It’s now up to our family, the Penn State Family, to pen the final chapter of Joe’s life. We must defend his legacy and make sure he is remembered for who he was and what he did and not the public smear campaign that has taken place over the last several months. We all know Joe deserves better, it’s up to us to make sure that happens.

We will miss you coach. In our mind we see you up there with the Bear, going at it like the two legends you are and always will be. One word of advice though coach, avoid the straight dive if you get into a goal line situation. We love you coach, we will miss you, Saturdays will never be the same. We Are… Heart Broken…. You Are… Penn State,

chorus
And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
The values you always clinged to
Even when you did not win
And I would have liked to have known you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did

Success with honor was tough
The toughest role you ever played
Media created a superstar
And fame was the price you paid
Even when you died
Oh the press still hounded you
You made Penn State a better place
Not just a football school

Goodbye JVP
Though I never knew you at all
You took players’ lives upon yourself
While others just played ball

Goodbye JVP
From the young man in the 22nd row
Who sees you as something more than sports
More than just our football coach

Joe Paterno Tribute

First, we’ll address the two questions we’ve been asked the most in the last few days: 

Yes, we feel bad about the RIP Penn State Football article; and no, Brandon Short is not on Laschout’s staff.

OK, so maybe declaring Penn State football dead on Friday was a tiny bit of an overreaction. Or even a huge overreaction for that matter. Great writers (which we are not) always say that you should never pen an article in the immediate aftermath of an event because emotion will take over and replace common sense. As you all can tell, we don’t necessarily operate like that here. This blog is and always will be about raw emotion and reaction. I’m sure there will be plenty of times we say things we regret after the fact, but that’s what it’s all about.

Having said that, the main focus of Nittany Nation right now needs to be giving full support to Bill O’Brien.

Don’t get us wrong, it’s still OK to be angry about what has transpired at this University since early November. It’s still fine to question the leadership of President Erickson and certainly athletic director Dave Joyner. It’s also fine to question the (in our opinion) cowardice actions of the Board of Trustees who have done everything in their power to sacrifice the golden goose in order to save themselves from further and necessary scrutiny.

Despite all that, the one man who needs our unconditional support at this time is the new head coach. Simply put, the last two days of Bill O’Brien has been the best thing that has happened to this University in the last two months.

In his introductory press conference, O’Brien showed Nittany Nation what he is all about. He was intense, passionate, confident in his abilities yet sincere. Up until Saturday morning, O’Brien was not a member of the Penn State family; yet by the time noon rolled around, he was the first representative from Penn State in the past two months to speak on what Joe Paterno has meant and has accomplished at the school. His first mission as head coach was to retain popular assistant Larry Johnson and he did just that. He fielded all questions from the local and national media and answered them honestly and smoothly. He also managed to put ultra-arrogant and bleach blonde attention seeker Cory Giger in his place which is always a bonus.

We don’t know how Bill O’Brien will do in his tenure at Penn State, but he certainly deserves a chance. Bill O’Brien had nothing to do with any of the negativity that has gone on here in the past two months, and nothing to do with the decisions that were made at Penn State. He is simply a young guy who has worked his way up the coaching ranks and now has the big break he’s waited for his entire career. Our support is necessary for him to succeed. The support of the former players is necessary for him to succeed. This situation cannot turn into what happened at Michigan when Rich Rodriguez was hired. As we all saw there, a house divided will not stand. 

The good news is that after the initial wave of anger, most of Nittany Nation seems to have gotten behind the new head coach. We here are no different.

This article is part of LaschOut’s guest blogger series. Over time, we hope to give various well known Penn State message board posters the opportunity to write editorials on their program of choice. Our second guest blogger is the poster “Quez56.” Quez has been well known on the PSU message boards for years with strong opinions and excellent analysis on the state of the football program . We welcome him to LaschOut.org. 

So, as everyone has heard by now, Bill O’Brien of the Clan O’Brien and County Clare, is the new head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions.  Public and semi-private reaction to the leaking of his hiring was strong, swift, and decidedly negative.  Prominent Penn State alum, most notably, Brandon Short, have come out strongly against the O’Brien hire threatening everything from a lawsuit to coercing players to transfer.  O’Brien was a virtual unknown outside of a very public verbal spat with Justin Bie….errr Tom Brady during December of the 2011 NFL season, and his credentials are rightfully questioned.  The bigger question is how did Penn State get to this point and where is it going?

THE PROCESS

57 days.  It took Penn State 57 days from the firing of Joe Paterno (by telephone) to organize themselves to the point of settling on a Head Coach, and in doing so, hired an NFL offensive coordinator half a decade removed from any semblance of college success with an otherwise checkered resume.  Penn State’s powers-that-be (the Board of Trustees backing interim Athletic Director Dave Joyner and dealmaker Ira Lubert) navigated a search that took nearly 2 months and admittedly involved over 40 inquiries.  Throughout the search, Joyner and Lubert both threw out a variety of timeframes with which their task would be completed, ranging from mid-December to mid-January.  At no point during the search would Joyner or Lubert reveal specifics of their search, speaking only in generalities and not giving the mainstream press a clue as to where the search was headed.

