Joe Paterno
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Joseph Vincent Paterno (born December 21, 1926 in Brooklyn, New York), nicknamed JoePa, has been the head coach of Pennsylvania State University's college football team since 1966.
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Early life
Paterno began life as a child of the Depression. He nearly had to leave high school because the tuition of $20 a month was such a burden for his family. In 1944, Paterno graduated from Brooklyn Prep and headed to Brown University to study and play football. There, he was a capable but unspectacular quarterback and also played cornerback. He currently still shares, along with Greg Parker, the Brown University record for career interceptions with 14.[1] It was at Brown that he honed his skills as a leader, allowing him to go into coaching after graduation in 1950, joining Hall of Famer Rip Engle at Penn State as an assistant coach. Paterno thought his stint as an assistant coach would be brief, before going to law school. He never went to law school and instead became one of the most famous and recognizable coaches of any sport in the United States.
Head Coach
Upon Engle's retirement in 1965, Paterno was named coach of the Nittany Lions for the 1966 season. That year his team went 5-5, but the following season he led the Lions to 8 wins and an appearance in the Gator Bowl. Two years later, in 1968, Paterno had his first undefeated season, and repeated that achievement in 1969. From 1973 to 1983, Penn State went to a bowl game every year. With a victory in the 1995 Rose Bowl, Paterno became the first coach ever to win all four current major bowls (Rose, Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta; Paterno has also won the Cotton Bowl which was previously in this category).
Although the 1968, 1969 and 1973 teams went undefeated, it was not until 1978 that Paterno would coach in his first national championship game. The 1978 Nittany Lions cruised through the 1978 regular season at 11-0, but lost to Bear Bryant's University of Alabama team 14-7 in the Sugar Bowl. In that game, the Crimson Tide stuffed 4 runs by Mike Guman up the middle at the goal line, in one of the most famous goal-line stands in college football history. Penn State's unimaginative goal-line play calling garnered much criticism. Paterno has said that he always has regretted the play calling. In his autobiography, Paterno recalled how he personally felt a desire to pass for the touchdown, but he instead listened to other coaches, who felt that, if the Lions couldn't run for the yard in four downs, they didn't deserve the national championship.
Paterno claimed his first national championship in 1982, with a 27-23 Sugar Bowl victory over a Georgia team led by Heisman Trophy winning running back Herschel Walker. Although Paterno has a reputation as a run-oriented coach, his 1982 team, led by future first-round draft picks quarterback Todd Blackledge, running back Curt Warner and wide receiver Kenny Jackson, was the first team to win a national championship with more passing yards than rushing yards over the course of a season. The only loss during the 1982 campaign was again to the University of Alabama. The following season, a struggling Penn State team staged a major upset in Beaver Stadium on national television by beating the number 3 ranked Crimson Tide, but only after Bryant had retired.
Paterno's Lions went 11-0 during the 1985 campaign and played for the national championship that season in the 1986 Orange Bowl against Barry Switzer's Oklahoma Sooners. Penn State took the opening kickoff and marched down the field to take a 7-0 lead against the vaunted Sooner defense. But thereafter the Lions' offense could do virtually nothing, turning the ball over again and again. The Lions' defense, led by All-American linebacker Shane Conlin, played valiantly but could not hold up against the Sooner wishbone, as OU won 25-10 and won the national championship.
In December of 1986, Paterno was named by Sports Illustrated as their "Sportsman of the Year". He was the first college coach to be so honored. His team subsequently went on to win a national championship that season by defeating the University of Miami (Florida) in the Fiesta Bowl by a score of 14-10.
Penn State football has the plainest and, at the same time, one of the most easily recognized uniforms in American sports, and this is not by accident. Paterno does not like flashiness and does not believe in putting players' names on their jerseys (in recent years, the "no name" jersey has made a modest comeback at some schools)--his philosophy is to emphasize the team over individual players. Consequently, Paterno does not permit school-sponsored Heisman marketing campaigns, which became common place during the 1990s, especially among non-traditional football power schools with a Heisman candidate. Some people believe that Penn State's failure to hype and promote Larry Johnson, Jr.'s Heisman campaign in 2002 had more to do with Johnson's failure to take home the Heisman Trophy than any media bias against Penn State.
