FOOTBALL

Penn State Coaching Search - Analyzing the Cuteness.

So - the rumor mill is convinced - at least they were this morning - that Mike Munchak is Penn State's new football coach.I admit, I find this to be improbable, considering Munchak is in his first season as head coach of the Tennessee Titans - yes, the Titans - the NFL Titans - formerly known as the Houston Oilers, the team for whom Munchak played Guard from 1982 - 1993, going All Pro 10 of those seasons - the team that retired his jersey number - the team that he has coached for since 1994 - the team whose jersey he is wearing in his PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME BUST - oh yeah, and he went to Penn State - playing 1978-1981.The Titans, including PSU cutie Timmy Shaw, are 8-7 so far this season.He's a Scranton native - so we know that he's got Moxie to spare.So, let's get to the important information - His score on the cutiepie meter. You might think that Mike isn't a "first look" cutie - but that might be because the light blue of the titans' uniforms distracts you from his icy sapphire eyes. He's clean-cut, with a crooked smile - which is a plus - and, did I mention he has a bust in Canton? He's a successful businessman (hello? did he take my dad's B-Log class?) and is married with 2 daughters.Photo: Matthew Tosh via Wikipedia

Part 2 of Being Ready; Bill O'Brien's coaching staff

There have been announcements, and confirmations of the men who will fill the assistant coaching positions at PSU under Bill O'Brien (for the meantime, anyway).Attention readers, grains of salt may be found in the entry way and may be taken as needed/desired.First of all I want to say that I have been an advocate of a coaching overhaul for years (many years) and even with the upheaval of November, ignoring any pangs of regret and nostalgia, it has been very clear to me that, regardless of what fans, alum, lettermen, I may have wanted or hoped for, PSU had really no choice but to bring in a totally new staff.O'Brien has retained Larry Johnson, Sr. as Defensive Line coach and Ron Vanderlinden as Linebacker coach. I'm pleased to see these two remain at PSU - I think they are exceptionally talented coaches and I look forward to their continued success. He has also kept Strength and Conditioning Coach John Thomas.So let's get started -First, there's Tight End coach John Strollo, who currently coaches O line for Ball State - a position he's held for 1 season. I don't really have any beef with Strollo, except that his resume is devoid of FBS experience, except for 3 seasons at Duke and this 1 season at Ball State. And, in the last 31 years, he's worked at 11 different schools - his longest tenure (81-82 and 84-90) being at Northeastern.Next - Charles London, running backs. London played college ball at Duke and, after a number of years working in front offices (including event planning for Disney Wide World of Sports) he took a job as assistant for the Chicago Bears and then (look for a pattern) last season he moved to the Tennessee Titans where he served as Offensive Assistant/Quality Control coach.Let's move on to John Butler - oh John Butler - if this works out, you are destined to be my favorite - consider yourself warned. Butler (gotta love the name) will coach Dbacks (fav players too). I would/should put Butler at the end - but I'm going to try and be optimistic (this will make more sense later). Butler got his coaching start in 2001, at SouthWestern State, and has spent time at Harvard and Minnesota. And, (all together now) since 2011, he has worked at South Carolina (eep! Steve Spurrier) as Special Teams Coordinator - BUT DON'T WORRY - he coached d-backs at South Western State. Still cute.And that takes us to the remaining assistant coaches - Mac McWhorter, offensive line, Stan Hixon, Wide Receivers, George Godsey, quarterbacks and Ted Roof, Defensive Coordinator.All of these gentlemen have one thing in common - they have worked for George O'Leary (he's baaaaaack).McWhorter, who played for Georgia, has been coaching college ball since 1980 - spending time at a lot of prestigious schools, including Bama, Clemson, UGA and most recently at Texas - he has coached the Longhorns' line since 2002. But from 2000 - 2001 he worked at Georgia Tech, for and with George O'Leary - and he stepped in as GT's head coach (after O'Leary left) for their 2001 bowl game.Stan Hixon, PSU's new wide receivers coach left the college football scene in 2004 to work for the Washington Redskins and has worked for the Buffalo Bills since 2010. Hixon spent some time in FCS in the 1980s, but later took gigs at South Carolina and Wake Forest - before he went to work at Georgia Tech in 1995 where he worked for O'Leary through the 1999 season (when he left to go to LSU).George Godsey never worked at Georgia Tech! but he played there - for George O'Leary. AND he worked for O'Leary down at UCF from 2004 - 2010. He worked as an offensive assistant (focusing on quarterbacks!) for the Patriots - for the 2011 season. He is our new quarterbacks coach.And finally, Ted Roof, Defensive Coordinator - this is the one hire that most people have some concerns about - his resume is impressive - National Championship at Auburn, working for Alabama and Minnesota; but it's the actual performance of his squads that have most fans worried. He was at Minnesota for 1 season 2008 (was there with Butler) - Which is indicative of his career, having worked for 11, now 12 teams in the last 25 years. AND from 1998 - 2001 he worked at Georgia Tech. And he was slated to move with O'Leary to Notre Dame (he went to Duke instead - wait, who else went to Duke?). Roof worked for Auburn 2009 - 2011 but at the end of the season (okay 1 month ago) he was relieved of his duties - on his way to being Penn State's DC he made one quick stop - he was hired as UCF's DC - for one month.I want to stop typing George O'Leary - and maybe if someone would just address this issue - please please please - just explain why you're reassembling your former boss/mentor's staff? I realize that these are people with whom O'Brien worked over the years - I do, I get it - but just a quick - even a canned, patronizing answer - that's all I want.Or maybe this is all just payback for all those times PSU beat Syracuse ...

