I think it’s pretty evident at this point that sometime in December Matt Rhule will be named Head Coach. He basically confessed his love for Penn State openly yesterday while generically saying how much Nebraska means to him. There are bigger forces at play here and they have a voice. Franklins firing and higher Rhule, a Paterno player, is an obvious appeal to bring in more donors that may have withdrawn or withheld due to the way Franklin carried himself and ran the team. It’s not 1994 anymore, I do not believe this is smartest choice to launch Penn State into the top tier of CFB. Penn State will continue to fall victim to a traditional way of doing things that has not worked in decades while other teams adapt and maneuver. Rhule is more similar to Franklin than he his different from a team building perspective with no real accomplishments outside of trending a program upward. Perhaps he brings Raiola with him and that could be a fringe benefit for a season while he collects himself. This fan base has tasted blood and Rhule won’t have 12 years to prove himself. Nebraska is a shaky 5-1 and won’t make the playoffs so the mid December timeline works perfectly. I really hope I’m wrong about Rhule but as of right now I don’t see it. Rhule is 2-23 against the Top 25, he’s 0-11 against top 10 teams. He’s 0-18 against ranked teams since leaving Temple. He’s never made a college football playoff. Rhule has the two most important tangibles you can have right now though, he’s a relic from the Paterno era and he vacations with Pat Kraft. Welcome home Matt Rhule.
My thoughts exactly and I also think this move will cost Kraft his job.
We are well into the 21st century and people that think doing things the way it was done in 1986 is the way to go are completely out of touch.
The Paterno way and the old Penn State way of running a football program are dead.
@psujoe when was james Franklin and Bob ever Joe Paterno guys? It may be Joe Paterno guys we need because James Franklin turned into a shit show and I believe Larry Johnson would’ve done a better job than Bob did. LJ. Sr would’ve been able to hold on to Silas Redd and the WR we lost to Oklahoma I can’t remember his name and we don’t lose to Ohio. I believe we win 10 or 11 games had LJ Sr took over in 2012 that was a team built for a NC run. Bob never felt the sanctions and we go 8-4 and 7-5
Franklin was definitely not a Paterno guy and we see how that ended up, lol!
In the end JF ran what appeared to be clean program and did well based on the circumstances. His fault was being to loyal to players and assistant coaches, and recruiting the wrong style of player for some positions. If I recall, JoePa did the same thing regarding loyalty to players and assistant coaches.
In today's game, the HC has to be a master of relationship leadership and understand all the puzzle pieces e.g. portal, NIL, coaching staff moving on fairly quickly, booster money, getting out of the way of competent assistants and letting go of ones not, etc. The portal piece is really about understanding how to use it and maybe even prioritize to some degree over traditional recruiting for certain positions.
If your bird hunter this will make sense: it's great to buy a pup from great lines, train the pup and go hunting to see what you got along the way, but it can be a lot cheaper to buy a started pup or a cast away b/c you know what your getting for the most part without going through 2-3 years of development time and cost...
I am not so sure Rhule is going to be the hire here...Part of this is wishful thinking on my part as I don't think he is the right person for this job...I am going to sit back and see how this process works itself out...One thing I am certain of is that this is going to be entertaining and interesting...
@the-funeral-director what’s wrong with Matt Rhule? Dude has Nebraska smelling winning again and that place was a dumpster fire when he took over. I like Matt and imo he’d be a great fit.
@the-funeral-director me too! Matt Rhule is a good coach and has the chance to be a great coach given the right opportunity. I give Coach Day a lot of credit for turning that team around and winning the NC last year but that coaching staff was about to get fired after the Michigan game. The dude ain’t proved anything and we can’t afford to miss on the next coach. James Franklin wasn’t a miss or bad hire he just fudged up recruiting a QB that didn’t fit what we wanted to do on offense and he was too stubborn to pull the plug. I’m pulling for Terry Smith but I’ll be excited to get Rhule if it happens. I could care less about getting the fan base excited big picture is to get ‘em happy and winning makes fans happy. And it turns my stomach he’s an Ohio St dude anyway 🤮 you give Matt Rhule or Greg Schiano the Ohio St players and they’d win a NC and both are Paterno guys!
