Is Paterno Succession Plan in Place?

By ha-mace (Chief Contributor)
Tags: Succession Plan, Tom Bradley, Galen Hall, Greg Schiano, Joe Paterno, Penn State Nittany Lions

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Created: 06/30/2008
03:05 AM

There have been eight different Presidents of the United States since JoePa became head coach. People who were freshman during Paterno's first season as head coach are now approaching retirement. What I'm trying to say is he's been the coach for a long time, and every year someone asks "is this his last year?" Well, if it is there seems to be a plan in place for his successor, as that person's apparently already on the coaching staff.

2008 is the last year JoePa is under contract at Penn State, but he's said repeatedly that he's not done coaching, but it may not entirely be up to him. Sunday's Altoona Mirror quotes recruit Mike Yancich as saying he was told first hand of the succession plan: ''Mr. Paterno told me himself that his replacement is already within the staff," said Yancich, "so he'll just bring one new guy in and bump everybody up in the ranks."

So the question then is, "who's the replacement?"Well, prevailing wisdom has to say it's between offensive coordinator Galen Hall and defensive coordinator Tom Bradley (and please don't say Jay Paterno, please!).

Let's look at Hall first. He's a Pennsylvania guy, he's from Altoona, graduated from Penn State but he's only been on the current coaching staff since 2004. But, he has head coaching experience at the University of Florida (and in the XFL but let's not talk about that) and you have to assume at age 67 he's looking to get another head coaching position.

And then there's Bradley. Again he's a PA guy who grew up in Johnstown and also graduated form Penn State. And while he doesn't have the head coaching experience of Hall he has certainly paid his dues having been on the coaching staff since 1979. It's also been rumored that he's turned down head coaching positions at other schools over the years. Obviously the thought there is he's waiting for JoePa to hit the road.

And of course, when you're talking about a successor to Paterno these days you have to bring up the name Greg Schiano, head coach of Rutgers. Obviously this name doesn't fit with what Yancich said but it's the name that seems to be brought up most often when the "JoePa replacement" comes up.

Here's my take, until I hear otherwise directly from his mouth, I'm considering JoePa the coach of Penn State for eternity. He's been counted out so many times and yet here he is still coaching the team. So, the age thing might be a factor you think? Well, that's assuming he's actually mortal and bound by the laws  of aging as the rest of us are ... which I think is clearly a silly assumption at this point.