Joe Pa Plans to Coach in 2011

[FirstTimer]

I may be wrong, but couldn't the same be said for Bobby Bowden? If the team starts to decline we'll here the rumblings for him to go as we heard several years ago before this current turnaround.

...Except as I already pointed out it's not an apples to apples comparison as F$U was having disciplinary problems under Bowden and was forced to vacate wins. Bowden's teams his last few years at FSU weren't bad. I think he was like 9-3 and 7-5. The larger issue there was the program being run loosely and having the NCAA sniffing around.

Comparing the sitation of Bowden being forced out with JoePa perhaps being forced out isn't the same.

 

[Mogriffjr]

Look at Joe Pa's record for the last 5 seasons.....

Does it seem like they are having trouble recruiting and developing players?

LOL I'm not saying they are having trouble recruiting...but many fans on this board I frequent believe they can recruit better.

I'm not sure what you can do better....right now we have good RB depth, QB's have potential to be good, WR's are oozing with talent...But then again, I'm not too in-depth with recruiting like that.

 

[FirstTimer]

LOL I'm not saying they are having trouble recruiting...but many fans on this board I frequent believe they can recruit better.

I'm not sure what you can do better....right now we have good RB depth, QB's have potential to be good, WR's are oozing with talent...But then again, I'm not too in-depth with recruiting like that.

Sounds like they they are just looking for excuses to want JoePa gone.

 

[BigDuke]

LOL I'm not saying they are having trouble recruiting...but many fans on this board I frequent believe they can recruit better.

I don't know of any Penn State fan or Pennsylvanian that wants JoePa to retire. Who are these dopes?

 

[Hasselbeck]

He's as much head coach of the Nittany Lions as George W. Bush was POTUS in November 2008.

 

[Woy]

LOL I'm not saying they are having trouble recruiting...but many fans on this board I frequent believe they can recruit better.

I'm not sure what you can do better....right now we have good RB depth, QB's have potential to be good, WR's are oozing with talent...But then again, I'm not too in-depth with recruiting like that.

We've recruited great over the past few seasons, including hauling in the best class in the Big Ten last year. However, just look at the class that's locked in this year...it's only above Indiana (I think? I know we're 10th) in the Big Ten. We just got a commitment from an offensive tackle who's only offers were Monmouth and Wagner. Those schools play Robert Morris every year...enough said.

I'm not placing all the blame on JoePa, because the rest of the staff has to recruit as well. He's definitely earned his right to retire whenever and the day he actually goes will be a sad day for me as a Penn State fan. And with the talent coming back (the Bolden/Jones/McGloin battle at QB will be fun to watch, Silas Redd is the best runningback on the roster right now, the receiver corps are stacked with Moye and Brown leading the way, and we've been playing with a second-string defense for most of the year) there should be a lot of success in Happy Valley next season.

His contract runs out next year, so at the beginning of the season, I felt like he would come back for 2011. I honestly think that'll be his last go-around, but it can be a very fun last go-around with the players coming back.

 

[j.hen]

Dude is gonna coach till his teeth fall out.

 

[FirstTimer]

Dude is gonna coach till his teeth fall out.

bama:

 

[NAHSTE]

He's as much head coach of the Nittany Lions as George W. Bush was POTUS in November 2008.

He still handles the recruiting, media appearances, and pre-game motivation speeches.

If you didn't know, I just described 75% of college coaching. There are few true tacticians in the college game (Saban, Peterson, Patterson, maybe a couple more) and the rest are essentially CEO's. Mack Brown, Les Miles, Lou Holtz, Bobby Bowden, etc... All of these guys have won national titles, yet nobody can really say they are great with Xs and Os.

 

[FirstTimer]

He still handles the recruiting, media appearances, and pre-game motivation speeches.

If you didn't know, I just described 75% of college coaching. There are few true tacticians in the college game (Saban, Peterson, Patterson, maybe a couple more) and the rest are essentially CEO's. Mack Brown, Les Miles, Lou Holtz, Bobby Bowden, etc... All of these guys have won national titles, yet nobody can really say they are great with Xs and Os.