Several Penn State beat writers and mainstream media scribes began the game of taking their stabs as to who the coach would be, prematurely defending and/or championing a bevy of mostly unworthy candidates that ranged from Green Bay Packers QB coach Tom Clements to Harvard Head Coach Tim Murphy to Tennessee Titans Head Coach Mike Munchak back to former Penn State Safeties Coach Brian Norwood and back to twice-fired Bill Belichick disciple and currently unemployed Eric Mangini.   All of those guesses were wrong, but little did folks know that a Belichick disciple would come back into play.

Going back to the start of the search, if you asked 100 of the top NFL and college football insiders and experts to give you a list of 100 options for the Penn State job on November 10, you would have gotten a list of 10,000 names with ample overlap, but none of them would have written down Bill O’Brien.  Go through all of the coaching hires that have been made in college football this season, and nearly every one of those hires with a few exceptions has a more accomplished resume than Bill O’Brien.  Obviously not all of them would be fits for Penn State regularly or in this situation, but it’s hard to say that any of them wouldn’t be a better fit than Bill O’Brien.

Not much of it makes sense.  Why did Penn State need to wait 57 days to hire O’Brien (clearly he was not their first choice)?  Why would they stress the need to take care of this recruiting class and then hire someone who possibly will not even move into his office until after LOI day?  Why did Dave Joyner smugly assure anyone and everyone who inquired that a fantastic hire was on its way to Penn State only to end up with a guy that’s more famous for a shouting match than any of his work?

Why why why?  Penn State staff, players and fans have no answers, which leads to the communication aspect of this search.

THE COMMUNICATION

From day one, the Board of Trustees has done nothing but provide a template as to how to wade through a public relations disaster by making it worse with lack of communication.  As you may recall, the Jerry Sandusky story “broke” on November 4, 2011.  This wasn’t the first shocking revelation of Sandusky’s heinous proclivity as earlier in the year (March), a story ran throughout the PA newspapers that Sandusky was under Grand Jury investigation for the type of despicable acts he was eventually charged with.  There were plenty of other people that had an inkling that this was going on, but the threat of a lawsuit prevented anyone from speaking prior to the March story.  Despite a 6 month heads up (and a briefing by Penn State President Graham Spanier) that this was coming down the pike, the Board of Trustees had nothing to say upon Sandusky’s arrest.

A funny thing happened on the way to the slammer; the Grand Jury Presentment (a document drafted by the prosecutor and released based on the prosecutor’s assessment of public interest) was “inadvertently” released on November 4^th  (it was supposed to be released on November 7^th).  The Presentment contained lurid details of Sandusky’s alleged crimes, and was literally EVERYWHERE in the sports media by the following morning.  The Board of Trustees sat back and let ESPN have their way with the story.

We move to Saturday, November 5^th.  Penn State Athletics Director Tim Curley and VP of Finance Gary Schulz are arrested and charged with perjury based on their testimony provided to the Grand Jury regarding Sandusky’s alleged heinous acts.  These are two officials with intimate knowledge of what transpired with Sandusky, but no response was forthcoming.  Again, despite six months advance notice that this was coming down the pike, the Board of Trustees remained silent 32 hours after news broke of the indictment.

On Sunday, November 6^th, chit chat finally started to flow from Penn State.  Board of Trustees honcho Steve Garban issued a statement of support for Curley and Schulz.  Penn State President and Deacons of Dixie band member Graham Spanier does the same.  Only Joseph Vincent Paterno issues any kind of statement acknowledging the horrible alleged acts and sympathy for the victims.  The Board of Trustees does not speak as a unit and roasts marshmallows on the burning embers of our beloved school.

We move to Monday, November 7^th.  We are still waiting for a response from the Board of Trustees or anyone in any official capacity at Penn State.  We don’t get it.

Tuesday, November 8^th, was the scheduled time for Joe Paterno’s weekly game press conference.  It never happens as Sports Information Director/Puppet/Muppet Jeff Nelson is wheeled out to tell the national media that there will be no press conference.  Speculation abounds.  No response from the Board of Trustees is forthcoming.

Wednesday, November 9^th  arrives.  With the national media in a feeding frenzy, every major news organization with multiple people in State College and the town ablaze, the Board of Trustees says nothing.  Joe Paterno issues another statement saying that the Board of Trustees should take care of important stuff and not worry about him. Furthermore, he states he’ll voluntarily step aside at the end of the season.  The Board of Trustees gets angry.  A hastily-called Press Conference announces that Paterno and Spanier are terminated.  Board of Trustees Vice Chair John Surma is given the task of announcing it to the public and answering questions to a motley crue of students, reporters and supporters.  Looking like a deer in headlights, Surma navigates his way through what looks like something out of Baghdad Bob in Iraq, deflecting questions, meandering through questions like a bipolar platypus and doing his best Joe Paterno impression pretending that he couldn’t hear people.

And then State College burned.

Penn Staters have rioted 3 times in the last 15 years…once following an NCAA tournament loss and twice because of a CRAFT FAIR.  Anyone with any finger on the pulse of State College would ASSUME that on a temperate night where PSU jettisoned their hero, their legend, their (g)od, that students would “riot”. Amazingly, the Board of Trustees did not foresee this.  Anderson Cooper had a field day.  The Board of Trustees had no response.

Fast forward 53 days.  New Year’s Day news breaks that Bill O’Brien is the new Penn State Head Coach.  Dave Joyner issues a half-hearted denial.  By the end of the day, Adam Schefter is taking back his report but already the entirety of Nittany Nation is getting queasy.

