Let use a Marvel throwback idea....What IF

[NoSoup4U]

One of the threads has a few lines talking about Duke
got me to thinking

What IF Joe never came to PSU where would be PSU be?

-would they be like Duke or UCLA football wise historically
-would any of it exist to the extent it does today

which leads me to believe that everything that PSU is, is because of Joe more than we probably want to admit, Im not trying to be Cpt Obvious here, but the cracks about dark years, the cracks about joe bots, Paterno should have hung em up, all the negativity sleight for the last 15 years seems off base in the grand scheme of it all ...we in all likelihood wouldn't be here at all complaining about current state of affairs if the prior state affairs was the same for those 50 years ..well maybe the complaining would exist but within a different context as all sports fans complain

So the real--- what if question would be, would someone like Schnellenberger bama from the 60's or Frank Kush ASU(pa boy) or Saban from Syracuse/West Virginia mid 70's be one of the head coaches instead of Joe? would the Bowling Green 90's Urban Meyer be one of the head coaches instead of Joe ==>AND would they have been able to build anything similar to Joe in that same time period?

OR would you just keep pulling the slot machine like 95% of the teams in the country for that whole period of history?

It would seem as Nit1300 stated, mediocrity is here and we are just picking coaches hoping to get that next guy or maybe we should just be happy for whatever "run" we had from 1966-2011 and odds are wont have one again
Army and Navy were what they were too havent been since

every dog has their day maybe we had ours

 

[psuro]

Considering how much eastern football has fallen off in the last 40/50 years to now.....PSU would have been the same....

that is what would have happened....

 

[kgilbert78]

Think about old pro sports. The NFL had franchises in Canton. Massillon, and Portsmouth, Ohio. The latter still exists--as the Lions. The NBA had franchises in Fort Wayne and Syracuse that still exist. While we have a very large state university, it is a small market otherwise. In the old days, you could compete with good recruiting and a good program. Like the early pro sports (that did not pay much), you could have a team in a small market and one that was successful. Today money rules. There's only one Green Bay Packers.... You have to have the financial base as well as a good program. Look at Nebraska--and where they have gone. I'm hoping that's not true of Penn State, but we may not be able to play with the better funded teams in big markets anymore.

 

[Big_O]

Think about old pro sports. The NFL had franchises in Canton. Massillon, and Portsmouth, Ohio. The latter still exists--as the Lions. The NBA had franchises in Fort Wayne and Syracuse that still exist. While we have a very large state university, it is a small market otherwise. In the old days, you could compete with good recruiting and a good program. Like the early pro sports (that did not pay much), you could have a team in a small market and one that was successful. Today money rules. There's only one Green Bay Packers.... You have to have the financial base as well as a good program. Look at Nebraska--and where they have gone. I'm hoping that's not true of Penn State, but we may not be able to play with the better funded teams in big markets anymore.

You forgot about the Columbus Panhandlers, who were in the professional football league that became the NFL.

I think we may have to be getting used to being a second tier college team unless PSU suddenly gets a billionaire benefactor like IU because State College is never going to be a major city and financial hub that can shower $$$ on the team.

 

[kgilbert78]

You forgot about the Columbus Panhandlers, who were in the professional football league that became the NFL.

I think we may have to be getting used to being a second tier college team unless PSU suddenly gets a billionaire benefactor like IU because State College is never going to be a major city and financial hub that can shower $$$ on the team.

No--just trying to post teams people have heard of on this board. There's at least one artifact from the Panhandlers in the HoF. I recall seeing it many years ago. They were sponsored by the Pennsylvania Railroad (the "Panhandle Division").

And, of course, the NFL offices were in Columbus for a few years (1927-1939).

 

[Bvillebaron]

One of the threads has a few lines talking about Duke
got me to thinking

What IF Joe never came to PSU where would be PSU be?

-would they be like Duke or UCLA football wise historically
-would any of it exist to the extent it does today

which leads me to believe that everything that PSU is, is because of Joe more than we probably want to admit, Im not trying to be Cpt Obvious here, but the cracks about dark years, the cracks about joe bots, Paterno should have hung em up, all the negativity sleight for the last 15 years seems off base in the grand scheme of it all ...we in all likelihood wouldn't be here at all complaining about current state of affairs if the prior state affairs was the same for those 50 years ..well maybe the complaining would exist but within a different context as all sports fans complain

So the real--- what if question would be, would someone like Schnellenberger bama from the 60's or Frank Kush ASU(pa boy) or Saban from Syracuse/West Virginia mid 70's be one of the head coaches instead of Joe? would the Bowling Green 90's Urban Meyer be one of the head coaches instead of Joe ==>AND would they have been able to build anything similar to Joe in that same time period?

OR would you just keep pulling the slot machine like 95% of the teams in the country for that whole period of history?

It would seem as Nit1300 stated, mediocrity is here and we are just picking coaches hoping to get that next guy or maybe we should just be happy for whatever "run" we had from 1966-2011 and odds are wont have one again
Army and Navy were what they were too havent been since

every dog has their day maybe we had ours

Penn State would never have won two Natties without Paterno. IMO these are the reasons why Penn State is in such a down state right now:
(1) Joe should have retired 10 years sooner (still remember telling my friend with whom I shared season tickets since 1978 while having breakfast at the Corner Room that I still loved coming to games but I had no expectations because Joe wouldn’t retire;
(2) BOT and administration making Joe and the football the scapegoat for their failures in the Sandusky situation on the front end by permitting Sandusky to bring TSM kids on campus as part of his retirement (which Joe opposed in writing) and on the back end by accepting Draconian sanctions the NCAA had no authority to impose (admitted by Emmert when he announced them and later proven in court) and
(3) Kraft bungling the firing of Franklin and hiring his replacement (Franklin couldn’t win the elusive Natty but he elevated the program coming here during the worst two years and had it on the doorstep (but Kraft set the program back years rather than capitalizing on that progress).