Given the band of no-names and retreads considered to be the leading choices for the Penn State job, perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Nittany Lions' coaching search is the candidate they've already turned away.
According to the Harrisburg Patriot-News, Penn State told longtime NBA coach Larry Brown thanks but no thanks after he expressed interest in the job last week. The obvious assumption was that the Nittany Lions couldn't afford Brown, but the paper reported he wasn't turned off by Penn State's desire to pay its next coach no more than $1 million per year.
It might not seem wise for a program of the stature of Penn State to turn down a future hall of fame coach, but there's a reason that Stanford and UNLV have also passed on him in recent years.
He's 70 years old. He hasn't been on the recruiting trail in more than two decades. And of course he has a well-deserved reputation for spending no more than three years in one place before moving on, which would make him an easy target for rival coaches looking to dissuade recruits from coming to Penn State.
On the other hand, hiring Brown would certainly be a headline-grabbing move for a Nittany Lions program overshadowed by its football team on its own campus and by Villanova, Pittsburgh and Temple in its own state.� Furthermore, Brown acknowledged his role would be to inject some energy into the program for a few years while grooming his successor.
Maybe there's a better available candidate for Penn State than Brown. Perhaps the Nittany Lions can unearth a young up-and-coming coach capable of transforming the program into a consistent Big Ten contender the way Ed DeChellis and his predecessors never could.
But considering that the leading candidates at Penn State are reportedly uninspired choices like East Carolina coach Jeff Lebo or Tulsa's Doug Wojcik, it's hard not to think the Nittany Lions should at least give Brown a longer look.
Genelle Frenoy Shania Twain Gwen Stefani Sunny Mabrey KarolĂna Kurková
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