January 2^nd, 2012, Penn State gets obliterated in a high school event dubbed the TicketCity.Com Bowl.  Following the game, Interim AD Dave Joyner takes to the team hotel, hob-nobbing with alum and former players, smugly touting the excellent process with which he’s gone about the search and arrived at a decision that will please everyone.  Joyner goes so far as to say that there will be an announcement sometime around January 13^th.

January 5^th, 2012 is a night that will live in infamy.  ESPN’s Chris Mortensen breaks news that Bill O’Brien is the next coach of Penn State.  Tom Bradley was recruiting in Pittsburgh and not sure where he saw it first.  Message boards erupt.  Where is the Penn State response?  Oh, the Athletic Director is sleeping.

January 6^th, 2012, Penn Staters wake up with the recognition that Bill O’Brien will be the head coach of Penn State; or so they think.  There is no official announcement from Penn State.  The day continues.  Dave Joyner tells Tom Bradley’s attorney that no hire has been made.  Dave Joyner tells the press that no hire has been made.  At 4 pm, Dave Joyner has a meeting with the current coaching staff and fires all of them.  At 10 pm eastern, we finally get an official announcement from Penn State that Bill O’Brien will be the next head coach of Penn State.

So, for all of those people that lamented the “secret” nature of Joe Paterno’s administration and the seemingly maniacal protection of information during the JoePa tenure, you just got the most secretive coaching search in the history of college football and arrived on a candidate that is spewn from Bill Belicheck, the most secretive coach in the NFL.

The Board of Trustees is convening in a committee as this is written, allegedly deciding how to respond to such accusations.  Communication.  It doesn’t exist.  And it is killing Penn State.

FOR THE FUTURE

We are now 24 hours past the realization that Bill O’Brien will be Penn State’s head coach.  It has been officially announced, Bill O’Brien is in State College, and the assistants have been seemingly jettisoned with a nice watch and a pancake.  Brandon Short, a man who I have nothing but respect and admiration for, tells us that he is set on telling recruits to decommit and players to transfer.  That’s ridiculous.

Bill O’Brien may not be who Penn Staters wanted, but he is who we have.  We have been stuck with the modern incarnation of Fredo Corleone, Jay Paterno, running our offense for more than half of a decade, but at no time did people disclaim their school or fandom because Jay was a bad coach.  He was still our guy and we celebrated when we beat OSU in 2005, won the Orange Bowl in 2006, won the conference in 2008, and pulled a rabbit out of our hat against LSU in the 2009 Crapital One Bowl.  There are clearly financial issues tied to how one would react to O’Brien’s ascension and no one other than you can properly assess what those decisions will be.  Your heart and your voice, however, are not tied to money.

For years, those that wanted Joe Paterno to retire used the refrain that it’s not “Paterno State University”, it’s “Penn State University.”  Penn State University is better when the football program is better.  The football program is better when it has the support of its fans and alumni.  Maybe Bill O’Brien will suck.  Maybe he’s just a lucky stooge that happened to be in the right place at the right time.  Either way, it’s better for anyone with a Penn State degree to have this guy succeed.  Telling recruits to go elsewhere, encouraging current players to transfer, withholding your visceral support for the school; all of that is counter-productive to what all of us want, Penn State to be GOOD AT FOOTBALL.

B O’Brien has two things going for him; one, he will be able to claim/produce/demonstrate an offense light years ahead of anything PSU has produced over the last 10,20,30,40,50 years; and two, he and his staff will hit the recruiting trail at 100% efficiency (once he gets done with that side project known as the Patriots).  Granted, pretty much every candidate would have those 2 things going for him, but B O’Brien is the man now. 

We can’t tell you how Bill O’Brien is a better hire than x,y,z candidates, because, quite frankly, we don’t think he is.  He is however the coach of Penn State, and he did not create the situation he stepped into.  He needs us more than Joe Paterno ever did.

Bill O’Brien is not at Patriots practice today.

And if you believe NFL insiders like Adam Schefter, Jason LaConfora and Mike Lombardi, he’s about to become Penn State’s next head coach.

Assuming this is true (and the buzz we’re hearing today seems to support O’Brien or another low-level hire), many questions need to be asked.

1. How can Dave Joyner, after completely blowing off coaches like Al Golden, Greg Schiano and Dan Mullen, end up with a plan E or F coach that is clearly inferior to other coaches who were seriously interested in the job? We’re not saying that any of those three are the next coming of Joe Paterno, but compared to the likes of Bill O’Brien, these guys are pure studs.

2. If Dave Joyner is going to hire someone like Bill O’Brien, what does that say about Tom Bradley? Is there something we don’t know going on with Tom Bradley, because on the surface, he is light years more qualified for this job than those being rumored. Is this treatment of Tom Bradley how Dave Joyner and Penn State values three decades of loyalty and service, let alone putting top notch defenses on the field year after year? What about Larry Johnson for that matter; or Ron Vanderlinden? All three are better candidates than the names we’ve been hearing.

3. Hypothetically, if Bill O’Brien or a current NFL assistant is the pick, does the University have any earthly idea at how much money they are going to lose overnight? The STEP program already created an attendance problem last season. A bad hire (and make no mistake about it, Bill O’Brien or any of the NFL assistants rumored are horrible hires) will probably double the amount of empty seats in Beaver Stadium and non-renewals for the Nittany Lion Club. It’s hard to fathom that people in positions of authority at Penn State don’t understand this concept.

