Joe Paterno Press Conference Recap: Alabama Week

Joe Paterno took questions from the media today,
as Penn State prepares to travel for its game
against the Alabama Crimson Tide, 2009 national champions.

Here's the long and short of what happened today at Joe Paterno's Alabama game week press conference. Let's just say, Joe is grounded going into this one...

Quick hits:

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

Linkbacker U loves that sound coming from Tuscaloosa

Quick heads up for today... Kyshoen Jarrett will announce his college pick this Wednesday afternoon, so I'll wait to post Tuesday Recruitin' until after his decision is made. this heads up is pointless. I lost track of what day it was.

The sound of complacency, to be exact... There aren't too many things going for Penn State when trying to examine the Nittany Lions' chances of beating Alabama in week two of the 2010 college football season. Well, there aren't too many things besides the bunch I've been saying for months now, but that's beside the point today, as we may have a full-blown glimmer of actual hope. The interesting part of it, it's not coming from Happy Valley. Rather, it's what is going on--or, not going on, to be more precise--on the Crimson Tide football team right now.

Such was the case Monday as the Crimson Tide completed its final two-a-day session of preseason, two days after a scrimmage where an experienced offense worked a rebuilding defense for almost 700 passing yards and 13 touchdowns.

Though only numbers from a closed scrimmage, they could be construed as a warning flag about a defense that must replace nine starters. Saban wasn't kind afterward, bemoaning poor tackling and, perhaps worst of all, a troubling lack of effort.

But what do I know about Alabama's defensive troubles, right? This should be very troubling news for Tide fans. I will not get into the game of telling them how horrible their team will be, or that they're going to lose to Penn State if this doesn't get fixed. I hate when other teams' fans do that about the Nittany Lions, especially recently about Joe Paterno.

So, I'll leave it at this: There is no greater danger to a ridiculously talented team like Alabama than to lack a sense of urgency. Do these players not remember what happened in the 2009 Sugar Bowl? Don't give me that crap about how Utah was great, or that Bama was missing Andre Smith. There was no reason for the Tide to get blown away like that. It was a lack of effort, plain and simple. And going into the second week of the season, with nine new starters, seven or eight with virtually no meaningful playing time, against what figures to be an unknown but talented Big Ten team (which, by the way, returns most of the guys who beat LSU on Jan. 1), a sense of urgency is one thing this Alabama team cannot lack.

Quarterback controversy? What Quarterback controversy? It will not end until September 4th, and that's even an optimist's prediction. Good God, man:

Do not be surprised, our man said, if sophomore Matt McGloin, the former walk-on, opens the season as the starter. And Penn State could use a two-QB system with Bolden coming in as a reliever, much the same way Ohio State used quarterbacks Todd Boeckman and Pryor in 2008.

Look, I know Bob Flounders said his source hasn't led him astray so far, but this is stretching it a bit. Sure, I could tell you not to be surprised if Graham Zug is the starting punter this fall. But if that doesn't happen, was I in any way incorrect in my "don't be surprised" statement?

Hot and Not returns... Mark Schlabach's column, which I actually enjoy reading, returns for the 2010 college football season. Two mentions to take note of; the first is under the "Not" category:

6. Season openers: Once again, most of the sport's heavyweights will open the season against cream puffs. Penn State hosts Youngstown State. FSU plays Samford. Georgia Tech plays South Carolina State. Miami opens against Florida A&M. Thank goodness for the "Jersey Shore" marathon.

...and the next "Not":

9. Big (Ten bashing): The conference everyone loved to beat up during the past five seasons stood its ground during 2009 bowl season. Ohio State beat Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Iowa took out Georgia Tech in the Orange. Penn State beat LSU in the Capital One. Wisconsin defeated Miami in the Champs Sports.

Sticking with TWWL... Adam Rittenberg recaps all the Big Ten mentions in ESPN.com's annual preseason pundit orgy:

Joe Paterno or Bobby Bowden: Adelson picks Bowden, writing, "After the age of 80, life just seems better on the golf course."

No, I'm pretty sure this life is just fine, thanks...

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

Thursday Question: Paterno v. Bowden, the Finale

Earlier this week, the NCAA officially, and finally, took away 12 of Bobby Bowden's wins. With the coaching legend's retirement this past season, that leaves little doubt as to which college head coach will go down as the solitary leader in major college career wins: Joe Paterno.

But having the career wins record doesn't necessarily make Paterno the best coach of all time, does it? Well, that's why we asked this week's Thursday Question...

Joe Paterno: Great Coach? Or Greatest Coach?

Galen

Let me start off by saying I consider more than wins and losses when I’m deciding how good a coach is, and if you had an 18-year old star football player about to make his college choice I think you would as well. When it’s all said and done, Joe Paterno will be remembered for his wins and losses for sure, but he’ll be remembered more for the impact he’s had on so many lives of young men. When Paterno hangs it up they’ll be more fluff pieces written by the same hacks that said he should be fired a few years ago than we’ll be able to handle but I’ve been there all along. I’ve always loved JoePa not only because he was a great coach but because he was a great mentor for a lot of kids. All his All-Americans are great but the multitude of Academic All-Americans is testament to the Paterno way. When Paterno came to Happy Valley the school was nothing more than an agg college, he helped put it on the map. His football program pays for the rest of the athletic department. There’s a library that bears his name. Yeah, he’s had a bit of an impact at Penn State. In my mind there was never a better coach and there never will be a better one, the wins record is just a part of it.

Mike

Had this all happened five years ago, I would have said that Bear Bryant was still the greatest major college coach of all time. However, the fact that Joe Paterno has managed to bring his program back from the brink of collapse--particularly during such a different era in college football compared to when the Bear was coaching--to win not only 50 games in five seasons, but to come within two seconds of two national title games, take home four major bowl wins in five seasons, and field record-breaking Penn State teams, that all seals the deal for Paterno's legacy and legend. It's been more than eight years since JoePa has passed The Bear on the all-time wins list. But I'm not sure that record would have meant half as much if Paterno was forced to leave in 2004, in a similar fashion to Bowden's exit last season. Bowden won two national titles--same as Paterno--but wasn't able to have really consistent, high-level success until the late-1980s. But I would have to say that even though I never considered Bowden's Samford wins part of the discussion, it is a shame that it had to end the way it did. As a sports fan, I always love a dramatic ending, and this was far from that.

Tim

There's no doubting JoePa being a great coach when you look at his full body of work. Seriously, name me another Division 1 head coach who has produced even half of JoePa's win total and done so without getting their program on probation for recruiting violations or in some sort of major academic/legal hot water, all the while graduating players at a ridiculously high clip. Now, if you want to get into the 'greatest coach' label: That's tricky because it depends on the criteria you're using to base it upon. Are you looking at just win totals? What about winning percentage? Or what about the ability to beat the best teams in your league on a regular basis? We all know how much Joe has struggled against Jim Tressel's Buckeyes, Lloyd Carr's Michigan teams, and Kirk Ferentz's Iowa squads, surely those have to count as a few blows to his 'greatest coach' labeling if you're taking them into consideration. And what about guys like Eddie Robinson and John Gagliardi? Yes, they're not Division 1 coaches but both have more wins than JoePa and both are statuesque legends at their respective schools as well. Shouldn't they also be considered for the 'greatest coach' label?

(Nick had to sit this play out, but should be ready to crack some heads on the next series)

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