11/21/24
May 18, 2004
Joe Pa will be back for four more: years. I'm sure the folks in Happy Valley are loving this decision. Some say he deserves the chance to go out on his own terms because of all that he has done for Penn State, but I say that the times have passed him by and he needs to do what is best for the school he claims to love and not for himself.
I'm sure Joe Pa has a few million stashed away, I'm sure he gets comped everywhere he goes in the state, he should retire and become an "advisor" for the program. Penn State and the kids they recruit don't deserve to be part of his sideshow.
That being said, it is pretty cool to see the old guy still out there calling the shots and yelling at refs.
posted by gilcintron to football at 12:06 PM - 12 comments
By the way, welcome to gilcintron. From your profile: "I like the Yankees, Giants and Knicks and the rest of the NFC East, Red Sox, Pacers and Phil Jackson." I can find at least four things wrong with that. We may need WC to interview you, and soon.
posted by 86 at 02:24 PM on May 18, 2004
I'm sure the folks in Happy Valley are loving this decision. I know the folks in Iowa City, West Lafayette, Madison, and the other 2nd-tier Big Ten schools are all in favor of this bold move. One less powerhouse to contend with--one win against the Michigan-Ohio State axis of evil, a loss to one of The Other Schools, and someone's in a halfway-decent bowl. However, did I hear that Penn State's incoming class is pretty strong? I wouldn't totally count them out as a force. And I'm scared that Kirk Ferentz, with his strong Pennsylvania ties, might take a shot at this job someday.
posted by jason streed at 02:31 PM on May 18, 2004
Profile was supposed to say "...HATE the rest of the NFC East, Red Sox, Pacers and Phil Jackson."
fixed now though...thanks!! posted by gilcintron at 02:35 PM on May 18, 2004
I wonder how Joe Pa feels about making PS join the Big Ten now? While it was a good move initially [he got to his Rose Bowl...big deal...the BCS has made that a very moot point], its probably hurt their recruiting in their traditional strong areas [the whole Northeast for example...]-while NOT being able to make up for it in traditional BT territories..I bet it has REALLY hurt their 'non money' sports too...the extra travel and travel expenses alone HAVE to hurt sports like volleyball,wrestling,etc- now,instead of a bus ride, all of the road games are PLANE trips...
posted by NYSSoftballBlue at 08:41 PM on May 18, 2004
I've always been a huge Penn State fan, and Paterno was one of the big reasons why. I wish he would have retired, and the next few years could be awful. I hope her proves me wrong.
posted by justgary at 11:34 PM on May 18, 2004
NYSSoftball, that travel point is an excellent one and it is something greedy-ass Boston College is going to have to deal with.
They now have to travel to Miami, Fla St, Clemson, Duke, UNC, Wake Forest, NC State....all league games. Like you said before shuttle flights now become major flights.
Also, their basketball team is screwed. All of their rivals (Georgetown, UConn, Syracuse) have said that they aren't interested in scheduling BC. The big one is UConn. The gates at a game in the Civic Center or the Fleet Center were big bucks for BC and now they won't get to make those gates. They will eventually forge new rivalries, but geographical rivalries are always better than phony "divisionally mandated" rivalries.
We'll see how BC, Penn State and some of these other schools feel about their greedy decisions a few years into the move.
posted by gilcintron at 08:49 AM on May 19, 2004
gilcintron: while I think BC did do it for greed, as did the rest of the ACC, and I think the ACC is destroying the best basketball in the country, BC will be OK on the basketball gate revenue front- Duke routinely sells out Fleet Center-sized buildings all over the country. Everyone is Duke's rival, basically. Last time Duke came up to play BC, you couldn't get a ticket to the game for less than $500. (I tried.) Tell me when the last time a UConn or Syracuse visit generated that kind of demand- I'm guessing not a while. UNC historically has similar gate impacts (though not quite as high in recent years.) And it is worth pointing out that the other alternative for BC was pretty bad- losing the gate from football games with UM and VT would be pretty devastating. You're definitely destroying traditional rivalries (which I think sucks, totally agreed there) but the money really isn't the reason why that's a bad thing. With the recent TV deal BC will be laughing all the way to the bank. That article suggests BC will be going from < $1m a year in their share of the football tv revenue to> $3M a year. And their basketball-related TV revenue will also increase drastically, though not that much. It is the fans, as usual, who will suffer. As far as PSU goes... I think JoePa deserves whatever he wants, period. It is probably in the school's best interests to try to persuade him to step down, but if he doesn't, they should be behind him as long as he wants them to be. Doing anything less (publicly) would be just utterly dishonorable.
posted by tieguy at 09:19 AM on May 19, 2004
Streed, PSU actually has a kid that may be their future @ QB -- Anthony Morelli. This kid is already 6'4", 210 and has a cannon of an arm. Pitt had him all but locked up and royally screwed up the situation, causing him to screw over the Panthers and go with the Lions. I guess it's payback for what Pitt did to PSU when recent QB and grad Rod Rutherford pulled one over JoePa's eyes right before him.
posted by rosey8810 at 09:11 AM on May 20, 2004
Rats. BTW, you dislike all the right teams. Also, in the "truly trivial trivia" category, I note that your usernumber is exactly half of mine.
posted by jason streed at 12:03 PM on May 20, 2004
So Rosey is only half the beast you are Jason?
posted by billsaysthis at 06:24 PM on May 20, 2004
Maybe more like twice the beast, given the hierarchies of community weblogs.
posted by jason streed at 09:12 AM on May 21, 2004
Unfortunately, letting JoePa go out on his own terms is going to set the program back even longer. The program is already struggling, as the state can see the balance of power shifting to the point where PSU is no longer the powerhouse on the field AND off the field in recruiting. I completely agree, they need to move him into an advisor-type position where he'll still be able to push the university but not hurt the football program. Plus, I'd love to see them get back on their feet for rivalry sake, maybe get a coach in here that's not such a chicken to play an intra-state team that's caught up to them after a number of years. Don't forget who closed out the latest chapter of that rivalry... :-)