Penn State Scandal: 5 Coaches Who'd Never Really Take the Job

Legendary coach Joe Paterno was fired on Wednesday in the midst of a heinous child sex abuse scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

Rumors are already swirling as to who will replace him, but after this incident, who would realistically want to take the job? Not many people.

Here are five names who won’t take the Penn State opportunity, if it got offered.

Bill Cowher

Cowher’s NFL success looks pretty similar to Penn State’s during its heyday, and the coach grew up in Pennsylvania and coached the Steelers to a Super Bowl.

But he is also a well-regarded NFL analyst, and that job pays well with a lot less stress. Cowher’s family is also safely situated in Raleigh, North Carolina right now, so why would he want to leave that?

If he really wanted to coach, he could get just about any NFL job on the table right now, so a college football opening would not be nearly as exciting.

Jon Gruden

Gruden comes up whenever there is a big coaching vacancy, and his name is floating around again.

That said, Monday Night Football is one of the biggest grossing series in all of sports. He’s shown no real interest in a head coaching job and, like Cowher, would probably take an NFL job over anything in college.

Chris Petersen

Call me crazy, but I think Petersen will be at Boise State for a very long time. He’s had great success there, and there have been plenty of opportunities to move up the ladder.

Knowing that, taking the Penn State job right now would be a step down. And if he’s going to go anywhere, he’s going to stay on the West Coast.

Pat Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald has come up in this conversation, but he is perfectly fine with his coaching job at alma mater Northwestern.

Anytime a coach is at his alma mater, another job is a tough sell. Penn State will undoubtedly have little extra money to throw at a new coach, and that’s realistically the only way he will go.

Urban Meyer

Another guy who comes up whenever a big job opens up, but he’s more realistic because of his ties to the college game.

However, Meyer got a solid ESPN job announcing, and it’s no secret that his top three schools are Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame.

Why would he choose a Penn State program that’s in shambles when any of the other jobs could open up in the near future?