Penn State Interim Coach Tom Bradley: Is He Auditioning for Another Job?

There has been a lot of speculation over the past week about whether the Penn State Nittany Lions will clean house and allow whoever they hire as the full-time head football coach to bring in an entirely new staff. Even if some of the staff is retained, I think it's certainly possible that Tom Bradley will not be promoted from his current interim position to the permanent head coaching job.

The question is, can Tom Bradley use this (somewhat unfortunate) opportunity as a springboard to a different head coaching job? If Penn State does well in their remaining games, it could be an excellent resume builder for Bradley.

Qualifications

Bradley has a long and successful history with Penn State. He played there as a defensive back in the late 1970s, at the height of Joe Paterno's success in State College. He moved on to becoming a graduate assistant with the Nittany Lions, and hasn't left Penn State since. He gradually ascending the assistant coaching ladder, acquiring the defensive coordinator position in 2000.

In his 11 years as head of the defense, Bradley consistently had his units ranked among the best in the nation, and graduated a number of notable players (many of them linebackers) to the NFL, including Dan Connor, Sean Lee, Paul Posluszny and Tamba Hali.

Bradley has had a number of head coaching opportunities crop up in the past few years. He interviewed for jobs with the Connecticut Huskies, Temple Owls and the Pittsburgh Panthers, where he was considered one of the favorites at one point.

Prospects

Bradley has been put in an unbelievably difficult situation, getting his dream job in the worst possible circumstances. He's replaced arguably the biggest name in college football history, at a time when the majority of Penn State fans have shown their disapproval of Paterno's firing. Penn State still has a chance to win the Leaders division and play for the Big Ten championship.

If the Nittany Lions can make the championship game (which will take at least one win in the next two games), it would show significant leadership on Bradley's part. The way they play in their bowl game will also be important.

If Bradley impresses in his short stint, there's no telling what it could do for his prospects. There's no doubt these next few weeks are an audition for Bradley as a full-time head coach somewhere else in college football, since the situation unfortunately likely precludes him from getting the Penn State job.