Penn State Veteran Addresses Potential Transfer Following Coaching Change
In the wake of Penn State’s sudden coaching upheaval, the program’s veteran leaders are scrambling to keep the locker room steady, and safety King Mack isn’t shying away from the uncertainty.
Mack, who transferred to Alabama last year before returning to Happy Valley this past offseason, understands better than most what instability can do to a team’s chemistry.
With the future of Penn State football up in the air and speculation swirling about who the next head coach will be, Mack’s focus remains grounded in the present, even if his words hint at the fragile balance inside the locker room.
“My head is where my feet are,” Mack said this week, via Inside the Lions. “Whenever that time comes (with the next coach), then that’ll be my focus, but as of right now I’m worried about us in the locker room and worried about us keeping our head in the right space so we can perform on Saturday.”
Penn State is a Rudderless Ship
That’s the honest tone of a player trying to keep the walls from shaking.
The concern, quietly shared by others inside the Lasch Building, is that without a strong program CEO, a clear and present stabilizing voice, to lead the team through the transition, the culture could start to fracture.
Players have begun to describe an uneasy atmosphere, not toxic but uncertain, as if the “inmates” have been let out of their cells to wander aimlessly without direction.
It’s not rebellion, it’s restlessness wrought with the angst of uncertainty.
Veterans are taking it upon themselves to hold the line, to keep their younger teammates from drifting as rumors swirl and the coaching carousel spins.
Mack, who’s already lived through two Power Five locker rooms and multiple coaching staffs, has quickly emerged as a voice of reason, urging teammates to block out the noise and control what they can control.
Taking on Water
Still, the underlying question lingers: when the dust settles and Penn State names its next head coach, how many players will still be around to see it? In the meantime, will there be enough boats and life rafts to cling to?
For now, Mack’s focus is clear. But his focus is really the only thing that he can control. In today’s transfer portal era and amid a leadership vacuum, even the most committed voices can only steady the ship for so long.
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The Nittany Lions’ last win came against Villanova, a basketball school, and not a very good one, back in mid-September.
Five straight losses since and playing Indiana, the No. 2-ranked team in the country this Saturday. Water is approaching the fifth bulkhead at Penn State, and we all know what happened when water breached the fifth bulkhead on the Titanic.
It’s man-up or man overboard in Happy Valley right now.
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It was at PRISM where Staszak produced live games and began his career as an on-air reporter.
After a couple of brief stints with CBS-3, WB-17 and WGAL-8 in Lancaster, PA, Staszak began a 12 year stretch at FOX 29 where he became the lead sportscaster in 2007. It was there that Staszak found himself in the middle of Philadelphia Phillies World Series Championship coverage that earned him an Emmy nomination for best sports reporter in 2008.It was one of five Emmy nominations that Staszak earned over the course of his career.
All told Staszak covered three World Series, two Stanley Cup Finals, an NBA Finals and one Super Bowl during his television run.
Staszak left the TV business for 97.5 The Fanatic in 2013, where he enjoyed eight years bloviating his beliefs on how a professional football team should be run.In 2018 when he fortunate enough to be the first sports talk host in the city, along with cohort Zach Gelb, to provide post-game coverage of the first Super Bowl Championship for the city’s beloved Philadelphia Eagles.
Staszak was also a writer for 97.5 The Fanatic along with 4 Philly Sports and now covers Penn State athletics for NittanyCentral.com.
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