Urban Meyer Ohio State: Why Coveted Coach Must Choose Buckeyes over Penn State

In the wake of Urban Meyer's denials that he's in conversations with Ohio State for the vacant head coaching position, Penn State fans immediately begin to speculate about the two-time national champion coach and whether he might be a good fit for Nittany Lions. 

To be fair, there's one thing that they can offer that OSU can't—the possibility that sanctions won't be on the program he inherits. On the other hand, that's about the only thing they have to offer. 

First and foremost, recruiting is the basis for success in college football. Yes, coaching is important, and game plans and systems matter. The bottom line, though, is that you can't be better than your players. You can only be as good as them. 

Ohio State has their issues—yes, a few kids got tattoos. There's going to be some mild sanctions as a result of that. 

Penn State has a different set of issues. Turning a blind eye to cheating is something the American public can understand. Most believe that virtually everyone in college football is doing the same, and a lot are probably doing a lot worse. 

If anything, there's a sort of weirdness to the way the NCAA doles out punishments and to whom. Cam Newton's dad tries to make hundreds of thousands of dollars off his son, and that's OK. Having teammates crash on their couch, though, costs Boise State. 

The bottom line is that in that kind of recruiting, there's something a coach can work around. 

Pedophilia is another matter. Turning a blind eye to that is morally disturbing on the most base level. 

Every mom in the country is going to be telling their kids, "They have pedophiles at that school, I don't want you going there." And if they don't, you better believe that opposing coaches are going to use it against them. 

At Ohio State, the fact is that Urban Meyer will be able to recruit a winning team. At Penn State, he won't. Their best recruit, Joey O'Connor, has already backed away from his commitment. He won't be the last. 

It is going to take a major cleaning project of the entire Penn State coaching program and a few years of history before Penn State starts to get past this scandal, and by then they will be horrible. It will be years before they can even start dreaming of being competitive.

No, Ohio State is better for the simple reason that people understand cheating. They don't understand depravity.