all recruits will think about when they are being talked to by whoever takes the head coaching job.