Penn State released the following statement Thursday from Acting Director of Athletics Dave Joyner:

"As we head into the holidays, I wanted to share an update on the search for the next head football coach at Penn State. We are continuing to talk with individuals that we're interested in and work through the interview process.

"As I'm sure all can appreciate, this is a very important hire for Penn State and, as a result, the search committee is taking a very deliberate and measured approach to the process in order to identify the coach that best fits the requirements of the position. We look forward to introducing our new football coach at the appropriate time."

That really clears things up, doesn't it?

This Space has no idea who Penn State is going to hire to replace Joe Paterno. Based on what I've read of my colleagues, neither does anyone outside the search committee.

But I know who I think they should hire.

It's not Tom Clements, the Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach. Clements has actually expressed interest in the job publicly, which makes him a weirdo within the profession, where crafted nondenial denials are the industry standard.

Clements is appealing in some ways, but he's never been a head coach anywhere. His only college experience is as QB coach at Notre Dame under Lou Holtz from 1992-95. Clements has very little recruiting experience.

He is Aaron Rodgers' position coach. You fear that watching Rob Bolden on tape could make him a heart-attack risk.

It's not Mike Munchak, the Tennessee Titans' head coach. Munchak is a Pennsylvanian, from Scranton. He played at Penn State, but hasn't been connected to the school since he graduated in 1982, so he has no real Sandusky stink.

He's almost as renowned as an offensive line coach as he was as an offensive lineman, and he's a Pro Football Hall of Fame offensive lineman. Boy, could Penn State use some of that.

But Munchak is said to be at least as loyal to the Titans' organization, which he's been with for the last 30 years, as he is to his alma mater. Recruiting is arguably the most important part of the job, and Munchak has never done it.

It's not Tom Bradley, the interim head coach and former Penn State defensive coordinator.

Bradley has proven he can coach, recruit, and be an appealing face of the program. The media love him. He is, by all accounts, a great guy.

He's too close to the just-ended regime, too close to Sandusky. That's not just a public-relations problem.

Any head coach, understandably, would want to pick his own staff. If you keep Bradley, do you let him? Can you imagine, for example, putting Bradley in the position of deciding the professional future of Joe Paterno's son?

An outside guy could perhaps get away with keeping, say, d-line coach Larry Johnson or linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden. Could Bradley?

The phrase "rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic" comes to mind.

Boise State's Chris Petersen? He's said to loathe the East Coast. He's on NCAA probation. He'd dress his team like Mummers if Nike told him to.

Al Golden? After a year of crisis management, would he want to step into a bigger mess? To get Golden, Penn State would have to buy out a big (both in years and dollars), just-extended contract.

Pat Fitzgerald? If Chicago is your kind of town, State College isn't.

Tim Murphy? The Ivy League's a different solar system.

Dan Mullen? A good name, but six jobs in 14 years, and just 20-17 at Mississippi State.

Greg Schiano? 67-67 in the Big East? Next.

Bob Stoops? Makes $4 million a year and graduates less than half his players.

Now that you know who it isn't, here's who it is:

Gary Patterson of TCU.

Patterson has gone 108-30 in 12 years at a small, private school in Fort Worth that was a persistent loser before Patterson arrived there, as Dennis Franchione's defensive coordinator, in 1998.

Patterson took over two years later. He's always won, but since he really got it rolling, the start of the 2005 season, the Horned Frogs are 77-13, and 6-1 in bowl games.

He's not doing it with five-star recruits. When you're playing in the Mountain West Conference and in the backyard of Texas, Oklahoma and most of the rest of the Big 12, you make do with the second- or third-tier.

His weight-training program is said to be as good as it gets; the majority of the roster, it is said, bench-presses 400 pounds or more.

Last year's recruiting class, the high school class of 2011, is the first TCU has ever had that ranked in the top 25 nationally.

Last year's Horned Frogs went 13-0, including a defeat of Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, and finished No. 2 in the country.

In 2009 they went 12-1, were ranked as high as No. 3 and finished sixth.

That's 25-1 over two years and two top-six finishes nationally, with second- and third-tier recruits, playing in a non-BCS conference.

This year's team lost 14 senior starters, including a quarterback, Andy Dalton, who will get some NFL rookie of the year votes, and went 11-2, including a win at Boise State.

In the just-released Academic BCS standings for 2011, TCU ranks third. Penn State is No. 1.

Patterson's teams have consistently ranked above the 75th percentile, and usually in the 80s, in the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate metric. There have been no significant NCAA compliance or off-field issues.

Again: Outstanding academics, and no NCAA or off-field problems.

He's considered a monster fundraiser, as evidenced by the current $164 million renovation of TCU's stadium, weight room and locker rooms.

No, we don't know how he'd handle the massive internal and external post-Sandusky challenge. We don't know that about anybody else, either. Uncharted waters.

I've tried to find negatives with this guy. I don't see any.

I'm sort of amazed Patterson hasn't been talked about more in connection with the Penn State job, but suspect that might change quickly, since TCU's season ended Wednesday with a victory over Louisiana Tech in the Poinsettia Bowl.

Would he want to come here? No idea.

He's only spent one year in the Northeastern U.S., as a Navy assistant in 1995. Don't know why that matters, but some people think it does.

But he is said to revere Paterno, with whom he's become friendly during Joe's beloved Nike trips. His hire would surely get Joe's blessing, if that matters at this point.

Don't know if Penn State is interested but, unless there's a skeleton in an obscure closet, it should be.

If you're looking for a college football coach and you can get the best one there is, well, you know, Merry Christmas.

Mike Gross is assistant sports editor of the Sunday News. Email him at mgross@lnpnews.com.