If I'm Golden and I have the opportunity to go to PSU, I'd take it. If he stays at UM, he is under tremendous pressure to make staff changes, including dumping his buddy, and has to deliver next season. He gets at least a three-year reboot at PSU.
Actually, O'Brien set the bar pretty high. Didn't PSU win 7 games this year while under the heaviest of NCAA sanctions? PSU fans think they can keep winning regardless of what the NCAA has done. That team is teetering and could easily go 4-8 or worse. If so, they are going to put the blame on the Coach.
I think PSU is looking at a decade of irrelevance. The NCAA sanctions haven't really kicked in yet. It always takes a few years before you really feel it. Look at what happened with us inthe 90s. Our worst seasons happened at the end or after the NCAA penealties were completed. USC is going through the same now, too. Orgeron was able to save their season, but they were on the verge of a 4 win season.
If I were Golden, I keep on the path at UM. WIn. Let someone else fail at PSU...and then take the psu job in about 3-5 years.