I'd like to think; Joseph V Paterno 1926 - 2012

Today, as those at Penn State, and around the world, remember Joe Paterno, I picture Heaven in my head. After finishing some orientation with the Saints, God and Joe take a walk. They pause and God parts the clouds to show Joe all the people in the Bryce Jordan Center, at the Hub, in conference and living rooms and glued to their computer monitors, celebrating his life. And then God says "Look around. Look around. It's because they all love you".

As seen on Twitter

As seen on Twitter:PSUgirl: when my father passed away, my mother would go to church to feel close to him - I would go to section EF

On a lighter note - We Have a Winner; 2011 - 2012 Totally Biased Bowl Preditions

As you may have heard (or counted) - we have a tie in our final standing for the Totally Biased Bowl Predictions for the 2011- 2012 bowl season.It came down to the final game - both ILOVEPSUTOO and PSUgirl finished the contest 23/35 (65+% - not too shabby) and AMANDAKT finished a remarkably close 2nd (or 3rd) with 22/35.TAILGATEMAVEN, who remained consistently awesome, valiantly finished.So, since the whole idea behind the picks is bias - I, as holder and distributor of the (for entertainment only) prizes, am exercising total subjectivity and declaring ILOVEPSUTOO the winner - and soon to be recipient of a resplendent PSU licensed blanket with sleeves (by soon, she and I both know that, I probably mean Blue White).Further! I am bumping AMANDAKT up to 2nd place (I'm biasedly demoting myself to participant).We were considering a cage match coloring and haiku competition -but schedules and thelack of cages resultedin a change of plansThanks to all the gals for participating in one of my favorite traditions - can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings!

Turn! Turn! Turn!

They say for every season there is a time for change.  Change is something historically Penn Staters have not had to experience or handled well when it does happen (see uniform changes).However, change has been thrust upon us. Drastic changes we knew would come at some point, but not in this way. But we have a choice on how we go from here. We can accept our new Coach, trust him not to lead us in the wrong direction.  Or we can resist.I choose the former.  I will not blindly follow,  but I will give Coach a chance to earn my trust, as he asked.  But to move forward, we must first say thanks to the man that makes this change so hard. Thank you JoePa for showing all of us, both inside and outside the football family, what it means to be an honorable person.  For showing us what words like dignity, integrity and pride mean.  Thank you for showing us that there was a better, a right way,  of doing things. Thank you for believing in us.Thank you Joe!

