Joe Pa and the Recruiting Trail

My alma mater just lost its top recruiting target, Ishaq Willaims, for the upcoming year to Notre Dame. This has been an all too common trend for PSU in recent years. Despite signing a stellar recruiting class in 2010, Penn State lost two of the top 100 recruits in the country in the final month before signing day. Both of those recruits were from the Penn State recruiting grounds and both wound up in Gainsville, FL to play for former Gator head coach Urban Meyer.

What is troubling to me is Penn State's inability to close out the deal on some of these top recruits. In this article from Syracuse University's website, it is noted that Penn State was the long time leader for Williams, only to lose him down the stretch. The article also points out the Williams was questioning the Nittany Lions because of the coaching situation. Joe has one more year left on his contract, Bradley might be coaching at Pitt or UConn, what will become of DL coach Larry Johnson, etc., etc. When Joe leaves, the coaching staff will likely receive a major shake-up. At least, I hope that is the case (that is a discussion for another blog). The coaching situation at Penn State has to hurt recruiting. Joe can't do this much longer and recruits know that. Joe doesn't make in-house recruiting visits anymore when just about every other head coach in the country is active on the recruiting trail. Joe also refuses to recruit nationally. Penn State recruits almost entirely in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio and the remaining northeast states. It surprises me a bit that Joe and the other Penn State coaches don't open this up a bit more. There are some recruits that love the fact that they have a chance to play for a legend, but as the ride approaches its inevitable end, recruits aren't going to jump into an unstable environment.

Joe is stubborn when he comes to just about everything. He knows that Penn State's Graham Spanier will not let the coach go, so he keeps doing as he pleases. Don't get me wrong, I love Joe Paterno and love everything that he does for not only Penn State football, but for Penn State University. However, all great things must come to an end and I believe he is on the decline. I hope that Joe's stubborness is realized before the program is damaged further. Recruits signing with Penn State this year know that by the time they graduate, the coaching staff will have a different look. Some are okay with that, but most are not.