The Lions' Pride

To this point I have only read positive reports about Ira and Joyner. They are the ones responsible for the KS hire and have had success on and off the field. The media as eveyone knows went into a frenzy over the scandal, printing any and everything they heard wether it was true or not and changed the face of our UNIVERSITY not just our football program. We as a university have a huge PR opportunity with this hire. If we take the right precautions and draw this thing out it will and can make us come out looking better than we ever could by discrediting the very sources that made this proud school suffer. If I am Joyner It would be tactfully worded in my remarks at the press conference to point this out.

As fans we are all about Penn State. We let our emotions control and feed off of our perceptions wether they are perceived or real. The truth of the matter is this is a business decision. One that is fueled by money and politics and has nothing to do with how much an outsider loves or hates the PSU brand. It's about a risk vs rewards decision for the next coach. Right now its a bigger risk that demands we compensate the hire more than we would usually. The next coach wont be defined by this scandal and will help the university move foward as a whole. They know barring the scandal that Penn State is the sleeping giant that can control everything east of Pennsylvannia and north of Virginia in recruiting.

PSU is and always will be a football school. We can't live without the revenue it brings in. I am not worried about the hire being great. It has to be! It will cost us more in the long run if we don't spend the money. My two biggest questions to the candidates would be 1. What makes you beleive you can win here at PSU? and 2. How would you market the PSU brand to new recruits? I wouldn't need to here about academics because their previous records would speak for themselves.

WSM i think your list is pretty accurate

Article on Yahoo sports this morning stating Joyner as saying 1) There is no leading candidate for the coaching position 2) There is no one hired for the coaching position 3) Hoping to hire with 3 weeks left before the Feb 1st signing date. This entire situation has been very confusing to me.

Don't believe what Joyner is telling the media. He's telling the media that for a reason! It's all a smoke screen and to deflect any real, credible information from coming out.

I believe we have our coach and have had him for a few weeks now and are waiting until the end of bowl season to announce it.

The original plan was to have the search finished by Christmas and make the announcement on Jan 3-4. This latest update basically means the new target is Jan 11. It's a week difference, which is significant in the recruiting world...but if it's what they need to land the right guy, then so be it. With bowls and NFL regular seasons concluded, this week will really be the hot period with final interviews. IMO, they will aim to reach a firm agreement with somebody this weekend...then unveil next week when the players are back on campus. They know that the team won't be on campus until the 8th and the commits will be here the 13th. The timing seems to make sense for an announcement next week. If it doesnt happen then, panic is in order.

I thought the "insiders" have been saying that Joyner and Ira are talking to NO-ONE. Yet, they say they know who the coach is. Seems a little contradictory to me-particularly since these insiders are considered insiders based on their connections to staff and/or administrators from Joe's tenure. I suspect that no-one in Lasch has any idea what's going on. I also doubt that anyone in Curley's office is still employed by Joyner, so where would these insiders be getting information from? Maybe they know who the coach is, maybe they don't. I finally agree with Kirk. If no-one goes on record before the coach is named, we'll never know if they really had inside information or not.

So you don't believe they already have an agreement with someone and essentially "have their guy"?

Totally agree - I think all the "Insiders" are only speaking from inside their heads and hopes....They flat out do not know a damn thing! QED....

I believe that they have their top individual or individuals identified. After two months of searching, that's the least we could expect. I also believe that enough mutual interest exists with the certain individual(s) involved to make PSU confident that a formal agreement can be reached in the next 7 days. At this point, an 'agreement' could mean a lot of different things, but if it were finalized in writing, it would be virtually impossible to keep quiet. Could there be a handshake agreement? Sure, but those really don't mean anything until it's signed on the dotted line. I do not subscribe to the theory that the process is finished, but I believe it's in the closing stretch.

same reason i won't put out my guess, don't want to jinx it

No proof. If someone claims to have "inside" information, we can all judge and decide for ourselves. Skepticism is good, Joe. Just don't do like another poster and take it to a point where you spend a whole hour challenging them to prove they're insiders. If you don't want to believe them, you're free to do so.

That makes sense, though if that's the case, I'm more worried than ever. As much as I don't like handshake deals, if there's not even that in place and it's simply confidence from PSU's side that a deal can get done, that's even more concerning. I never actually believed a written deal was in place - otherwise there would have been no need for secrecy.

I guess my question would be...what the heck have they been doing all these weeks? Multiplayer tiddlywinks?

Can't help but admit I'm starting to get worried. I have confidence Joyner and Lubert will get the best guy they can get...the real question is who that might be.