4. Is Penn State, led by President Rod Erickson, truly trying to deemphasize athletics in the wake of the Sandusky scandal? Hiring a low-level, no-name coach can only lead a reasonable person to this conclusion. Make no mistake about it, there was definite interest in this job, and there were several solid to very good candidates that were seemingly eliminated immediately by Dave Joyner for ridiculous reasons (mostly ego driven). Joyner is either in over his head and completely incompetent, or he has been given parameters by Erickson and the Board of Trustees to work with. For the record, we believe strongly that he is in fact in over his head.

So where are we at the moment?

Penn State sources told us yesterday that as of Monday at the bowl game, Joyner still believed he had his man in the fold and was 95% of the way home. The comment “dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s” was actually used to describe where the process stood. The issue at hand now is something has seemingly happened in the last 24 hours to derail negotiations and put a deal in peril. When asked about where the search stood today, we were told “scramble mode.”

Quite frankly, this turn of events is completely unacceptable for a fanbase as great as Penn States’. Furthermore, the way the search has been handled and the arrogance displayed by those in charge is unacceptable. Then again, considering these are the same people that publicly stabbed Joe Paterno in the back, maybe it should be viewed as par for the course.

For those of you who may have missed it, an interesting thing happened at Arizona State a few weeks back. The school was ready to name SMU coach June Jones their head football coach, but after a wave of booster and alumni pressure and threats of pulling donations, they backed off and moved on.

The Penn State nation is at that point right now, and our voices need to be heard. Voice your opinions by either calling or writing to those in charge and let them know what is going on and what has gone on for the last 50+ days is completely unacceptable. If Dave Joyner cannot make a hire worthy of this job he should immediately be replaced by someone who can. Let the leaders of the Nittany Lion Club know we all pay good money to support PSU athletics and all we expect is competence from our leaders in the athletic department.

The future of Penn State football and sports could be on the line here……..don’t let them kill our programs without being heard from. 

Contact numbers and email addresses:

President Rod Erickson – president@psu.edu – 814-865-9462

Athletic Director Dave Joyner – dmj14@psu.edu – 814-865-1086

Nittany Lion Club Director of Giving John Nitardy – jdn13@psu.edu – 814-863-7664

Nittany Lion Club Director of Development Ken Cutler – kmc2@psu.edu – 814-863-6761

Dave Joyner is on the hot seat, and that seat is seemingly growing warmer by the day.

As Penn State’s now marathon-long coaching search drags on, several members of the Penn State community are starting to voice their displeasure over both the lack of a hire at this point and the search process in general. Whether it be players, current coaches, parents, former lettermen or fans, everyone has started to grow impatient with Joyner and the search committee at this point, and most are now starting to ask him directly for answers.

Sources tell Laschout that within the last 48 hours, Joyner has been directly confronted by both former lettermen and members of the current coaching staff both demanding updates on the status of the search.

The fomer players group reportedly is being led by former Penn State all-American linebackers Brandon Short and Lavar Arrington. Both are said to be leading the charge to set up a face to face meeting with Joyner this week to discuss what is going on. To this point, any inquiries from former lettermen have been met with blow-off comments such as “we’re working on it,” or “just trust me.” After weeks of getting no answers or insight, the former players are pressing the issue at this point and doing everything in their power to get involved.

Ditto for the current coaching staff.

Sources in Dallas tell us at least one coach approached Joyner after the game yesterday relaying his displeasure in not having a new coach by this point. As one could imagine, the coaches feel as if they are in complete limbo right now, and none of them have any concrete ideas on what their futures are at Penn State. Furthermore, as was evident by the game result, the situation around the team leading up to the TicketCity bowl was described as tenuous at best. Coaches and players alike had seemingly “packed it in” and were more concerned with what their futures at Penn State would be than in the football game that was played yesterday. Further complicating the matter, multiple defensive assistant coaches have current offers on the table from major BCS schools for assistant coaching roles. While sources tell us the majority of them want to stay at Penn State, the lack of any information coming from Joyner regarding their futures is being perceived as a major slight.

On Joyner’s end, he surely has not helped himself at all with what many deem to be an arrogant attitude throughout the search. Multiple people have told us “he thinks and acts like he’s the smartest guy in the room.” We’ve also been told that Joyner himself has intentionally given media outlets blatantly false information and allowed them to print stories based on knowingly false comments directly coming from him. Several somewhat respected beat writers have been made to look like fools because of these actions.

At the end of the day, this search is either going to go down as the best run search ever ending with a home run hire, or Dave Joyner’s legacy at Penn State will be stained forever. Hopefully we will find out in the next few days.

For Penn State football fans, 2012 couldn’t get here quick enough after a horrible last two months of 2011 rocked the school to its very core.

If Adam Schefter and John Saraceno are correct, from a football standpoint, we may all be longing for 2011 to come back.

On Sunday morning, both Schefter and Saraceno reported that New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien is the leading candidate to take over for Joe Paterno. Saraceno even went so far to make the hiring out to be just a formality at this point.

Our first reaction was this rumor is ludicrous, and intentionally leaked to keep the media off of the real hire. Sure, O’Brien has been able to ride Tom Brady’s coattails to success this year, but considering how great a quarterback Brady is, a trained chimp could accomplish that (see Josh McDaniels and Charlie Weis). O’Brien’s last stint in college was as the offensive coordinator at Duke where the Blue Devils went 3-20 during his tenure. In addition to his disastrous two years at Duke, he also spent time at traditional powerhouses Maryland, Georgia Tech and Brown.

