Report: Penn State AD Dave Joyner to resign

Penn State athletic director Dave Joyner will resign after two-and-a-half years, according to a report from Penn Live. Joyner took over the athletic department in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal that led to the ousting of previous athletic director Tim Curley.

Joyner is a former Penn State football player and wrestler and an orthopedic surgeon. He was a member of the Penn State Board of Trustees when he took the job.

The PSU athletic department has certainly come under fire since the Sandusky years, and while Joyner had to deal with massive NCAA sanctions, he still did a good job making the football program as successful as he could. He hired Bill O'Brien, who helped the Nittany Lions avoid a slide in the wake of the massive sanctions and transfers, and he hired James Franklin, whose energy has energized the Penn State fan base and the football team's recruiting efforts.

Still, according to Penn Live's David Jones, others had their issues with him:

It would probably not be accurate to say Joyner had a lot of fans among the school's 31 varsity sport coaches. Then again, the relationship is often strained between bean-counting athletics directors and hot-blooded coaches in most high-major college athletic programs. The paradox of coaches is that they are leaders but they also want to be led - or at least communicated with. In that vein, Joyner could be judged less than ideal as an AD.

According to Jones, Penn State could look to hire an analytical, marketing-based athletic director like Joyner, Michigan State's Mark Hollis, or Northwestern's Jim Phillips. In fact, Phillips has been named a potential candidate for the Nittany Lions.