Just a quick look to see how Stanford is seeing their new man. He was the guy Stanford wanted — experienced, affordable, scandal free, and blessed by St. Bill Walsh. The other aspect is discussion of just how good Cal is, not to mention other coaches in the PAC-10. You have Carroll at USC, Tedford at Cal, Willingham taking over at Washington, Belotti in Oregon and the other Stoops down in the desert. A bit of a higher rent district as far as coaching names. Then, there is playing up the local angle. Even finding a local high school coach who Harris once recruited to play QB at OSU.

Meanwhile in Akron, J.D. Brookhart claims not to be interested in the Pitt job.

“Naw,” he said when asked if he was interested in returning to Pitt. “I’m thrilled to be here (in Akron). We did some good things this year and I think we have a great thing going.”

Roughly translated to, “I know I don’t have a shot at the job.”

Meanwhile, in the Nittany Nation, they have noticed what happened at ND with some feeling it could someday be their turn. Not to mention making their blood run cold at another thought:

And that brings us to why Penn State fans should care.

In essence, they are conditioned to cackle at Notre Dame’s woes. But this nightmare soon could be coming to a university north of you.

When Paterno retires, Penn State administrators are going to face a similar situation.

They are Penn State, after all. So they’ll expect candidates to line up for the privilege of coaching the Nittany Lions. They’ll expect to conduct the interview process on their terms and at their pace.

But that’s not how it works anymore. Very few schools have full control over hiring. There are too many outside factors, too many competitors, too many recruits waiting for information.

It may be painful to admit, but Penn State — like Notre Dame — is no longer one of those go-at-any-cost programs.

Yet Paterno is still going to pick when he retires, that much became crystal clear this season.
…
Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley is likely the heir apparent to Paterno. At one time, though, so was Jerry Sandusky and Fran Ganter. Now, one is retired and the other has been pushed out of the public eye.

Bradley, who has been with the program since he played for the Lions in 1975-79, has proven his mettle as a coordinator and top recruiter. But he probably won’t stick around forever.

Don’t be surprised if his name gets thrown around as the next head coach or the No.1 assistant at the University of Pittsburgh now that Walt Harris has moved on. Maybe Bradley is the right guy to lead Penn State post-Paterno. Maybe he’s not. Maybe there’s an Urban Meyer type who is waiting in the wings and will be primed and ready by the time Paterno lets go.

That thought made another blogger start to worry. Of course, even another PSU blogger believes there is another plan for Paterno’s succession: Rick Neuheisal. The reasoning is amusing enough. I can only hope it to be true.