Records and controversies
Still coaching at age 79, Paterno has completed his 55th season at the University as an assistant or head coach, the record for any football coach at any university. Following the 2005 season, Paterno had amassed 354 wins, second in the NCAA's "Winningest All-Time Division I-A Coaches" category to Florida State coach Bobby Bowden's 359 wins. On December 21st, 2005 JoePa was named the 2005 AP Coach of the Year. Following a 3-overtime victory over FSU in the 2006 Orange Bowl, Paterno has a 7-1 all-time record against Bowden (6-0 against Bowden's West Virginia teams and 1-1 against Bowden's Florida State teams).
It should be noted that some Paterno's loyalists argue that 31 of Bowden's wins should not be counted as they came while Bowden was the head coach at Howard College, which is now Samford University, a Division I-AA football program. However, during Bowden's tenure at Howard, there were no distinctions between Division I and Division I-AA as the Division system had not yet been created in college football. There were distinctions between "major" and "small" colleges however, that translate to IA and IAA programs. Bowden is credited with the record because the NCAA rule states that to be eligible for the record one needs 10 years at a Division I-A school, at which point all wins at any four-year school are counted toward the career total. Paterno's 21 wins in bowl games give him the all-time lead among Division I-A coaches; Bowden is second with 19 bowl wins. Despite the comparisons of on the field performances, and bickering amongst college football fans, Paterno and Bowden are actually friends, often spending time together when they attend coaches' conventions.
In 2002, Paterno chased down an official in a dead sprint following a 42-35 overtime home loss to Iowa. Paterno, and the 108,247 fans sitting in Beaver Stadium, saw Tony Johnson's catch on the stadium's video replay board. To add insult to injury, Penn State had rallied from a 35-13 deficit with 9 minutes left in the game to tie the score at 35, and were driving on their first possession in overtime for a sure touchdown to tie the game at 42. Penn State failed on fourth down and Iowa held on for the win. The image of the septuagenarian coaching legend running down the official was shown repeatedly on sports highlight shows throughout the 2002 season, as many found it both amusing and amazing that a man his age could run so fast. A couple weeks later, in the final minute of the Michigan game, the same wide receiver, Johnson, made a clutch catch, which would have given Penn State a first down and put them in range for a game winning field goal. Although Johnson was ruled out of bounds, replays clearly showed that Johnson had both feet in bounds and the catch would have been complete even under NFL rules.
In 2003, the Big Ten Conference became the first college football conference to adopt a form of instant replay. The blown call in the Iowa game followed by another blown call by the officials against Penn State in an overtime road loss to Michigan are often cited as catalysts for the adoption of instant replay.
Because some of his more recent teams have been less successful than those he coached up through the 1990s, Paterno became the target of criticism from the PSU faithful. Many in the media attributed Penn State's struggles to Paterno's advancing age, and contingents of fans and alumni began calling for his retirement. Paterno has rebuffed all of this and has stated he will fulfill his contract which expires in 2008. Paterno announced in a speech in Pittsburgh on May 12, 2005 that he will consider retirement if the 2005 football team has a disappointing season. "If we don't win some games, I've got to get my rear end out of here", Paterno said in a speech at the Duquesne Club. "Simple as that". However, Paterno turned the football team around in 2005 (and by surprise), taking a share of the Big Ten title and gaining the team's first BCS bowl game bid in the Orange Bowl.
Image:Joe-pa-sports-illustrated-2005-cover.jpg
The 2005 Nittany Lions compiled a 10-1 regular season record; their only loss was a 27-25 heartbreaker at Michigan. Michigan scored with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Chad Henne to Mario Manningham on the game's final play, which began on the final second of the game. Earlier in their game-winning drive, Michigan was granted a timeout with 29 seconds showing on the clock. However, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr successfully lobbied the officials to add two seconds back onto the clock because the timeout had been called with 31 seconds showing on the clock.
