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THE POST | News | Sports | Culture | Business | Free Forum
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| The Legacy of Joe Paterno |
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 by: Rebel - Havertown, PA
started: 11/10/11 3:03 pm | updated: 11/13/11 4:48 pm |
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Penn State Coach Joe Paterno, one of the true legends of coaching, has had his career ended by scandal. His 46 year reign, and 62 year run on the coaching staff at Penn State has ended.
2 weeks ago, fans and players were all exulting in Paterno's 409th victory, which made him the winningest coach in Division I history. Over the years, he contributed more than $4 million to Penn State's general fund, which is why the names of he and his wife, Sue, are on the library instead of any of the athletic facilities that he also was widely responsible for expanding and enhancing.
Paterno stressed academics, which is a large reason why Penn State, in the 2009 graduation rates report for Division I institutions, compiled an 89 percent graduation rate among freshmen entering in 2002-03. That was No. 1 among teams ranked in the 2009 final Associated Press poll. Penn State's figure was a whopping 34 percentage points above the FBS average. Paterno didn't hesitate to sit down a player, even a starter, if he didn't attend class and keep up his grades, and he mentored his players in ways that went beyond X's and O's.
And in the early 1970s, he passed up an opportunity for a big payday when he turned down an offer to coach the New England Patriots. During his tenure he not only won two national championships (1982 and '86), posted five undefeated seasons, guided the Lions to 23 Top-10 finishes in the national rankings and a 24-12-1 bowl record, but he generated untold millions of dollars for the university endowment and is mainly responsible for nearly tripling the seating capacity of Beaver Stadium, to 106,572. On game days, Beaver Stadium is the third-largest "city" in Pennsylvania.
In 2007, he was inducted into the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame, one of only three active coaches ever to be so recognized. He has been named AFCA Coach of the Year an unprecedented five times. Just last January, he was presented the Gerald R. Ford Award at the NCAA convention, which salutes an individual who has provided "significant leadership as an advocate for intercollegiate athletics on a continuous basis throughout his career."
To many people, IT WAS NOT supposed to end like this for Joe Paterno.
Wednesday morning, Paterno had released a statement announcing he would step down at the end of the season - three games and a bowl appearance. But the Board of Trustees acted promptly, informing Paterno by phone that he was finished, then announcing that defensive coordinator Tom Bradley will be the interim coach for the Nittany Lions' home finale against Nebraska on Saturday, and that president Graham Spanier was stepping down.
After releasing his statement yesterday morning, the 84-year-old Paterno made a tearful address to the 100-plus members of his 46th Penn State football team. It came 4 days after the state's attorney general indicted former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky on charges of child sex abuse, and charged athletic director Tim Curley and senior vice president Gary Schultz with a cover-up and lying to a grand jury.
"That was probably the first time I ever saw him cry, and I actually got teary eyes myself," fifth-year senior linebacker Nate Stupar, a State College native who grew up wanting to play for Paterno, just as his father and uncles had, said of the team meeting unlike any in the history of the school. "Penn State is in my blood. It's just hard to see a huge, key person of Penn State go like this."
"My thoughts are like everyone else's in the country,'' said South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, who went up against Paterno when he coach at Florida. "It is one of the saddest, most tragic series of events we've ever seen . . . He's a good friend, and I admire everything he's ever done in the coaching profession."
During his 62 years in Happy Valley, he became not only a successful coach, but an ambassador for his university and a symbol of all that college sports are supposed to be, but often aren't. He contributed more than $4 million to Penn State's general fund, which is why the names of he and his wife, Sue, are on the library instead of any of the athletic facilities that he also was widely responsible for expanding and enhancing.
"Playing for Joe Paterno is the greatest thing that happened to me in my 22 years of living," said Chima Okoli, a fifth-year senior offensive lineman whose love for and support of JoePa remains unconditional. "The lessons you learn . . . it will make you a better son, a better father. The importance of how he shapes people with integrity cannot be overstated."
In a 2005 address on the Penn State campus, President Bush said of JoePa, "There's no more decent fellow on the face of the Earth. What a man, who sets high standards, loves his family, loves this university, loves his country. And my mother and dad love him."
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| (1) response |
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 by: lclay - Huntingdon Valley, PA | responded: 11/13 4:48 pm |
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| I was in the student section at the game yesterday and I must say it was one of the most emotional events I have ever attended. The tension was pretty high, especially when the players slowly walked out holding hands as opposed to their usual run on to the field. PSU and Nebraska both gathered in the middle of the field before the start of the game and the whole stadium had a moment of silence for the victims of the abuse. The students perspective here is probably very different from an outsiders perspective, and we are directly effected by all of these events. We love Joe more than a lot of people know and this was an incredibly sad way to end our role models career. |
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