Simply put, there is absolutely no justification for Bill O’Brien being involved in this search in any way, shape or form.

For starters, there are three coaches on the current staff (Tom Bradley, Larry Johnson and Ron Vanderlinden) that are all head and shoulders better candidates for the job than Bill O’Brien. There are candidates that Penn State has refused to speak at length with (Greg Schiano and Al Golden for starters) that are head and shoulders better candidates for the job than Bill O’Brien. Heck, Tom Clements is a better candidate for the job than Bill O’Brien, and the vast majority of Penn State fans we’ve heard from want nothing to do with Tom Clements. O’Brien, with the exception of possibly Brian Norwood, is both the worst and most unqualified name we’ve heard associated with this job.

For all those reasons, this rumor doesn’t pass the smell test. Not even a little bit. It can’t, not unless Dave Joyner and Rod Erickson are not only attempting to deemphasize football, but trying to kill the program (and probably several other sports at Penn State) all together.

And that makes no sense.

Furthermore, considering the media has been completely wrong on nearly everything they have reported, why is this latest rumor believable? Schefter is probably the best insider in the NFL, but he’s just that, an NFL guy. Our guess is Joe Schad started this rumor yesterday, told his ESPN colleague about it, and Schefter got information from O’Brien or his agent running with the “leading candidate” label. Remember, O’Brien has also been tied to the Kansas City Chiefs job as well, and getting his name public could drastically help his case with former New England running buddy, and now Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli.

The bottom line on this rumor is we aren’t buying it. This leak smells like an intentional plant to rile people up and then make Joyner look like a hero when he announces the real hire. Quite frankly, Penn State fans better pray that is the case, or Penn State football as we all know it is dead and gone.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday season. As many were indulging in copious amounts of cookies, the men’s basketball team was preparing for the upcoming B1G season coming off a 74-67 defeat of the Cornell Big Red before the holiday break. LaschOut has every B1G opponent scouted and will offer a prediction for every one of the Lions’ 18 conference games.

Note: All statistics are through play on December 26, 2011. All RPI data comes from www.realtimerpi.com. All statistics for individual players come from each team’s respective official website. All tournament predictions come from ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi, released on December 15, 2011. Finally, all NCAA statistics come from www.ncaa.org.

Michigan, 10-2

December 29, 7:30pm, BTN, Crisler Arena

March 4, Time and station TBA, Bryce Jordan Center

Projected seed: 7

RPI: 54

Quality wins: Memphis (Maui)

Losses: Duke (Maui) and @ Virginia

Key players: Tim Hardaway Jr. (6’6” SO. GUARD) 15.4 PPG; Trey Burke (5’11” FR. POINT GUARD) 13.0 PPG and 5.0 APG; and Evan Smotrycz (6’9” SO. FORWARD) 11.7 PPG, 58.0% 3FG shooter and 6.7 RPG.

Strengths: Tim Hardaway Jr. really matured into a big-time player during the B1G and NCAA tournaments. When the Wolverines need to make a big shot, they turn to Hardaway. However, the biggest surprise has been the play of Trey Burke, who initially committed to Penn State, has provided the Wolverines with much needed stability at the point. Head coach John Beilein instills both toughness and discipline in all of his players. They play tough defense and battle for the entire game.

Weaknesses: Youth. Michigan is a relatively young team and this catches up to them at times. Also, they’re a very average three point shooting team, outside fo Smotrycz and are prone to cold spells. Smotrycz is a more finesse player than a low-post threat and they don’t match up well with big, physical teams.

Prediction:  0-2. This is not a great matchup for the Nittany Lions. Hardaway will be tough to stop and the Wolverines have enough versatile players to create mismatches. Penn State has also struggled mightily at Crisler Arena and Michigan will be jockeying for B1G and NCAA tournament seeding come March.

Northwestern, 10-2

January 1, 7pm, ESPNU, Welsh-Ryan Arena

February 25, 9pm, ESPNU, Bryce Jordan Center

Projected seed: 10

RPI: 37

Quality Wins: Seton Hall

Losses: Baylor (at home by 28) and @ Creighton (RPI:14)

Key players: John Shurna (6’9” SR. FORWARD) 19.4 PPG, 6.0 RPG, and 44.9% 3FG shooter; Drew Crawford (6’5” FR. GUARD/FORWARD) 18.1 PPG; and Dave Sobolewski (6’1” FR. GUARD) 7.8 PPG and 4.0 APG.

Strengths: Their size and versatility gives a lot of people fits on the defensive end of the floor. The Wildcats are 66th in the NCAA in 3-point FG percentage defense and run a very good zone defense, utilizing their versatile players. Shurna and Crawford can play both inside and out, creating a lot of mismatch problems on the perimeter.

Weaknesses: PRESSURE! This, without a doubt, is the best Northwestern team in a long time. The Wildcats have never reached the NCAA tournament and this will be grueling B1G season for head coach Bill Carmody. Can the Wildcats handle the pressure? This is relatively unproven group.

Predictions: Split. The Lions have dominated the Wildcats for the past few season’s and this isn’t that bad of a matchup. If the Wildcats are cold from the outside, they’re extremely vulnerable. The Lions will lose on the road, but shock the Wildcats’ tournament hopes in late February.

