Penn State Football: Chris Petersen Not a Realistic Goal for Nittany Lions

According to reports, Penn State is in the process of trying to bring Boise State's Chris Petersen to Happy Valley to replace Joe Paterno.

David Jones of the Patriot-News is reporting that a member of the Penn State hiring committee has visited Idaho twice in the last eight days, trying to bring Petersen in.

On one hand, it makes sense for Petersen to leave Boise State now. It's hard to imagine his stock ever being higher. Even in a small conference, a 73-6 record over a five-year period is nothing short of astonishing. 

But leaving Boise State and going to Penn State are not the same thing. No coach in the position of Petersen should even consider Penn State for a long time.

The scandal surrounding Jerry Sandusky's charges and the grand jury testimony that's linking him to sexually assaulting underage boys is going to hurt recruiting for a long time. Even if the new coach was not a part of Penn State's coaching staff when this stuff was allegedly happening, there's a stigma there that's not going to go away any time soon.

I can guarantee that anyone who's watched coverage of the ongoing scandal will not soon forget any of this. 

That goes for any potential recruits that would come to Penn State for a long time. Why would anyone go to Penn State when other elite schools are recruiting them? Sure, some will, but not enough to consistently compete or upgrade from Boise State's current situation. 

Petersen sees all of this. This isn't brain surgery. Anyone with access to the news knows what's been going on at Penn State. It's not a long jump to think about what kind of impact that will have on recruits.

It's hard to see Petersen leaving Boise State. Kellen Moore just played his last game there and won 50 games in his career. That's more than 12 wins a season. BCS conference or not, it's hard to come anywhere near duplicating that. It's also hard to imagine Boise being stuck without Moore. They may have a slight drop-off, but they will win games—and a lot of them.

But from Penn State's perspective, their best chance is to bring in a young coach who's got no affiliation to the program. Let him come in and put his own stamp on the program. 

Petersen is a great coach. Penn State won't be able to get a coach with his track record for a long time. 

Follow @mdixon1985