Linkbacker U is wondering what is an ambassador coach

Bowden Shown the Door...can the same Happen to Joe?

Retired? Don't think so. Bowden was not ready to go, and he tells us exactly how it went down.

“First thing he says is, ‘This ain’t gonna be pretty.’ It went downhill from there,” Bowden said. “Those were his first words; I couldn’t believe it. He said, ‘You have two options: One is to stay on as an ambassador coach for one more year. You can still be the coach, but we don’t want you to go on the field.’ I’d get paid for doing nothing. That’s stealing from FSU. I said, ‘That’s out, forget it. What’s the other option?’ He said, ‘We don’t renew your contract.’ ”

Hmm a figure head coach with limited responsibility? Doesn't sound familiar to me. In all seriousness, it's terrible the way they showed Bowden the door at Florida State. Especially given PSU's recent success, it seems Paterno will be able to live on his own terms.

All is Golden at Temple

Five years ago, Temple and football were rarely mentioned in the same sentence if it wasnt the butt at the end of a joke. Let's just say, they've come a long way.

There were more pressing matters to deal with. The team’s academic study lounge contained a pool table, on which a crafty janitor used to hustle players out of money before practice. The practice field had two different types of turf and a 3-foot drop-off at the back of one end zone that repeatedly caused injuries. Players had to dodge eggs aimed at them from a nearby high-rise public housing building.

On top of all that, syringes, crack vials and broken 40-ounce beer bottles littered the area around the football facility, which often reverberated with an orchestra of passing trains, sirens and gunshots.

“It was indescribable, to be honest with you,” Golden said. “It was that bad. This place was dead. We had to take the paddles out.”

Now Golden has Temple competing for MAC Championships. The team has been improving every year and who knows, maybe this is the year they upset the Nittany Lions.

Sacrificing Pageantry for Padded Wallets?

Stop the press! Stop the press! Michigan and Ohio State are potentially going to be in different divisions and won't play at the same time as they usually do. They may play twice! This is an outrage!

“One of the best things that could happen, in my opinion in a given season, would be the opportunity to play Ohio State twice,” Brandon told Ann Arbor radio station WTKA.

No, it wouldn’t be the best thing that could happen. It might be fun the first time. It might be unique. It might be new. And then soon enough, it wouldn’t be.

"Everything else about it diminishes an event built and maintained for five generations. When you control a 100-plus-year-old tradition, you don’t make decisions based on a four-year television contract. To do so is symbolic of the NCAA run by MBAs, where a projected spreadsheet means more than a history book. It is about selling out a century plus for an overnight rating and then trying to explain it away with specious and short-sited reasoning."

That's one argument. To me, what's wrong with playing twice. The Yankees and Red Sox play EIGHTEEN times each year and that's just the regular season. Those games still usually have just as much hatred, build up, and excitement. I know it's been a while since kindergarten, but I think I learned two is greater than one.

Former "Bachelor" Not in Love with Penn State

Add Jesse Palmer to the long list of pessimistic Penn State "experts" and small list of ESPN employees who actually knows something about this year's squad besides who the coach is.

Palmer predicted the Lions to lose five games, and said that the team is ranked entirely too high. Can't say I can really argue on either of those two points.

"You look at that schedule: at Alabama early, they go at Iowa, they go at Ohio State. In my opinion it's a team that will lose five games this year," Palmer said. "I don't think Penn State should even be in the top 25."


"Youre ranking them at 19 based on how they finished last season and I get that," Palmer said. "After losing Daryll Clark at quarterback, it's a very unsettled quarterback situation right now. Potentially it looks like the sophomore walk-on Matt McGloin could be the starter against Youngstown State in week one."

New Women's Lacrosse Coach Recruits Top Ten Class


It didn't take new women's lacrosse coach Missy Doherty to make a splash in Happy Valley. She's been here for already a matter of months and already has one of the nation's top recruiting classes under her belt.

"I am extremely excited about that incoming class here at Penn State," said Doherty. "They are a talented group of athletes and I am looking forward to having them contribute quickly. This will be an exciting year for our program, and it is great to start my career here with such a talented group of athletes."

Follow LBU on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to Linebacker-U.com by Email