Purdue, 10-3

January 5, 8pm, BTN, Bryce Jordan Center

February 29, 6:30pm, Mackey Arena

Projected seed: 10

RPI: 60

Quality win: Temple

Losses: Alabama, @ Xavier, Butler

Key players: Robbie Hummel (6’8” SR. FORWARD) 17.5 PPG, and 5.9 RPG; Ryne Smith (6’3” SR. GUARD) 11.0 PPG and 46% 3FG shooter; and Lewis Jackson (5’9” SR. POINT GUARD) 10.8 PPG and 4.2 APG.

Strengths: snake-bitten senior Robbie Hummel, who has struggled with knee injuries his entire Boilermaker career, leads this team. However, this team will go as Hummel goes (and when Hummel goes, they’re really good), as outside of the team’s top three scorers, this team has a lot of unproven talent.  They can shoot the three and are sixth in the NCAA in turnover margin, both staples of head coach Matt Painter’s teams.

Weaknesses: This team is very untested on the inside, especially after All-American JaJuan Johnson’s graduation. Teams will focus on shutting down Hummel, he needs help from Smith and Jackson late in games. If they can find a consistent second scorer, they will be dancing in March.

Prediction: 0-2. Penn State doesn’t matchup very well with Purdue. They have no one to stop Hummel and have struggled against this team for the last few seasons. These will be close games, but Purdue is too physical on both the perimeter and interior for Penn State to handle.

Indiana, 12-0

January 8, noon, BTN (Alumni Weekend), Bryce Jordan Center

January 22, noon, BTN, Assembly Hall

Projected seed: 4

RPI: 48

Quality wins: @ N.C. State, Kentucky

Key players: Cody Zeller (6’11” FR. FORWARD) 15.1 PPG, 7.3 RPG and 66.3% FG shooter; Victor Oladipo (6’5” SO. GUARD) 12.2 PPG; Will Sheehey (6’6” SO. FORWARD) 10.7 PPG; Christian Watford (6’9” JR. FORWARD) 12.1 PPG and 50% 3FG shooter; and Jordan Hulls (6’0” JR. GUARD) 12.1 PPG, 3.6 APG and 56.3% 3FG shooter.

Strengths: The Hoosiers own the signature win of the early season, a dramatic buzzer-beating victory over the top-ranked Kentucky Wildcats. Head coach Tom Crean, who has preached patience with the IU diehards since his arrival, is starting to show his worth. This team has only one senior that plays significant minutes and they can score in bunches. How so? The Hooisers are first in 3 FG%, ninth in FG % and twelfth in total scoring in the NCAA. They’re streaky and shoot the lights out, as evidenced by their performance against Kentucky. Zeller was a big-time player coming out of high school and is a monster in the paint. Watford is versatile and can really shoot for a big man.

Weaknesses: They’re a very average defensive team and can go through cold-spells. Youth is also a bit of a concern, as they rely a lot on their underclassmen. This is a tournament team and they will compete for the conference title.  They will not sneak up on anyone this year, how will they handle the spotlight?

Prediction: 0-2. This is an awful matchup for Penn State. Indiana has the inside game with Zeller and the outside game with Oladipo, Watford, Sheehey and Hulls. This Hoosier team will be fun to watch.

Nebraska, 8-3

January 11, 8:30pm, BTN, Haymarket Arena

February 11, 1pm, ESPNU, Bryce Jordan Center

Projected seed: Out

RPI: 105

Quality win: @TCU

Losses: Oregon, @ Creighton and Wake Forest

Key players: Bo Spencer (6’2” SR. GUARD – LSU TRANFER)16.0 PPG and 4.3 APG; Jorge Drim Diaz (6’11” JR. CENTER) 10.9 PPG and 2.56 BPG; and Brandon Ubel (6’10” JR. FORWARD) 7.1 PPG and 6.4 RPG.

Strengths: They’re a very big team, with two players taller than six foot, ten inches in the starting lineup. Spencer, who averaged 14.5 PPG in his junior season at LSU, gives the Huskers a big scoring threat on the outside. They have a higher than normal amount of junior college players on their roster and they’re a relative unknown to everyone in the conference.

Weaknesses: They’ve played a relatively soft schedule and the B1G is completely different in regards to style of play than the Big 12.  How will they adjust? They’re not a particularly great shooting team.

Prediction: Split. Not the greatest matchup for Penn State, due to the interior size of Nebraska, but the unknown may help the Lions. We will give them a split, losing on the road but winning one at the BJC.

Minnesota, 12-1

January 15, 4pm, BTN, Williams Arena

Projected seed: first four out

RPI: 17

Quality wins: Fairfield; Indiana State; and Virginia Tech

Loss: Dayton

Key players: Julian Welch (6’3” JR. GUARD) 9.9 PPG and Rodney Williams (6’7” JR. FORWARD) 9.8 PPG.

Strengths: It was Trevor Mbakwe, however, he tore his ACL and is out for the rest of the season. How do the Gophers replace Mbakwe? Ralph Sampson III provides tremendous size on the inside, but he can’t replace his scoring.

Weaknesses: The 12-1 record is certainly inflated by the fact the Gophers first true road game will come in B1G play. They’re missing their best player and are relatively young at key areas, especially at guard. No starter averages more than ten points-per-game.

Prediction: Loss. The Lions will give the Gophers are great game in Minneapolis, but Minnesota’s size will prove too much.

