PSU Scandal Puts UM’s Woes In Perspective

When scandal rocked the University of Miami back in August, there were two certainties. One, that it would eventually pass and two, that another salacious story was around the corner and another university would be the new front page victim. Enter Penn State University.

Penn State is the latest to fall from grace and truth be told, folks in Happy Valley are probably wishing for a Nevin Sharpio-type individual right now. One with tales of strip clubs, boat rides and a few thousand dollars spread around. Something much more tame and meaningless as opposed to the music the Nittany Lions program is currently facing.

This story won’t have the NCAA sniffing around, looking for wrongdoings, but in the court of public opinion and in regards to being forever shamed, Penn State is truly in for a world of hurt. This is a country that protects our kids and when adults in power breach that trust and back the institution over the victims, that’s a scar that most-likely won’t ever heal.

Current word out of Happy Valley this morning is that legendary head coach Joe Paterno will step down at the end of the season. Paterno has been the Nittany Lions head coach since 1966. He’s won two national championships. He is a college football icon in the truest sense of the word.

That said, he’ll retire in shame in some way, shape or form, for turning a blind eye regarding his one time heir apparent Jerry Sandusky and molestation charges brought against the former defensive coordinator years back.

Paterno hasn’t been accused of any legal wrongdoing, but regarding ethics and morality, the coach praised for doing things the right way couldn’t have been more wrong in this case.

Through a degree of separation, this scandal hits home for the University of Miami, albeit on a much smaller and meaningless-in-the-grand-scheme-of-life scale. Head coach Al Golden is a Penn State alum and a disciple of Coach Paterno and the “Golden to Happy Valley” rumors kicked into high gear as soon as talk of retirement was official.

Regarding Miami’s first-year head coach, the deep love that Cane greats like Michael Irvin and Ray Lewis have for the U Family, that is how both Golden and defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio feel about their Nittany Lions. Both new UM coaches were team captains for Paterno’s squad in the early 90s and as sickened as U Nation was over Nevingate, one can only imagine what Golden, D’Onofrio and all proud PSU alum are feeling today.

Golden and staff are prepping for a road trip to Tallahassee tomorrow as Miami will take on Florida State this Saturday in a rare late season match up. The Canes sit at 5-4, the Noles at 6-3 and both squads need a win for a litany of reasons; bragging rights and a leg up in recruiting top that list.

The Beast wrote a piece yesterday talking about how this didn’t feel like your typical Hurricanes / Seminoles showdown week and I tend to agree. Maybe it’s the November match up. Maybe it’s the four losses. Or maybe it’s the uncertainty surrounding NCAA sanctions and the new worry that Coach Golden could pull a Lane Kiffin and bolt after one year at the helm.

Whatever the case, Saturday’s match up feels like an afterthought and that sucks. Miami / Florida State should always have Canes ready to run through a wall. Hopefully that will be the case come kickoff.

For Coach Golden, another challenge. Another obstacle. Another “thing” that’s muddled up year one at ‘The U’.

Emails have been coming in, message boards are lighting up and there’s understandable fear that Golden could bolt for what some say is his ‘dream job’ at Penn State.

For what it’s worth (which isn’t much), I think Golden stays put for a slew of reasons.

For starters, Paterno is 84 years old and scandal or no scandal, his retirement was on the horizon when Golden chose Miami last December.

If Golden’s dream was to be Paterno’s successor at Penn State, he’d have remained at Temple, building a resume, turning down big offers like UCLA and Miami and setting himself up to make the leap to the big time.

Golden went 9-4 and 8-4 his last two years at Temple and handed Steve Addazio a pretty decent program in 2011. Golden’s Owls also sent two players to the NFL last season, defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson in the first round and safety Jaiquawn Jarrett in the second. Both were off the board before seven of Miami’s eight draft picks.

Is Penn State the dream gig for Golden? Some think so, but again, I disagree. Golden doesn’t appear to be a college “lifer”. He’s comes off as an up-and-comer who is on the fast track.

Golden knew from day one that the University of Miami head coaching gig was a high risk, high reward opportunity. Look what it did for Howard Schnellenberger, Jimmy Johnson, Dennis Erickson and Butch Davis. The USFL or NFL came calling for all four within five or six years of success at The U. Miami Football is a gateway to the pros for both players and coaches alike.

While Paterno is definitely a coach that Golden reveres, his mentors are the likes of Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick – two of the bigger names the NFL has ever seen. Golden was calculated in his turning down the UCLA job years back but dove at the Miami gig when offered, knowing that the Penn State would soon be available.

