So Meyer was in "serious negotiations" with two schools for 5-6 months? While I can't dismiss the possibility, it would be highly unusual.
If Joe would have retired, anyone have a clue who would have been hired!
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So Meyer was in "serious negotiations" with two schools for 5-6 months? While I can't dismiss the possibility, it would be highly unusual.
As one who knows many Columbus officers, I'll reject that claim. Look, they even busted the mayor for DUI. It's a big city--not a small town.
Nonsense. You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. OSU's important, to be sure. It probably carries more weight than it should. But Columbus is the 15th largest city in the country. It's not run for Ohio State.
I discussed this with Joe in January, 2012 prior to his passing.
Joe provided four names for consideration:
Urban Meyer
Greg Schiano
Mike Riley
Gary Patterson
Dr. Spanier met with both Urban and Greg. In Urban's case, Dr. Spanier made clear that Penn State could not and would not pay the money Urban could command elsewhere. Urban wasn't worried. His primary motivation was to be the guy who followed Joe.
Urban's son Nate attended a football camp at PSU in the summer of 2011. Meyer's daughters Nicki and Gigi were Division 1 volleyball players. Nicki went on to Georgia Tech while Gigi played at FAU, I believe.
Urban even contacted Joe after he was fired in November, 2011 because he was still interested in the job. Joe told him he didn't know who was in charge so he didn't know who Urvan should contact.
Joe became familiar with all four coaches through the Nike camps.
To this day, the Meyers remain close with the Paterno's.
Parenthetically, when I discussed this with John Surma he responded that Joe had no business "telling" PSU who it's next head football coach should be.
Ironically, Jay was interviewed for the job by the committee after Joe was fired. Purely perfunctory.
Of course, so were several others.
Joe provided four names for consideration:
Urban Meyer
Greg Schiano
Mike Riley
Gary Patterson
Dr. Spanier met with both Urban and Greg. In Urban's case, Dr. Spanier made clear that Penn State could not and would not pay the money Urban could command elsewhere. Urban wasn't worried. His primary motivation was to be the guy who followed Joe.
Urban's son Nate attended a football camp at PSU in the summer of 2011. Meyer's daughters Nicki and Gigi were Division 1 volleyball players. Nicki went on to Georgia Tech while Gigi played at FAU, I believe.
Urban even contacted Joe after he was fired in November, 2011 because he was still interested in the job. Joe told him he didn't know who was in charge so he didn't know who Urvan should contact.
Joe became familiar with all four coaches through the Nike camps.
To this day, the Meyers remain close with the Paterno's.
Parenthetically, when I discussed this with John Surma he responded that Joe had no business "telling" PSU who it's next head football coach should be.
Ironically, Jay was interviewed for the job by the committee after Joe was fired. Purely perfunctory.
Of course, so were several others.
This is interesting. Obviously Spanier spoke to meyer before the sandusky scandal. At that time, Penn State apparently was not in a position to pay a head coach top dollar. A few years later, after the bot had concocted that bullshit story of a football culture run amok, the university agreed to pay Franklin $4.5 MM a year.
Dr. Spanier spoke with Urban in the summer of 2011. Parenthetically, he met with Greg Schiano in NY as well.
Some dislike Graham. As our President, he was visionary. Moreover, he's a far better leader with far more extensive leadership skills that his successors, in my opinion.
Under a Spanier Presidency and a Curley led Athletic Department, cost containment were a top priority. The current leadership takes the view that money isn't truly fungible hence athletics are free to spend revenues derived from athletics. If you take in $130 million you are free to spend it.
Athletics is in theory self-sufficient. But we don't run it like a business. In my opinion, we run it more like a bureaucracy-- better spend before it goes away.
Joe's influence in this area cannot be overstated. To some Joe was cheap. To others frugal. What I know is that the Athletics Department was on solid footing when Joe was fired and Tim put on leave.
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My hunch is that S&C would have hired Greg Schiano, and that had been their plan for seven or eight years.
I had a source at Penn State at the time that confirmed everything @mathprof is saying only from the Penn State side. Urban was at Penn State for a broadcast early in the 2011 season (October I think). It was reported in the linked article he met with Spanier and Curley while he was in town. My source says he saw him also meet with Joe, which wouldn't be unusual for a broadcaster to meet with the head coach of the team he is covering, but it was in a non broadcaster gathering and that Curley and Jay were at the gathering as well. http://www.statecollege.com/news/lo...-would-be-next-coach-reached-players,1162568/
That part I know is fact, my source claimed the general tone around Meyer was not if you take the job but when you take the job, and a sticking point Joe wanted was Jay to remain on the staff; I'm not sure how much of that is fact but I don't really have any reason to doubt him. Both his belief and mine, of which this is totally our opinion and nothing of fact to back it up, was that Joe wanted Jay to eventually succeed Urban, if it could work out that way.
Urban was most certainly talking to OSU as well but it is my interpretation of the events as I know them that PSU was in the lead bc of Joe. In late November, after the presentment is when talks between OSU and Urban became official to the point that ESPN had pulled him off of the Michigan OSU game. Which would also coordinate with the idea that PSU was in the lead until the presentment. http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2011/11/espn_keeping_urban_meyer_out_o.html
The idea that Urban was helping Penn State recruit that season is crazy, but it was obvious to pretty much the whole world during the 2011 season that it would be Joe's last (we came to find out behind the scenes that was the plan also). I have no doubt that the kids of the 2012 class and their parents had this thought as well. The coaches recruiting the 2012 class would not have been allowed to say or directly indicate who the next head coach was going to be, but it had to come up in talks with the kids and the parents of those kids. We'll never know exactly what they said but something regarding the status of head coaching position come the 2012 season had to be said.
That part I know is fact, my source claimed the general tone around Meyer was not if you take the job but when you take the job, and a sticking point Joe wanted was Jay to remain on the staff; I'm not sure how much of that is fact but I don't really have any reason to doubt him. Both his belief and mine, of which this is totally our opinion and nothing of fact to back it up, was that Joe wanted Jay to eventually succeed Urban, if it could work out that way.
Urban was most certainly talking to OSU as well but it is my interpretation of the events as I know them that PSU was in the lead bc of Joe. In late November, after the presentment is when talks between OSU and Urban became official to the point that ESPN had pulled him off of the Michigan OSU game. Which would also coordinate with the idea that PSU was in the lead until the presentment. http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2011/11/espn_keeping_urban_meyer_out_o.html
The idea that Urban was helping Penn State recruit that season is crazy, but it was obvious to pretty much the whole world during the 2011 season that it would be Joe's last (we came to find out behind the scenes that was the plan also). I have no doubt that the kids of the 2012 class and their parents had this thought as well. The coaches recruiting the 2012 class would not have been allowed to say or directly indicate who the next head coach was going to be, but it had to come up in talks with the kids and the parents of those kids. We'll never know exactly what they said but something regarding the status of head coaching position come the 2012 season had to be said.
Thanks, Anthony. This is what I understood, but I appreciate hearing confirmation from you as someone closer to the situation.
Had the scandal either not happened or if Penn State had managed it properly and not thrown the football program under the bus, it would have been interesting to see how Spanier and Curley would have handled the coaching situation after Joe. I don't think urban would have come to Happy Valley for much less than what top coaches were getting at the time, so I think either Spanier and Curley would have had to change their thinking or they would have had to settle for a lesser name. Eventually, I think Spanier and Curley would have had to change their mindset to keep the football program relevant. Had they stayed on a path of offering lower salaries, they would have gotten lesser coaches or up and comers who would have used Penn State as a stepping stone if they were successful.