My Current Playlist; Tailgating (and coping) with Music

I love making playlists - for just about everything, but especially for tailgates/parties. I have created scores of song collections based on our weekly tailgate themes, crowd, moods, etc. This season I had started compiling one for the Nebraska game - our scheduled theme was "best of" - we were celebrating 10 seasons of knockout awesome tailgates, and I wanted to pick some excellent songs to fit the mood.And then things changed. Drastically. I don't know if it was Wednesday or Thursday night that week, but I started a new playlist of songs that just reflected my mood at the time - most where angsty or whiney songs - but they really meant something to me. We didn't play any music at the Nebraska tailgate (which, btw, was kickarse) - but I've been listening (and adding) to the playlist ever since.Well, I'm in a kinda bitter and sad place right now. I'm trying (no really, I am) to work my way through what has happened to Penn State in the last 2 months - and while I don't really have any answers, I do have my iPod (shoutout to Tailgate Maven!).Sample from Current Playlist "JVP" on shuffle:"Another Nail in my Heart" Squeeze"Never Tear Us Apart" INXS"Better Man" Pearl Jam"In My Life" Beatles"Don't Answer Me" The Alan Parsons Project"It's the End of the Road" Matt Goss"This is the Day" The The"By My Side" INXS"You're the One" Petula Clark"Mean" Taylor Swift"Different Drum" Stone Poneys"You Were Meant for Me" Jewel"I Predict a Riot" Kaiser Chiefs"Forever Young" Alphaville"Superstar" Carpenters"Bro Hymn" Pennywise"Be True to Your School" Beach Boys"All I Want is You" U2"If I Can't Have You" Kim Wilde"Pack Up" Eliza Doolittle"The Boys of Fall" Kenny Chesney"Come Back Song" Darius Rucker"Don't Get Around Much Anymore" Nathalie Cole"What Doesn't Kill You" Kelly Clarkson"Don't Dream It's Over" Crowded House"Bleeding Love" Leona Lewis"If I Can Dream" Elvis Presley"King of Wishful Thinking" Go West"What Have I Done to Deserve This?" Pet Shop Boys"I Want You Back" The Jackson Five"Young Forever (feat. Mr. Hudson)" Jay-Z"Forget You" Cee Lo"A Little Respect" Erasure"When You Where Young" Killers"Hail to the Lion" Penn State Marching Blue BandThanks for listening.

Pay No Attention to That Man on the Podium; Ticket City Bowl Indoor Tailgate

Jay Paterno - There should be a spot for you at Penn State

Let's start by stating I have never been a fan of Jay Paterno. I disliked the nepotism and failure to adapt that he represented. I assumed that coaching was a stop along his way to something in politics or journalism. In fairness it probably was part of his plan if things hadn't gone so wrong this year. But I'll say this - Jay has faced scorn of the media (and of most fans going back to his clipboard days) and through it all has kept his head high and been there for the players. I am still not convinced he belongs on the sidelines on Saturdays in Happy Valley, but I'm convinced he deserves a place at Penn State. Maybe the Athletic Department (couldn't be worse than Joyner) or on the Board of Trustees. Wouldn't that be sweet justice for him to be on the BOT? So to Jay Paterno, you say Penn State has been your life and I believe you. Your actions since November 5 convince me you belong at Penn State, something I never thought I'd be convinced of. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ticket City Bowl Update

Howdy y'all (man that is weird to say)!!!! I am having a blast here in Texas!Just got back from the pep rally at the Cotton Bowl.  It really hit me today when Coach Bradley was speaking that after tomorrow, Penn State football is going to be a lot different.  All new staff, possibly new traditions. What won't change though is our love for Penn State. We are a family.  We will always be a family.We Are Always Penn State!