Paterno: next coach an in-house hire

The Altoona Mirror has an article that suggests Joe Paterno is telling recruits that the next Penn State coach will come from the current coaching staff.

''Mr. Paterno told me himself that his replacement is already within the staff, so he'll just bring one new guy in and bump everybody up in the ranks,'' linebacker Mike Yancich from Washington, Pa., said.

Those words apparently can make quite an impact on a youngster.

''Coaching stability is not going to be any big deal at Penn State,'' Yancich said.

Now this is nothing new, Joe's assistant coaches have said similar things in the past.

According to several [recruits], [Larry] Johnson has assured them that Paterno's successor will be in-house.

"He said [Paterno's] going to coach for as long as he can," said Derrick Thomas, a cornerback from Greenbelt, Md. "If this year would happen to be his last, someone on the staff would get the head coaching job."

So we do know that the coaching staff is pitching this to potential recruits but for some reason it's now starting to gain some legs and local stations in PA are jumping on it but does it mean it's the truth? Let's face it is just that: a pitch to ease the fears of recruits and counter claims of rival coaches that there will be instability when Paterno finally hangs it up [in 10 years]. The real question is: is this what Graham Spanier wants? Of course Spanier's not tipping his hand.

Spanier has done his best to avoid questions about potential succession plans. ''I wouldn't want to speculate about it,'' he said earlier this year.

So nothing has really changed but the very scary part of Yancich's comments is the "bump everybody up in the ranks" part. This is really the first time (that I've read) anyone hinting that the next coach will be stuck with everyone that sticks it out when Paterno hangs it up. That's a very scary thought because it's very probable that Galen Hall will retire with Paterno and that leaves the Offensive Coordinator's job for one grossly unqualified Jay Paterno. Very scary indeed. Having an offensive coordinator whose former quarterback's skills are described as "acutely under coached and unprepared" is not an appealing proposition to say the least. If we are going to be stuck with Jay as OC if the next coach comes from within then I pray that Spanier cleans house and brings in an entirely new coaching staff.