Aww man...that's rough :(

It would have been nice to see anything resembling this level of outrage from former players when they found out children were being raped and their heroes were looking the other way.  Allegedly.

As one of the posts in the MGoBoard noted, PSU would have been wise to look at our coaching transition from LC to RR and taken a few lessons.  Obviously, totally different situations, but there are some real similarities:  (a) a fanbase OBSESSED with traditions, and (b) a departing coach who has been an institution for decades (while LC was not there for decades, the Bo, Mo, LC tree goes back 50 years).

Whether the "we need an insider" mentality is right or wrong is not the point of my post.  What matters is that this mentality exists, and PSU should have looked to a former player, or even a former coach who was there pre-Sandusky.  Are there any former PSU players who are currently OC, DC of HC either in the NFL, Div. 1 or even FBS?  If so, I would have grabbed one of those guys, even if they were not highly regarded.

How I wish I could have read this same letter 4 years ago.  After the RR years, not much about the University of Michigan football program seems magical any more.  Perhaps it's just the issue of me coming of age (and matriculating in 2008) during these worst years that has somewhat ruined my love for the program, but I don't think I'm the only one.  Maybe part of the reason that we (the former-RR supporters) threw ourselves behind RR wasn't just the fact that we thought we was getting a raw deal, that the spread could work, or that the defense really would get better; maybe it was that he represented, in some small way, our collective innocence and faith in Michigan Football.  I guess I'll never feel quite the same about the magic of the program as I used to, after all of the fighting and bitterness from former players, coaches, and the administration, and that's what I'm most disappointed in.  I wish all the PSU fans good luck, and that maybe their infatuation won't be ruined as much as mine was.

I was half-expecting the inevitable post on this to be named "Will Penn St. Ever Come Back?"

I love the Bill O'Brien Bowl.

I'm not sure which part of Weinrab's non-sensical rant is the most entertaining (or maybe pathetic?)

Was it his weird suggestion that God wants Michigan to win? He seems to want us to believe he is insincere but gives the opposite impression.

Was it his paragraph explaining how much he loves Denard filled with backhanded compliments and the contention that Denard's passing is... "irritating?"

Was it his assertion that in a just and good world rather than being forced to endure VT and Michigan humiliating themselves we would instead be entertained by a rematch of TCU and Boise State? A rematch betwixt two midmajors that included nearly 1000 yards of offense the first time. If you want defense look to the other rematch. Rematches make for such awesome bowls.

Or maybe it was the surprise at the end when he prophesized DOOM for Michigan now that Sheriff Urban Meyer is in town? That one is particularly bizarre coming from a PSU alum.

would arrive in State College, meet with his team and then hold a press conference to tell all disgruntled alumni, disappointed former players to just step off!

"I run my unit how I run my unit!".

Unless they have remaining eligibility , can strap on a helmet and play football, or support the team like there's no tomorrow, then they should sit down and STFU. Just let him do his job. 

O'Brien should not have been anyone's first choice or even fifth choice.   John Hufnagel would have been perfect for PSU, but oh well.  

Here's to O'Brien forging ahead with something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.

I anticipate in 2 years PSU fans will be reading Brian's warning letter here, fall into panic mode and shout out:

"WE DIDN'T LISTEN!"

You, Nick Horvath?  You, Bob Flounders?

No, we in PA already know that honor will go to the Altoona Mirror's Neil Rudel.  He's the most deserving of the Weasel Sports Reporter award here in the Keystone State, and I'm sure he'll turn on O'Brien without giving him a fighting chance.

Gonna be a REALLY weird offseason in State College.  Unprecedented isn't even the word.

but that was a Straussian delight to read.

Check out the EDSBS post on this topic.

If I was Joyner, I would gladly tell Lavarr, Short and all those others that are ready to burn down Penn State that if they want to throw their temper tantrum, they will never be allowed back into the PSU community.  If they want to burn their bridges, it'll never be rebuilt.  

I would even go public with it, that if you don't support PSU, we won't support you.   You can't let them act like bratty children trying to sow seeds of division.   No alumni events, no golf events, etc.  Tell the current players that they are throwing an egotistical hissy fit and don't care about the currently players, and if they really cared, they wouldn't act like this.

Anyone with half a brain should know that there is no way PSU can hire anyone associated with Paterno's regime.   Not to mention, O'Brien certainly seems like a patsy...  he is exactly what they need.. someone to tread water for a few years and hope the stain of this disgusting series of events starts fading away for the program

Brilliant satire.

How hard can it be to win in the Big Ten. How hard can it be to win in the Big Ten. How hard can it be to win in the Big Ten.

I think you're about 19 years late with this one. PSU fans expected a lot more than 3 conference titles in almost two decades.

hiring a sacrificial lamb. they really should have just hired a lamb and paid it grass and ivy (or whatever the hell lambs eat) and saved the money to overpay future "restore the roar" schiano/golden guy and his staff.

John Hufnagel was QB at PSU between 1970-1972 playing for HC Joe Paterno with players like Lydell Mitchell and Franco Harris. At that time Jerry Sandusky was on the PSU coaching staff and had the position of the Nittany Lions' linebackers coach. With my errant thinking about John Hufnagel, PSU might as well have hired Mike McQueary as HC.

I'm slow, but I finally got it. The organ translant analogy helped. Thanks.

FWIW, Hufnagel has been a hell of a football coach. That was the initial reason for my proposal.

My advice to PSU fans -- make sure that you have hobbies other than following college football.  And make sure that you don't overly identify with the success of your football team.  You're going to need this advice for a few years.

Cliffnotes/picture book version:

he'll take a cold, hard look at the situation and realize he's about to jump into a six-foot-deep hole filled to the brim with fresh, steaming dog shit. And then tell PSU "ummm, no thanks."

• Should we hold literally every PSU player who saw the field from the time Sandusky joined the staff to be morally responsible for what happened?

• Do we know that each and every one of them knew about what was going on?

• If we (or far more importantly, the PSU administration and AD) conclude they did, then PSU might as well kill the program for about a decade, because you can't have a functional big-time football program without the active involvement of alumni players. They play too many important roles in PR, fund-raising, and recruiting. It's hypocritical to automatically deny guys like Hufnagel the opportunity to coach there because of alleged or assumed moral culpability for Sandusky, but then turn around and expect the loyalty of alumni players. If alumni players are permanently tainted by virtue of their involvement with the program during Sandusky's presence, that should prevent them from being active supporters as well as being active coaches.

The choice of O'Brien is idiotic not necessarily because he has no connection to PSU, but because he's never been a head coach at any level, and because his current job will prevent him from actively getting out on the recruiting trail right away.

I can believe that the obvious big-name candidates that would normally be on PSU's list aren't interested, but I don't believe for one second that there aren't some very promising and successful young coaches at the MAC, MWC, Sun Belt, or even D1AA level who wouldn't jump at the chance. PSU needed to find their Schembechler—a guy that nobody had heard of at the time—and I have the feeling that they didn't even try to identify any candidates in that category.