Illinois, 11-2

January 19, 9pm, ESPN2, Bryce Jordan Center

Projected seed: 6

RPI: 44

Quality win: Gonzaga

Losses: Cornell and Missouri

Key players: D.J. Richardson (6’3” JR. GUARD) 14.3 PPG; Meyers Leonard (7’1” SO. CENTER) 13.4 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 2.4 BPG and 61.6% FG shooter; Sam Maniscalco (6’0” GRADUATE SENIOR GUARD FROM BRADLEY) 10.6 PPG; and Brandon Paul (6’4” JR. GUARD) 11.3 PPG and 3.1 APG.

Strengths: They have a lot of depth, as evidenced by four players averaging double-figures and play good defense. The Illini have a nice balance of inside (Leonard) and outside (Richardson, Manisalco and Paul).

Weaknesses: They’ve played an above average schedule, but haven’t been tested on the road. They don’t shoot the three particularly well and have some players that haven’t been tested on a big-time level in the B1G. Richardson has emerged as a go-to type player, but remains inconsistent.

Prediction: Loss. This has the potential to be an extremely close game. Penn State has played very well at Assembly Hall in the last few years and Illinois doesn’t pass the eye test. Look for a good game, but Illinois gets the edge on their home court.

Ohio State, 12-1

January 25, 6:30pm, BTN, Value City Arena

Projected seed: 1

RPI: 21

Quality wins: Florida and Duke

Loss: @ Kansas

Key players: Jared Sullinger (6’9” SO. FORWARD) 16.2 PPG and 9.2 RPG; William Buford (6’6” SR. GUARD) 15.8 PPG; DeShaun Thomas (6’7” SO. FORWARD) 15.8 PPG; and Aaron Craft (6’2” SO. GUARD) 8.2 PPG and 5.5 APG.

Strengths: This team is led by future NBA lottery pick Jared Sullinger. His game is very similar to close friend and role model, former Nittany Lion great Jamelle Cornley. He is relentless and as tough as they come in the paint. The Buckeyes are talented, at every position, and are tournament tested. Buford is an NBA talent and Craft is the perfect player for this team, he epitomizes a B1G guard, hard-nosed, tough and smart. Their easily the most talented team in the conference. The Buckeyes are 20^th in the NCAA in rebounding margin.

Weaknesses: Sullinger has been dealing with back problems and had to sit against Kansas. The Jayhawks exposed Ohio State’s lack of quality depth, which could come back to bite them in the NCAA tournament if Sullinger is dealing with injuries and/or foul trouble. Buford can disappear at times and force a lot of bad shots (see the regional final against Kentucky in March).

Prediction: Loss. Much like Kentucky last month, Ohio State is too good for the Nittany Lions. This will be a nice learning experience for the young guys.

Wisconsin, 11-2

January 31, 8pm, BTN, Bryce Jordan Center

February 19, time and station TBA, Kohl Center

Projected seed: 4

RPI: 25

Quality win: UNLV

Losses: @ North Carolina and @ Marquette

Key players: Jared Berggren (6’10” JR. FORWARD/CENTER) 12.5 PPG; Ben Brust (6’1” SO. GUARD) 10.8 PPG and 45% 3FG shooter; Jordan Taylor (6’1” SR. GUARD) 12.2 PPG and 5.0 APG; and Ryan Evans (6’6” JR. GUARD/FORWARD) 9.9 PPG and 7.0 RPG.

Strengths: Toughness and suffocating defense. Head coach Bo Ryan always has his team’s playing physical defense and this year is no exception. The Badgers are second in the NCAA in FG percentage defense, third in three-point percentage defense and first in scoring defense. Jordan Taylor is a big-time clutch player and can hit all the big shots. The Badgers run the Swing offense to perfection and remain one of the most consistent team’s in the country.

Weaknesses: While Taylor is tested, the rest of the team is virtually unknown. Taylor can get into foul trouble with his aggressive play, whom do the Badgers turn to if he is out of the game? They also struggle with athletic teams who can dictate the tempo of the game. They’re not a great shooting team, outside of Brust, who comes off the bench.

Prediction: 0-2. Taylor v. Frazier will be fun to watch, but the Lions don’t have enough firepower to grind out games against the Badgers. We’re looking forward to seeing Coach Chambers’ squad against this tough bunch; these games aren’t for fans of high scoring basketball.

Iowa, 8-5

February 4, 3pm, ESPNU, Carver-Hawkeye Arena

February 16, 8pm, ESPNU, Bryce Jordan Center

Projected seed: out

RPI: 157

Bad loss: Campbell (home)

Key players: Matt Gatens (6’5” SR. GUARD) 14.0 PPG; Roy Devyn Marble (6’6” SO. GUARD/FORWARD) 10.9 PPG; and Melsahn Basabe (6’7” SO. FORWARD) 9.5 PPG and 6.0 RPG.

Strengths: They’re not a lot of strengths with this squad, as they’ve been very disappointing thus far. They’re a decent shooting team and Gatens, their best player, is a senior who has a lot of experience.

Weaknesses: They’re a horrible defensive team, 252^nd in the NCAA and lost all three games they’ve played on the road. The Hawkeyes are not a very talented team with a lot of question marks. This will be a long B1G season in Iowa City.

Prediction: 2-0. The Lions are better than the Hawkeyes and it will show on the court.