At ND I'd disagree. Holtz was the guy calling the play most of the time until he turned the reigns over to Skip Holtz for a few years in the early 90's. But even then Holtz had veto power on any play call coming in. The defense though was mostly Alvarez.

Brian Kelly now calls a lot of the offense. Overall you are right though. Most college coaches now aren't reall all around X's and O's guys. They specialize on one side of the ball and maybe call plays there but you never see a guy doing both anymore.

 

[NAHSTE]

At ND I'd disagree. Holtz was the guy calling the play most of the time until he turned the reigns over to Skip Holtz for a few years in the early 90's. But even then Holtz had veto power on any play call coming in. The defense though was mostly Alvarez.

Don't get me wrong, I expect every coach to have veto power on any play call coming in. It's the same way with Miles at LSU. He also has 4th down decision making, which I believe is the same at most staffs.

But even with some control over the play calling, a college coach's job still basically comes down to recruiting and motivating players, appeasing boosters and cooperating with the media.

 

[FirstTimer]

Don't get me wrong, I expect every coach to have veto power on any play call coming in. It's the same way with Miles at LSU. He also has 4th down decision making, which I believe is the same at most staffs.

But even with some control over the play calling, a college coach's job still basically comes down to recruiting and motivating players, appeasing boosters and cooperating with the media.

No doubt. In 20-30 years quite a bit has changed. It was easier for guys like Holtz in the 80's to be X's and O's guys when most teams were running basic versions of I-form or Pro-set or still running variations of the option.

It was all really the same stuff in many ways so if you coached it you could defend it. The spread wasn't really prevalant at all. Even in 1993 when F$U came to South Bend they were running something pretty similar to the spread passing attack we see today with Charlie Ward. That had only started in late 1992 and F$U was calling it their "fast break" offense or some cheezy shit.

As offenses and defense have become more and more varied I don't think it's become very feasible for coaches to really be X's and O's guys on both sides of the ball..and many times not even on one side.

 

[SethMode]

Which is also a large reason why so many college guys fail when they make the jump to the pros, IMO (and why a lot of them hesitate to make said jump).

 

[Sportsbuck]

He still handles the recruiting, media appearances, and pre-game motivation speeches.

If you didn't know, I just described 75% of college coaching. There are few true tacticians in the college game (Saban, Peterson, Patterson, maybe a couple more) and the rest are essentially CEO's. Mack Brown, Les Miles, Lou Holtz, Bobby Bowden, etc... All of these guys have won national titles, yet nobody can really say they are great with Xs and Os.

JoePa doesn't really recruit anymore. The last in-home visit he made was Pryor in 2008. JoePa is a figurehead, Tom Bradley's pretty much the man behind the success (or failure) of PSU at this point.

 

[NAHSTE]

JoePa doesn't really recruit anymore. The last in-home visit he made was Pryor in 2008. JoePa is a figurehead, Tom Bradley's pretty much the man behind the success (or failure) of PSU at this point.

It makes sense that he doesn't go on visits anymore, but the Paterno mystique probably goes far enough. Plus I'm sure he kills when the kids make the official visits to Happy Valley.

 

[ram29jackson]

He still handles the recruiting, media appearances, and pre-game motivation speeches.

If you didn't know, I just described 75% of college coaching. There are few true tacticians in the college game (Saban, Peterson, Patterson, maybe a couple more) and the rest are essentially CEO's. Mack Brown, Les Miles, Lou Holtz, Bobby Bowden, etc... All of these guys have won national titles, yet nobody can really say they are great with Xs and Os.

Bowden said as much a couple years ago- head coaches are good delegaters

 

[NAHSTE]

Bowden said as much a couple years ago- head coaches are good delegaters

Yep. What killed FSU was when Bobby's top assistants like Chuck Amato and Mark Richt went on to become head coaches elsewhere.