been graced with a number of coaches that have transformed their sport into what it is today. Major League baseball had Joe McCarthy, the NBA had Don Nelson and Pat Riley, and NCAA basketball had the late great John Wooden.
However, every Saturday since the fall of 1966, State College in Pennsylvania has been blessed with one of the most transcendent coaches to ever grace a playing field. For many who view the realm of sports with the same awe-inspiring luster as a priceless jewel, myself included, it was always thought that Joe Paterno would ride off into that beautiful sunset known as retirement and go peacefully.
However, now JoePa, who’s in the middle of his 45th season of coaching at Penn State, is facing a scandal that has caused all that he’s built up in his 62 total years in Happy Valley to implode in a cloud of accusations and concealed facts.
With each new story surfacing in connection with the abuse of at least eight boys throughout a 15-year span by Paterno’s former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, the future for JoePa has grown grim. While yes, Paterno is not completely to blame for the burying of facts and lack of action, this was still his team, under his watch, where his actions define not only a university but also a community. Which draws me to beg the question I’ve been avoiding for the past five seasons, win or not: Can an 84-year-old man sufficiently run a college football program?
I mean, let’s look at the facts over the past few years up in Happy Valley under the leadership of JoePa. In the time between the 2002 and 2008 season the boys down at Penn State have led the nation in one category that no team wants to be No. 1 in, player arrests. In that seven-season span, the Nittany Lions had 46 players arrested and accounted for more than 160 criminal charges. As sad as it is to say, this was a sign that Joe Paterno’s hold over his team has been fading gradually over the years.
Now for many great men who have led their troops throughout a dynasty such as the one we’ve witnessed at Penn State, you might say the pressure to go out on top was, in essence, their downfall.
Although, for JoePa, I don’t think that’s necessarily true. In my eyes, Joe Paterno was just a man who let his good natured, “everyone deserves second chances” attitude cloud his judgment. And for that, I think that’s why one of the true greats in sports history has left the sport he changed forever.
As of Wednesday, university trustees took matters into their own hands, axing the longest tenured head coach in the history of the game. With this announcement, the trustees at Penn State are not only ridding the sports realm of one of the greatest coaches in history, but also snatching the attention away from a number of seniors playing in their last home game in Beaver Stadium this Saturday after an impression season. And that alone, is a tragedy I fear will never truly be recognized by many.