Michigan State, 11-2

February 8, 6:30pm, BTN, Breslin Center

Projected seed: 4

RPI: 20

Quality wins: Florida State and Gonzaga

Losses: North Carolina and Duke

Key players: Draymond Green (6’7” SR. FORWARD) 15.5 PPG and 9.8 RPG; Keith Appling (6’1” SO. GUARD) 11.2 PPG; and Brandon Wood (6’2” SR. GUARD) 10.3 PPG.

Strengths: The Spartans are 16^th in the NCAA in field goal percentage defense and seventh in rebounding margin. Draymond Green provides toughness on the inside and is a great leader. Appling is a dynamic guard in the open court, one of the fastest players in the B1G. They’re young, talented and deep. Head coach Tom Izzo has his team playing tenacious defense and it will lead to a lot of knockdown, drag-out victories in the conference.

Weaknesses: They’re a terrible three point shooting team, 202nd in the NCAA. The Spartans rely on Green a lot, and he is prone to foul-trouble. Which young guy can hit a big shot when they need one? They’re also extremely small and will struggle with team’s that have a lot of size.

Prediction: Loss. The Lions will struggle with the Spartans, especially since this game will be on the road. The Lions will keep it close, but Michigan State is too much to handle. Frazier and Appling are the two fastest players in the B1G.

PSU Overall Prediction, 12-19, 4-14 in the B1G.

Enjoy the season!

Dave Joyner has his man………..and it’s going to either be an epic hire, or an epic fail.

There really is no in-between at this point.

The search for Joe Paterno’s replacement seems to be over. Despite some published reports in the last few days stating otherwise, no potential head coaching candidates have interviewed within the last week, and no potential candidates are scheduled to interview for the top job anytime soon. The bottom line here is we are probably five to seven days away from a press conference in State College introducing Penn State’s new head football coach, and nobody outside of Dave Joyner and his inner circle (i.e. Ira Lubert) definitely knows who that person is.

Joyner for his part seems very confident, if not cocky, that he has landed a big fish. He brazenly has told former lettermen and alumni asking him for updates in the search to stop asking questions, butt out and trust him. Needless to say, that advice hasn’t necessarily been received well, but Joyner doesn’t seem to care at this point, and has to feel that the end result of his work will do all his talking for him.

One thing for certain at this point is the mainstream media and beat reporters have no clue what is going on. Just today, several Pennsylvania papers published stories that current Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Munchak would be announced as Penn State’s head coach next week. That report was dismissed as being false in mere hours as Munchak gave a full denial at his weekly press conference today in Tennessee. While several coaches have denied being interested in jobs in the past only to be hired in short time, don’t expect that scenario to play out with Munchak. For starters, Munchak is an extremely honest and up front person. He has shown no desire to ever play games with the media like a Nick Saban or Bobby Petrino has in the past. Generally, his word, whether it be in public or behind closed doors, is the truth. Munchak and Penn State certainly have spoke about the job in the last month, but it’s not believed that Munchak was ever a leading candidate for the vacancy. Furhermore, while Munchak would be a good, solid hire for Penn State, he’s not the home run that Joyner and Lubert seem to be looking for.

So that brings us to the one question on everyone’s minds………..who is going to get this job?

First there is Boise State’s Chris Petersen, a coach we have talked about plenty here in the last week. Despite erroneous reports from Dave Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot News, Petersen is not talking to anybody at the moment (including some major boosters in Boise), and never has denied interest in the Penn State job. Petersen was thought to be the top target of Penn State money-man Ira Lubert, and cannot be dismissed as a candidate simply based on his silence in the last month.

Georgia coach Mark Richt is another coach that has been mentioned in the search. Richt is reportedly in negotiations with Georgia for a contract extension, but those negotiations have been going on for a month with no resolution. The bad news is, much like with Chip Kelly at Oregon, we have come across nothing that has tied Richt to Penn State or the ongoing search. Richt could also be using rumblings of his Penn State interest to finalize his new contract with Georgia.

Next up is Green Bay Packers’ quarterbacks coach Tom Clements. Clements has been another mainstream media favorite (which should tell you all you need to know) and has been tied to the job by the previously mentioned Dave Jones, Ron Musselman of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and Mike Poorman of Statecollege.com. Considering everything these three journalists have printed about this search has been completely incorrect, we wouldn’t put much stock into Clements’ candidacy. Besides, does anyone think that Dave Joyner and Ira Lubert, two ego-driven men who have never failed at anything in their entire lives, are going to settle on Tom Clements? That’s not to say Clements isn’t a good football coach, but he’s clearly not the right guy for the head job at this point. For him to be hired would mean Penn State basically struck outon every top target they had on their list. Now, if we are talking about Clements becoming the offensive coordinator, that’s a different story.

One person who we know it will not be is current Penn State interim coach Tom Bradley. Unless something drastically changes in the next few days (which it could if pride is put aside), Monday will be Bradley’s last game on the Penn State sidelines for the forseeable future if not ever.  Sources close to Bradley tell us he has multiple offers from other schools, and will accept one of them after the bowl game. Bradley has told those close to him that the only coach he would be an assistant for at Penn State is Joe Paterno, and all signs are he is ready to move on to another school after Monday’s game.

Finally, we will leave you with this tidbit. Over the past few days, Laschout has been told by what we deem to be very reliable sources that the hire will be “a moonshot for the Penn State program.” When asked if it was a home run type of hire, our source told us “it’s more like a grand slam when you are down by 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th.”

Let’s all cross our fingers that is the case.