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CORNER CONTINUED FROM 15 sistant head coach at Texas for six years. He coached 12 All-Big 12 offensive linemen and sent seven to the NFL. He was also Texas' assistant head coach under Mack Brown in 2005 when the Longhorns won a national title. Stan Hixon was an assistant head coach at LSU in 2003 when the Tigers won a national championship. When I spoke with a friend who is an assistant athletic director at LSU, he PRATO CONTINUED FROM 43 head coaches, I would bet much of the department's workforce is comprised of people who are natives or longtime residents of Centre County and the six adjacent counties. Or maybe they graduated from Penn State and wanted to work for their alma mater. Furthermore, this is a rural area, and I am sure turnover isn't as prevalent as it might be in a metropolitan area like Indianapolis or Seattle, because jobs aren't as plentiful. I also doubt Penn State is any more insular or far different in its hiring and turnover than the average college of its size, such as Washington, or even smaller schools like Connecticut and Louisiana State. Certainly, there are a lot of longtime employees in a department of some 350 people – just as there are in any organization. Loyalty, hard work and institutional knowledge are treasured, and promotions from within are encouraged. Yes, new blood and new ideas are always needed to modernize the organization and make it more productive. But that doesn't mean every new hire with an outside perspective is helpful, and sometimes it is detrimental to the greater good. (Example No. 1: Vicky Triponey, the former vice president of the university's Student Affairs office.) And continual turnover is usually bad for an organization. Since Freeh and NCAA president Mark Emmert were so ignorant or told me Hixon was the best assistant head coach and wide receivers coach ever to coach in Baton Rouge. Then you have to look at the job Fisher did in helping develop McGloin. No one expected McGloin to finish the 2012 season as the Big Ten's leading passer with 3,266 yards, 24 touchdowns and only five interceptions. Before the season, national analysts projected McGloin as the worst overall quarterback in the Big Ten. Finally, there is Fitzgerald, the team's strength and conditioning coach. No one will ever convince me that he isn't the top strength coach in the country. After seeing what O'Brien was able to accomplish during his first year in Happy Valley, I've come to understand the university's "One Team" slogan. If indeed O'Brien is named the Maxwell Club's FBS Coach of the Year, then I'm convinced he was able to accomplish that feat with the help of one of the best assistant coaching staffs in the country. It truly was One Team. blasé about the athletic department's personnel situation, one also has to wonder about Mitchell's knowledge. After working in Washington, D.C., for 13 years, I am suspicious of career politicians and their staffs, but I'll give the former senator the benefit of the doubt. However, there was something missing in Mitchell's November progress report that bothered me. Three weeks before the report was issued, Penn State released its own status report on Freeh's recommendations. On page 19, under the box entitled "In Progress & On Track" is this statement about Freeh's recommendation 5.3: "The University's hiring policies are being revised to provide for national searches for candidates for head coaching positions and positions in Intercollegiate Athletics with the titles of Associate Athletic Director and above, with exceptions as approved by the President of the university." (The italics are mine.) I have scoured the Freeh report and see no mention of any exceptions in recommendation 5.3. But, as the old saying goes, there are exceptions to everything. This must be heartening to Joyner, the former Penn State All-America football player who has received withering criticism from a large segment of alumni and fans for his involvement in the firing of Paterno and his role as a university trustee. Joyner has indicated that he might be interested in removing "acting" from his title, and why not? But if the next Penn State president doesn't conduct an "extensive" national search for the next "official" athletic director, would Freeh and Emmert even care? Their dirty work is already done.

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