And why all this piling on the goat Joe Paterno baby? These dudes y’all get all hyped up about can’t tie joe Paterno’s jock strap. Joe went everywhere and stomped some ass and didn’t cry about being in the SEC backyard. He went to their back yards and kicked their ass and did it all the time. I don’t get offended easy but acting like Joe Paterno guys are a step below in coaching kind of pisses me off. Matt Rhule and Greg Schiano actually takes jobs where something has to be built from the ground up a challenge that coaches like Urban Meyer and Nick Saban would never take. Ain’t damn thing wrong with Joe Paterno guys they just ain’t had the chance to get a job like Penn St. You don’t win 409 games and 24 playoff games by accident and have 5 undefeated seasons kicking the shit out of Georgia and Miami both teams ranked number 1 and a Miami team that sent the whole damn team to the NFL…maybe you forgot “they didn’t want to catch the ball” because they were getting their dicks knocked in the dirt. Ask the great Jimmy Johnson if you don’t believe me. Ain’t a damn thing wrong with Paterno guys. Just saying
I remember LJ Sr saying..why not Larry Johnson when he was trying to get the job and I say, why not Joe Paterno guys we haven’t gone that way yet and that might be the problem.
Who’s piling on Paterno? No one on this forum was a bigger fan than me and as I said in another post I idolized the guy but you can’t hang on forever. The Paterno era ended 15 years ago and it’s time for the feuding factions at PSU to settle their differences and embrace the new era.
@psujoe i listen to more stuff than just here and all i hear is we don’t need any joe Paterno guys like it’s a disease to hire a joe Paterno guy. You give Greg Schiano or Matt Rhule the top notch players like Ohio State and Alabama get these dudes would win NC’s just like Coach day and Nick Saban did. Notice how the SEC has cooled off because they don’t have all the talent they did 5 years ago. The SEC heavyweights are just 1 deep now and not stock piled 3 and 4 deep. The last few days just listening to jabs at Penn St and Joe Paterno got to me and I went on a rant 😂 we haven’t hired a Penn St guy yet so why not if we have one that’s good and qualified.
As far as I'm concerned, "He's a Paterno guy" is the best compliment anybody can receive!
You guys would run the program into the shitter in no time.
@psujoe i listen to more stuff than just here and all i hear is we don’t need any joe Paterno guys like it’s a disease to hire a joe Paterno guy. You give Greg Schiano or Matt Rhule the top notch players like Ohio State and Alabama get these dudes would win NC’s just like Coach day and Nick Saban did. Notice how the SEC has cooled off because they don’t have all the talent they did 5 years ago. The SEC heavyweights are just 1 deep now and not stock piled 3 and 4 deep. The last few days just listening to jabs at Penn St and Joe Paterno got to me and I went on a rant 😂 we haven’t hired a Penn St guy yet so why not if we have one that’s good and qualified.
There are coaches out there doing a lot more with less than Schiano and Ruhle.. Let’s not conduct this coaching search while wearing our blue and white glasses is what I am lobbying for.
@psujoe watching the last 3 games looks like it’s in the shitter maybe a Joe Paterno guy can get it out. We’ve tried your way the last 2 coaches and both really had a bad ending. Again, I’ll get behind whoever the coach is they hire but not to hire a coach because he’s a Joe Paterno guy is total BS.
@psujoe come on Homer , you want the OC from Oregon and Ohio St and you believe Coach Schiano and Matt Rhule have that kind of talent? Not even close and Ohio St offense ain’t why they win, it’s their stud defense is why they’re always great but having some of the best players does help. Hey Joe, how did you go 6-1 against Bobby Bowden and Joe said I had better players. The great Bobby Bowdon was asked how he won all them football games and he responded, I had better players.
