For the first time since a 19-0 loss to Pittsburgh in 1949, Penn State will be without Joe Paterno on the Penn State coaching staff.
Entering this Saturday’s game against Nebraska, the Nittany Lions have played 711 games, or 2,844 quarters, since the last time Paterno was not a coach at Penn State.
And now, following Paterno’s firing, former Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley has been named the interim head coach of the Lions.
On Saturday at noon, Bradley will trot out onto the field at Beaver Stadium as only the 15th head coach in team history. Before Paterno, no head coach has ever been fired from the Penn State football team.
The 52-year-old Bradley served as a graduate assistant in 1979 and has been a member of the Lions’ coaching staff since 1980.
He is replacing the 84-year-old Paterno, who was fired via telephone call by the Penn State Board of Trustees.
Bradley took over as defensive coordinator after the recently indicted Jerry Sandusky’s retirement in 1999, and he previously coached the defensive backs, outside linebackers, defensive ends, coordinated the special teams and served as recruiting coordinator.
This season, the Lions (8-1, 5-0 Big Ten) own the nation’s No. 8-ranked total defense (282.33 YPG), No. 7 passing defense (177.44 YPG) and No. 24 rushing defense (111.89 YPG). Aside from red zone defense, the Lions are in the top three in the Big Ten in every defensive category.
From the years 2004-10, the Lions’ defense ranks No. 3 in the nation in scoring defense (16.4 PPG) and fifth in both rushing (107.1 YPG) and total defense (298.7 YPG).
“He was the D-coordinator and a good coach,” former Penn State linebacker Dan Connor said of Bradley. “He got along with the guys really well.”
During Bradley’s tenure as defensive coordinator of the Lions, he has produced seven first-team All Americans, including Connor, and two second-team All Americans.
“His day-to-day coaching the amount of intensity that he brings, you can tell he has a passion for coaching and that really transfers to his players on this team,” former Lion linebacker Sean Lee said.
Bradley has been with the Lions as a player or coach for 36 straight years, but he’s replacing a coach who has been a fixture at Penn State for more than half a century.
When Paterno announced to the team this morning that this season would be his last with the Lions, players were visibly emotional, saying it wasn’t only Paterno who was crying during his announcement.
But now, without the winningest coach in Division I history on staff, that emotion has shifted from depression to frustration.
“Can’t even shake my own head coach’s hand [when] I run out into beaver stadium for the last time,” Lions defensive tackle Devon Still tweeted shortly after the announcement. “[You don’t know] how much this man has done.”