Although the Penn State football season ended on Jan. 1 with a disheartening loss to USC in the Rose Bowl, there is plenty of news in and around University Park.
In today’s edition of Morelli OnLion, we’ll have the latest Penn State football news, check in with the men’s and basketball team and have our first installment of “Hoops Improvement.”
Let’s start with some big news coming out of the Lasch Building.
Johnson Departing?
Last week, Sean Fitz of BlueWhiteIllustrated.com broke the news that Penn State defensive line coach Larry Johnson, Sr., is testing the waters and may be looking to leave the Nittany Lion coaching staff.
Perhaps the shocking part of the news was the fact that Johnson may go to a rival, the Illinois Fighting Illini.
This would be a huge hit on a couple of fronts.
First of all, there’s the coaching aspect. Johnson does a fantastic job of coaching the defensive line, and it would be a big loss there.
Johnson has taken some average talent over the years and turned them into NFL talent. Jay Alford, anyone?
It would be tough to find a replacement for Johnson. Defensive line coaches don’t grow on trees and there’s no one in Lasch qualified to take Johnson’s place. Penn State coach Joe Paterno would be forced to look outside the program, something he doesn’t like to do. Kermit Buggs, anyone?
But the big hit would come in recruiting, where Johnson is one of the best in the Big Ten. He has made a habit of planting Penn State flags in Virginia and Maryland. Losing Johnson before signing day on Feb. 4 would almost certainly cost the Nittany Lions several verbal commitments, unfortunately. Of Penn State’s 23 verbals, 11 were recruited by Johnson.
So why would Johnson depart? Well, there are probably a couple of reasons. First, there’s money. It’s estimated that Johnson makes approximately $200,000 at Dear Old State. By going to Illinois, Johnson would probably double that. Secondly, there’s the issue of title. At Illinois, Johnson would possibly be co-defensive coordinator or simply defensive coordinator. At PSU, Johnson is stuck as defensive line coach. Even if he wanted to, Paterno could not leapfrog Johnson over defensive coordinator Tom Bradley into an associate head coach role. Johnson is stuck at D-line coach, and he realizes this.
If Illinois coach Ron Zook offers, Johnson would probably jump at the opportunity. At this juncture of his career, it would be hard to blame him.
Is Larry Johnson leaving Penn State?
(Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
Maybin Goes Pro
Although it has been reported by several media outlets, I’ve personally confirmed that Penn State defensive end Aaron Maybin will be leaving the team to enter the NFL draft. Is Maybin ready? That’s a good question.
Draft experts like Mel Kiper and Todd McShay are projecting Maybin to go in the first or second round. If he goes there, it was probably a good move. If he doesn’t go until the third or fourth round, it was probably a bad move, one that will cost Maybin millions of dollars.
It says here that Maybin is not ready for the NFL, but it’s too late for him to second guess now. He probably needs to add 15-20 pounds to his frame to be a success at the next level. As he is now, Maybin is built more like a linebacker. He is, however, quite talented.
Althought it may not happen during his rookie season, Maybin will be a star in the NFL eventually.
The redshirt sophomore is probably leaving Penn State a season too early. He should have learned a lesson from his former teammate, Justin King, who saw dollar bills in his eyes and left early for the NFL. King, who I thought was terribly overrated, went in the fourth round to the St. Louis Rams. He was injured during training camp and has failed to play a down in a regular season game.
Hopefully, Maybin’s NFL career is a bit more successful.
No word on what Maurice Evans plans to do yet.
Is Aaron Maybin really ready for the NFL?
(Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
Hoops Team Hits Speedbump
The Penn State men’s basketball team was knocked off track on Sunday, as it got thumped in Minnesota, 79-59. The Nittany Lions saw their record fall to 13-4 overall, 2-2 in the Big Ten.
At Williams Arena, Ed DeChellis’ squad just couldn’t keep pace with Tubby Smith’s Golden Gophers, who upped their mark to 15-1, 3-1. Talor Battle led Penn State with 19 points and nine assists.
Although the Nittany Lions were flying high heading into the game, they should have known better. They’ve dropped eight consecutive games to the Gophers and are 1-15 lifetime at Williams Arena.
For the most part, though, it’s been a solid season for DeChellis and Company. Despite a soft non-conference schedule, they appear poised to get over the .500 mark and make a tournament of some type. If you asked me today, I would say that the NIT appears likely.
Penn State is stuck in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten, tied for second place with Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan. The Nittany Lions play a huge game with Michigan State (13-2, 3-0) at the Jordan Center on Wednesday.
Hoops Improvement: Part One
With the men’s basketball team well over .500 and the women’s hoop squad hovering near the .500 mark, one has to wonder what Penn State has to do to draw fans to the Jordan Center.
Well, at Morelli OnLion, we aren’t afraid of pitching in our two cents to help the university along. During football season, we made some suggestions on how the university could improve the Whitehouse. Well, basketball is in dire need of help. If you’ve seen any of the games on the Big Ten Network, you know that there are an awful lot of empty blue seats. So how does the university get fannies into the seats?
That’s the age-old question.
Over the next several weeks, we’ll offer a few suggestions for improving the basketball experience at the Jordan Center. Our first suggestion is pretty simple.
Roll back ticket prices — A ticket for a Penn State men’s game is $15.
For a child 12 and under, it’s $5. Why not rollback tickets a few bucks, perhaps to $10 for an adult and $3 for a child? In these rough economic times, a small gesture can go a long way.
Slashing ticket prices is the easiest way to build a fan base.
This season, a “flex pack” of tickets were introduced. You can get 10 ticket vouchers for 10 games of your choice for $99. The problem with that, of course, is getting someone to commit to 10 basketball games. In this writer’s opinion, that’s a lot to ask.
Chris Morelli is the award-winning editor of Blue White Illustrated, a weekly publication devoted to Penn State athletics. He is also a regular on “Sports Central,” which airs on ESPN Radio in Altoona and State College. E-mail him at morellionlion@gmail.com.