I want the best man out there for the job because I want to win and Penn St football comes before whoever the coach is and if anybody remembers I would’ve fired James Franklin after the ND loss because I seen this shit coming because I knew James Franklin wouldn’t bench DA. I’m a believer, you do the same stupid shit, you get the same stupid shit. I told Kularrow DA was a disaster for what we need in a QB and it ain’t going to get better last year and I also said some losses are forgivable and some ain’t..the ND loss was not and they should’ve fired James Franklin after that game. With what’s going on do you really want to hire 2 OC’s at Oregon and Ohio State where these 2 schools are loaded with talent over 2 coaches Schiano or Rhule with a given track record of being rugged winning coaches on the field and building teams up like Rutgers and that shit show in Nebraska? Penn St needs a rugged head coach and Matt Rhule is a perfect fit.
Homer, I’m serious on who I’d like to have as HC but I’m also having fun with you but post can come across like I’m being rude or disrespectful and that’s not the case and know I’ll get behind whoever they hire. As long as we win I don’t care who’s right, who’s wrong or who the coach is…just win baby!
Anyone that has ever coached with Saban is on the list but if you are old PSU Culture you are not? Maybe we can hire another guy that coached the Patriots, they are all good right? Crapshoot to some degree. And then you have change and cycles...Clemson.
Recruiting is a big deal, they better be able to recruit but winning, NIL, Playing Time, stadium, hot girls ... all go into recruiting. JFF could recruit but I think that advantage dropped off a bit because of losing.
JFF recruited reasonably and his players stayed out of trouble for the most part. IF he could have just won 30% of his big games. And I'll even ignore his early career games as he was still handicapped. He wasn't Satan and Joe wasn't God. Joe would not like this new world but that doesn't mean these guys that have ties to him are Joe.
Homer wrote "There are coaches out there doing a lot more with less than Schiano and Ruhle.. Let’s not conduct this coaching search while wearing our blue and white glasses is what I am lobbying for."
Amen to that!!!! That is exactly what I am thinking and what I am looking for...I want this new coach to be have some head coaching experience and be a guy who has won with less...That is Cignetti to a "T"...That is why I would pull out all the stops to get that guy...
I agree with Roam, why would he leave Indiana he’s got it made there and he’s 63 years old. I’ll be his biggest cheerleader if he comes to Penn St but it doesn’t make sense to me for him to leave. I still believe the Oregon win doesn’t look as good today especially after the UCLA and NW games.
It makes perfect sense...You can't compare the Penn State football program to Indiana's football program...Stadium, facilities, budget, history...My question is why wouldn't he want the job? You act this is like becoming the head coach at Ball State? This is one of the premier football programs in college football...A top 5 job...I can tell ya this much...If they don't reach out to him about the vacancy that would be malpractice...I pull out all of the stops and make the guy say no to me...If he says no then you move on but at least you took your swings to get the guy...To me sitting around handwringing and pearl clutching about why the guy won't take the job I say go get the guy...This is the head coaching job at Penn F**king State for God sake...You get the boys together and ante up what you can and you go sell this guy on why he would be a fool not to take the job...Make him say no...My bet is if he is offered a package he takes it...Oh he is happy at Indiana...Indiana is a 2nd rate program in the grand scheme of things to Penn State...Good God...WE ARE PENN F**KING STATE for crying out loud...Go get your coach and be done with it...
@psujoe come on Homer , you want the OC from Oregon and Ohio St and you believe Coach Schiano and Matt Rhule have that kind of talent? Not even close and Ohio St offense ain’t why they win, it’s their stud defense is why they’re always great but having some of the best players does help. Hey Joe, how did you go 6-1 against Bobby Bowden and Joe said I had better players. The great Bobby Bowdon was asked how he won all them football games and he responded, I had better players.
That’s not even what I said. You better go back and read again and stop taking niccys reading comprehension classes.
