> On Aug 20, 10:33 am, Ike <I...@SHAEF.NET> wrote:
>> Scout.com > Penn State
>> NITTANY NOTES: All's Quiet
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----

>> FOS Staff
>> FightOnState.com Aug 19, 2008

>> Penn State head coach Joe Paterno has taken another hard line. This time
>> it seems to be working.

>> That sound you hear coming from Penn State's Lasch Football Complex is
>> the Nittany Lion coaching staff knocking on wood. With camp set to break
>> this weekend, the preseason has been uneventful in terms of off-field
>> trouble.
>> Through Tuesday night, there had not even been a hint of trouble.

>> “I haven't heard of anything,” one observer said.

>> Observers believe the welcome quiet stems at least in part from the hard
>> line Paterno has taken with the team since a late-July ESPN Outside The
>> Lines piece took the program to task for recent off-field problems.

>> We know, we know … you've heard this same story multiple times over the
>> past few years. Every time trouble would pop up, Paterno would rant and
>> rave at a squad meeting, have several players' lockers cleared out, and
>> within two or three weeks things returned to the way they were.

>> But there are differences this time, observers say. One was that the
>> old-clear-out-the-locker routine was bagged in favor of more serious
>> action.

>> At one point during the Aug. 3 squad meeting, Paterno shouted, “This is
>> my team and I'm in control here.”

>> Less than a week earlier, he booted defensive linemen Chris Baker and
>> Phillip Taylor from the team for repeated off-field nonsense. At the
>> same time, he called out several name players for doing poorly in their
>> off-season conditioning, including since departed offensive lineman Josh
>> Marks.

>> But beyond actually taking action against players -- rather than hitting
>> them with relatively idle threats -- he also laid down the law with his
>> staff, threatening to fire anyone who leaked info the media.

>> Meanwhile, observers say he took note that while his assistant coaches
>> are keys to resolving off-field issues, that some of them were bending
>> over backward to protect “their” players -- athletes they recruited
>> and/or who are at their particular position.

>> “He stopped listening to some of the assistants on that stuff and is
>> running it his way,” an observer said. “It's kind of like the old days
>> around here, which isn't all bad.”

>> Another observer said many of the players who have “kept their noses
>> clean” have welcomed the change because they felt something of a double
>> standard had been in place.

>> It obviously remains to be seen if the lull in not-so-good off-field
>> news continues. But as one program observer said, "So far, so good."

> Sad that an article like this should even have to be written. State
> Penn needs to dump JoePa - you know he'll relapse if/when the loses
> start piling up.

> dam