Aside from high risk, high reward, Golden knows the talent pool in South Florida is like nowhere else in the nation. Where UM cannot compete with super-sized athletic budgets and state funding, it is a unique situation – a small private school in a metropolitan city and a football program with a century’s worth of tradition crammed into three decades. UM’s NFL alumni is beyond deep and the love those old school Canes have for the program takes the whole U Family moniker to another level.

When Golden was introduced at UM last December he spoke about the brand that is Hurricane Football. He knows what’s under the hood here in Coral Gables and knows that when he gets things fine tuned, he has a suped-up hot rod in his possession, ready to race the big money, big time programs across the nation.

Golden is sharp as they come, both with Xs and Os as well as being versed in psychology and understanding how the game of life is played. One would be hard pressed to believe the forty-two year old coach hasn’t been around long enough to know the old adage that in the sports world you don’t want to follow a legend and in college football, no one is more legendary than Coach Paterno.

No, you let someone else follow the legend. A patsy. Someone in over his head. A fall guy like a Ron Zook. Someone who will do their best and can get the program over the hump, but one who will inevitably fail, handing over the program in better shape than they received it, setting the stage for a Golden-type (or in Zook’s case an Urban Meyer) to make a run in due time.

Penn State would’ve been a hard enough job to take over out the gate in the post-Paterno era, but in the wake of scandal? This program needs some time to find its identity and to heal. Hardly a tailor-made situation for an up and comer like Golden, even if he is an alum.

Golden has to negotiate the seas of an NCAA ruling in South Florida, but a few lost scholarships and maybe a bowl game look a lot easier to handle than the public perception and scrutiny headed towards Happy Valley these next few years. No one knows what the fallout will be and same to be said for the first coaching change since 1966.

There’s also some basic “Football : 101” in this decision-making process, as well. The new-look Big Ten added Nebraska this past off-season and there are the usually suspects.

Ohio State will be back in the fold next year. Wisconsin is on a roll. Michigan and Michigan State have proven they’re legit. Even ‘lesser’ squad like Iowa and Northwestern flex their muscle at times.

With all that depth, winning the Big Ten is no easy feat. Conversely, owning the ACC Coastal is all but a shoo-in if Golden has his Canes reaching their potential. The Coastal has been a one-trick pony since the 2004 expansion, with a good-yet-never-great Virginia Tech reaching the conference title game five of seven years.

Better talent in South Florida, a clearer shot at a BCS game annually, a clearer path to ultimate success and a better overall college football brand the past three decades.

Penn State and some college football old schoolers would disagree, but when you measure from 1982 to present day it’s five titles to two, a slew of NFLers, a stronger overall football brand and nationally televised games damn near on a weekly basis as the team a small percentage loves, but others watch and love to hate.

Last I checked, no one was clamoring for a 30-For-30 documentary on the Nittany Lions.

Golden is Penn State through and through. That’s not even up for debate. Happy Valley has his heart, but it can’t own his head. There is obviously a part of him that wants to run home to roll up his sleeves to help clean up this mess, but once logic takes over, he’ll see he’s where he’s supposed to be.

Things happen for a reason. Cliche as that may sound, there’s a reason it’s cliche. It’s true.

Stars aligned and delivered Golden to Miami as it was the right place at the right time. It took Golden turning down previous jobs and sticking with Temple through the 2010 season. It also took a huge collapse by Randy Shannon and his Canes last season, putting together a 7-6 campaign on the heels of 9-4 in 2009.

In the same breath Golden has now seen his new team, as well as his alma mater, marred in scandal in a matter of months. Had there been any “what if” scenario in his head with Paterno retiring at year’s end sans scandal, maybe there’d have been a tugging to go home, but if anything this should make him even more comfortable at Miami.

The hammer can fall anywhere, at anytime. College football is a flawed game, coached, played and governed by even more flawed individuals. Penn State always had the squeaky clean image today while Miami earned the ‘Thug U’ nickname – even when the Nittany Lions tallied forty-six arrests between 2002 and 2008, while the Canes were climbing in the APR rankings.

All that said, who has the prouder alumni base sitting here today on November 9th, 2011?

Golden talks about “the process” and a true process is underway at the University of Miami. Ten months onto the job fences have been mended with local high school coaches, bad seeds have been weeded out and those who make up this current squad are figuring it out. Kids are being Goldenized, getting better every game an a new culture is being built at UM.

The time will come for Coach Golden to move on, but it’s not one year into a reclamation project, trading one devil for another.

The time to go is when the Hurricanes have been rightfully restored as a major player in college football, with Al knowing he did what he promised he’d do.

A job well done and on to the next challenge, there’s no other way for a coach who preaches ‘the process’ and ‘core values’

Nine games in, Golden’s barely scratched the surface regarding such a promise. Because of that, Coral Gables is truly his only option – for now. – C.B.

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