With a 7-1 conference record, Penn State shared the Big Ten title with Ohio State. However, the Nittany Lions were granted the Big Ten's automatic BCS bid (Penn State's first BCS appearance) by virtue of their 17-10 victory over the Buckeyes. On January 3 (and the early morning hours of January 4), 2006, Paterno and the #3 ranked Nittany Lions defeated the #22 ranked Florida State Seminoles and his old friend and rival Bobby Bowden 26-23 in three overtimes in the Orange Bowl to finish 11-1.
Overall, Paterno has led Penn State to two National Championships (1982 and 1986) and five undefeated seasons (1968, 1969, 1973, 1986, and 1994). With Penn State, he has won the Orange Bowl (1968, 1969, 1973, and 2005), the Cotton Bowl (1974), the Fiesta Bowl (1977, 1980, 1981, 1986, 1991, and 1996), the Liberty Bowl (1979), the Sugar Bowl (1982), the Aloha Bowl (1983), the Holiday Bowl (1989), the Citrus Bowl (1993), the Rose Bowl (1994), the Outback Bowl (1995 and 1998), and the Alamo Bowl (1999). Under Paterno, Penn State has been the Big Ten Conference Football Champions two times (1994 and 2005). Joe has had 21 finishes in the Top 10 national rankings. JoePa has the second most NCAA 1-A Division football wins (after Bobby Bowden) with a total record of 354 wins, 117 losses, and 3 ties. He leads the NCAA 1-A Division in bowl appearances (32) and bowl wins (21). His total bowl record is 21 wins, 10 losses, and 1 tie.
Stances on college football issues
Paterno has long been an advocate for some type of college football play-off system. The question has been posted to him frequently over the years, as only one of his five undefeated teams has been voted national champions. Paterno was exactly one second away from a sixth undefeated season, yet lost by a controversial referee call when the reciver had his heel out of bounds but his toe in-bounds.
Paterno believes that scholarship college athletes should receive a modest stipend, so that they have some spending money. As justification, Paterno points out that many scholarship athletes are from poor families and that other students have time to hold down a part-time job. On the other hand, busy practice and conditioning schedules prevent college athletes from working during the school year.
Paterno believes that all true freshmen should be red-shirted by NCAA rule, as was done in the past. He does, however, play exceptionally talented true-freshmen so as not to be at a competitive disadvantage. In fact, some Penn State recruits, like recruits at many other schools, now graduate from high school a semester early so that they can enroll in college during the spring semester and participate in spring practice (Most recently high profile recruits Justin King and Derrick Williams did this).
Paterno has been an outspoken opponent of gambling on college sports. He would like to see an end put to legalized college sports gambling in Nevada. Cynics point out that college football would not be as popular as it is, and garner such high TV ratings, if no one gambled on the sport.
Penn State was scheduled to play at Virginia in a nationally televised game on ESPN on Thursday, September 13, 2001. Paterno, who grew up near the site of the World Trade Center, immediately spoke out in favour of postponing or cancelling the game. Shortly after, Penn State and Virginia officials decided to move their game to December, and the NCAA and NFL followed suit--no college football was played on a fall weekend for the first time since the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963.
Philanthropist and educator
Paterno is highly regarded for his contributions to academics, as well as his football coaching. In the 1970s, Paterno began a "Grand Experiment," requiring his players to excel in academics as well as in football. Over the decades, Penn State's football players have consistently had above-average graduation rates that are often among the top 10 in Division I-A. The former English major emphasizes proper grammar among his players during interviews with the media, and, consequently, rarely does one hear Penn State players saying things like "we played good," "he don't" or the use of double negatives. Additionally, he and wife Sue have donated over $4 million to expand the library and have helped to raise another $13.5 million in private donations for its construction. The expanded wing (formerly East Pattee Library) was named the Paterno Library in their honor.
Political interests
Paterno is a political conservative and a personal friend of former President George H.W. Bush, endorsing the then-candidate in a speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention. In 2004, his son Scott Paterno won a hotly contested Republican congressional primary election, but lost in the general election to conservative Democratic incumbent Tim Holden.
External links
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