In the wake of Pitt's decision to cut ties with Dave Wannstedt, the timing could not be better for the Panthers to hire Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley.
Though he's been on the Penn State staff for 30-plus years, Bradley grew up in Johnstown and has deep Pitt roots: His father, Sam, played basketball for the Panthers.
Bradley spends much of his free time in Pittsburgh and has recruited western Pennsylvania for many years. Some of the WPIAL players he's taken from the Panthers' backyard include LaVar Arrington, Brandon Short, Paul Posluszny, Justin King, Stefen Wisniewski and Brian Gelzheiser.
He applied for the job when Walt Harris was hired, and the guess here is that he'd be very interested again this time.
Though many think he's the most logical candidate on the PSU staff to succeed Joe Paterno, Penn State has not indicated that. It has not designated Bradley or anyone else an assistant or associate head coach -- the title JoePa held before succeeding Rip Engle -- and there's growing sentiment that the next PSU coach will come from outside the program.
If Pitt is worried Bradley would leave for the Penn State job sooner or later, it could stipulate a large clause in the contract that would make it financially impossible for him to do so.
My sense is that Bradley would be thrilled to take the Pitt job, and that he'd stay there a long time.
After all, he comes from a pedigree where it's OK to coach into your 80s.
