Joe Paterno

Joe Paterno
Paterno in 2010
Biographical details
Born(1926-12-21)December 21, 1926
Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
DiedJanuary 22, 2012(2012-01-22) (aged 85)
State College, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Playing career
1946–1949Brown
Position(s)Quarterback, cornerback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1950–1965Penn State (assistant)
1966–2011Penn State
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1980–1982Penn State
Head coaching record
Overall409–136–3
Bowls24–12–1
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
2 national (1982, 1986)
3 Big Ten (1994, 2005, 2009)
Awards
Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year (1986)
5× AFCA COY (1968, 1978, 1982, 1986, 2005)
3× Walter Camp COY (1972, 1994, 2005)
3× Eddie Robinson COY (1978, 1982, 1986)
2× Bobby Dodd COY (1981, 2005)
Paul "Bear" Bryant Award (1986)
3× George Munger Award (1990, 1994, 2005)
Amos Alonzo Stagg Award (2002)
Home Depot Coach of the Year Award (2005)
Sporting News College Football COY (2005)
3× Big Ten Coach of the Year (1994, 2005, 2008)
College Football Hall of Fame
Inducted in 2007 (profile)

Joseph Vincent Paterno (/pəˈtɜːrnoʊ/; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions from 1966 to 2011. With 409 victories, Paterno is the most victorious coach in NCAA FBS history. He recorded his 409th victory on October 29, 2011; his career ended with his dismissal from the team on November 9, 2011, as a result of the Penn State child sex abuse scandal.[1][2][3] He died 74 days later, of complications from lung cancer.[4]

Paterno was born in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Brown University, where he played football both ways as the quarterback and a cornerback. He had originally planned on going to law school, but he was instead hired in 1950 as an assistant football coach at Penn State. He was persuaded to do this by his college coach Rip Engle, who had taken over as Penn State's head coach. In 1966, Paterno was named as Engle's successor. He soon coached the team to two undefeated regular seasons in 1968 and 1969. The team won two national championships—in 1982 and 1986. Paterno coached five undefeated teams that won major bowl games, and in 2007 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach. During his career, he led the Nittany Lions to 37 bowl appearances with 24 wins while turning down offers to coach National Football League (NFL) teams that included the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots.

Paterno's coaching career ended abruptly in 2011, shortly before his death, when the Penn State Board of Trustees terminated his contract in response to a child sex abuse scandal involving Paterno's former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.[5] An investigation conducted by former FBI director Louis Freeh reported that Paterno concealed information relating to Sandusky's abuse of a young boy.[6][7][8][9][10] A critique of the Freeh report, commissioned by the Paterno family, disputed Paterno's involvement in the alleged cover-up.[11]

In 2012, the NCAA vacated all of Penn State's wins from 1998 through 2011 as part of its punishment.[12] State Senator Jake Corman used the Freeh report as a basis to sue the NCAA, asserting that both Freeh and the NCAA had collaborated and failed to follow due process. Corman released emails showing "regular and substantive" contact between NCAA officials and Freeh's investigators, suggesting that Freeh's conclusions were orchestrated.[13] In a 2015 legal settlement with Penn State, the NCAA reversed its decision and restored all 111 wins to Paterno's record.[14][15]

  1. ^ Layden, Tim (January 30, 2012). "Joe Paterno 1926—2012: He was the winningest coach in major college football, an advocate for blending sports and academics to create the true student-athlete, and an iconic American sports figure—until an error in judgment clouded his legacy". Sports Illustrated. SI.com. Archived from the original on January 29, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference thamel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Outgoing Penn State trustee regrets how Joe Paterno was fired". CollegeFootballTalk. Archived from the original on June 5, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  4. ^ Hobson, Will (December 28, 2017). "Six years later, Penn State remains torn over the Sandusky scandal". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 12, 2018. Jay Paterno (Joe Paterno's son and new alumni trustee) 'adamantly maintains his father didn't know the truth about Sandusky, pointing to the only piece of evidence he thinks matters: His father allowed his children and his grandchildren to spend time around Sandusky until months before his arrest.'
  5. ^ Michael Sanserino (November 9, 2011). "Paterno and Spanier both out at Penn State". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference usa-psu-child-abuse was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference psu-child-abuse was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Ken Belson, "Abuse Scandal Inquiry Damns Paterno and Penn State", The New York Times, July 13, 2012.
  9. ^ "Joe Paterno may have faced charges". Associated Press. July 13, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
  10. ^ Swanson, Holly (August 23, 2012). "The Problem with Paterno-Blame". StateCollege.com. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. The proof that Paterno and the others intentionally concealed Sandusky's actions is a stretch, at best. The most damning evidence is a string of out-of-context emails. Unfortunately, the people who wrote these emails were never interviewed during the Freeh investigation, leaving it up to the reader to decide what they meant.
  11. ^ Wick Sollers; Mark Jensen; Alan Dial; Drew Crawford. "Critique of the Freeh Report: The Rush to Injustice Regarding Joe Paterno" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 27, 2015.
  12. ^ "Penn State sanctions: $60M, bowl ban". ESPN. July 23, 2012. Retrieved July 23, 2012.
  13. ^ "Emails show NCAA worked with Louis Freeh in Penn State investigation". Yahoo Sports. November 12, 2014. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  14. ^ Joe Paterno's Penn State wins restored. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  15. ^ Hobson, Will (December 28, 2017). "Six years later, Penn State remains torn over the Sandusky scandal". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 12, 2018. The case produced evidence embarrassing for the NCAA. One staffer, in an email, wrote that NCAA punishments for Penn State would be unneeded and excessive, but 'new NCAA leadership is extremely image conscious, and if they conclude that pursuing allegations against PSU would enhance the association's standing with the public, then an infractions case could follow.' ... Matthew Haverstick, attorney for state Sen. Jake Corman (R): 'Our read of the evidence was that the NCAA board of directors and the Penn State board of trustees were being played off one another by the NCAA C-suite executives," Haverstick said. "They had wildly different understandings about what was happening around them at that time.'