With Titans coach Mike Munchak telling his alma matter thanks and no thanks and Tony Dungy reportedly passing on the opportunity, the folks at Penn State are still looking for a head coach.
And with each passing day, it will be even harder to line up a class of quality recruits for 2012.
Meanwhile, FOX 29 in Philly reports that Penn State also is “very interested” in former Jets and Browns coach Eric Mangini.
A source with knowledge of the situation tells PFT that Mangini has not been contacted directly, but that interest does indeed exist. It’s unknown whether Mangini, who currently works for ESPN, has any interest in the job.
Frankly, the Penn State search committee seems to simply be randomly targeting obvious and/or recognizable names. But it will be difficult to persuade anyone with options to take the reins of a program that is reeling in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky situation, and that could face even more turmoil as the case against Sandusky continues to unfold.
Then there’s the challenge of following Joe Paterno, who coached the team since 1965. Rival schools are armed with enough counter-recruiting ammo to scare away the best recruits deep into the decade, making it very difficult for the Nittany Lions to be competitive. The blame, of course, will still fall to the head coach, whose first order of business will be to try to piece together an incoming class of recruits under arguably the worst set of circumstances than any class of incoming players ever was recruited.