Joe Paterno

Football coach

• Born: December 21, 1926
• Place of Birth: Brooklyn, New York
• Died: January 22, 2012
• Place of Death: State College, Pennsylvania

• Education: Brown University
• Significance: Joe Paterno served as head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football team from 1966 to 2011. The forty-five years he spent as head coach at Penn State was the longest amount of time a college football head coach has remained with one program. Despite his long tenure and many successes on the field, Paterno's reputation was tarnished in the final months of his life when one of his former assistant coaches, Jerry Sandusky, was accused of sexually assaulting several young boys on Penn State property.

Background

Paterno was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 21, 1926. During high school, he planned to become a lawyer. He was drafted into the military following his graduation in 1945. With World War II concluding shortly after his draft, however, he was discharged the following year. He enrolled at Brown University and continued with his plans to practice law. He competed as a player on Brown's football team while in college. As was common in that era, he played both offense and defense, filling the quarterback and cornerback positions. He played for coach Rip Engle, who moved on to coach at Penn State in 1950 and suggested that Paterno follow him. Paterno accepted the offer and became an assistant coach for the Nittany Lions the same year.

Paterno spent fifteen years as an assistant coach at Penn State. Penn State finished in the top twenty and won bowl games in several seasons during that period. Following the 1965 season, Engle retired, and Paterno was named as his replacement. The team struggled during the coaching transition, breaking even in wins and losses.

Career as Head Coach

Paterno quickly helped Penn State reach new success. The team finished in the top ten for fifteen of the next twenty seasons and had multiple undefeated seasons and national championships during his tenure. In 1993, Penn State officially began competing as the eleventh member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Big Ten conference. Paterno's teams continued to perform strongly for the remainder of the decade.

The program began to slump in the early twenty-first century, however. After posting only one losing season in his first thirty-four years of coaching, Paterno went through four in a five-year span. Several sports analysts and fans began hypothesizing that Paterno's age and decades of coaching had worn him down. Questions about Paterno's fitness for the role increased when players inadvertently collided with him during a 2006 game and broke his leg. However, his final six seasons all ended in winning records, and included three top-ten finishes and two Big Ten championships. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007 and achieved his 409th victory on October 29, 2011, to become the winningest coach in NCAA Division I football.

Just a few days later, one of Paterno's former assistant coaches, Jerry Sandusky, was arrested following allegations that he had sexually abused several young men and boys. Sandusky had served under Paterno from 1969 until 1999. Following his departure from the coaching staff, Sandusky had been allowed to use Penn State facilities for various children's charity events he organized.

During a grand jury investigation into the allegations, Paterno's assistant coach Mike McQueary testified that in 2001, during his time as a graduate assistant, he saw Sandusky with a young boy in the shower of Penn State's locker room. He left the room and contacted his father, who advised him to tell Paterno. In turn, Paterno reported what McQueary had seen to Penn State's athletic director. No charges were brought against Sandusky at the time, and he continued to have access to Penn State facilities.

As the number of alleged abuse victims increased following Sandusky's arrest, the media and university members frequently discussed how much Paterno, the university president, and other staff knew about Sandusky's activities. Amid the controversy, Paterno announced his intent to resign at the end of the 2011 season. The scandal continued to grow more intense, however, and the university's board of trustees announced Paterno's immediate dismissal that November. The Big Ten removed Paterno's name from its conference championship trophy. Paterno passed away due to lung cancer complications on January 22, 2012, and Penn State removed a statue of Paterno from its premises later that year.

Meanwhile, former FBI director Louis Freeh led an investigation into Sandusky's activities and released a report in 2012. The report provided more evidence of Sandusky's guilt and stated that Paterno and other Penn State leaders could have done more to prevent his abuses. Sandusky was found guilty on 45 of 48 counts of sexual abuse and was sentenced to prison later that year.

Court documents released in 2016 suggest that Paterno may have known about earlier incidents of sexual assault involving Sandusky. In addition, a police report from 2011, which detailed McQueary's statements to a state police trooper following Sandusky's arrest, was made public in September 2017. The report further indicates that Paterno may have known about other incidents of sexual abuse.

During the 2011 grand jury investigation, Paterno had testified that the incident involving Sandusky that McQueary reported to him in 2001 was the only such incident he had known about. However, the police report suggests that McQueary's 2001 complaint was actually "the second complaint of this nature [Paterno] had received" about Sandusky.

Impact

Paterno was one of the most accomplished football coaches in history. He held the record for most victories in football and coached more games and more seasons with a single program than any other coach in history. During his career, he developed a reputation for prioritizing principles and academics and encouraging his athletes to graduate. Paterno and his wife donated millions of dollars to Penn State, including funds for substantial renovations to Penn State's library. The end of Paterno's career and life, however, were entangled in the Sandusky sex scandal. The exact degree to which Paterno had knowledge of Sandusky's actions remained unclear more than a decade after Paterno's death, but his connection to the scandal irreparably tarnished his reputation.

Despite the fallout from the Sandusky case, Paterno still had many supporters among his former players, Penn State alumni, and members of the community. Several efforts to restore the Paterno statue to its place outside Penn State’s Beaver Stadium had been suggested in the years after his death. In 2024, a school trustee briefly floated the idea of naming the football field at Beaver Stadium after the coach. However, several other trustees, including Paterno’s son, Jay, asked that the measure be withdrawn. Jay Paterno and several other trustees said they supported the idea of naming the field after Paterno but said the measure itself was ill-timed and was only brought up for political motives. The measure was later withdrawn.

Personal Life

When Paterno was an assistant coach at Penn State, he met Suzanne Pohland, who was attending the school. They married when she graduated and remained married until Paterno's death. Over the years, they had five children.

Bibliography

Fitzpatrick, Frank. The Lion in Autumn: A Season with Joe Paterno and Penn State Football. Gotham Books, 2005.

Ganim, Sara. "CNN Exclusive: Joe Paterno May Have Known of Earlier Jerry Sandusky Abuse Claim, Police Report Reveals." CNN, 11 Sept. 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/09/09/us/penn-state-paterno-sandusky-police-report/index.html. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.

"Joe Paterno Fast Facts." CNN, 3 Mar. 2020, www.cnn.com/2013/08/23/us/joe-paterno-fast-facts/index.html. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.

Moushey, Bill. Game Over: Jerry Sandusky, Penn State, and the Culture of Silence. HarperCollins, 2012.

Paterno, Joe. Paterno by the Book. Random House, 1989.

Penn State Football 2016 Yearbook. Penn State UP, 2016.

Wogenrich, Mark. “Penn State Trustees Briefly Presented Resolution to Honor Joe Paterno." Sports Illustrated, 16 Feb. 2024, www.si.com/college/pennstate/hockey/penn-state-football-penn-state-trustees-hear-resolution-name-beaver-stadium-field-after-joe-paterno.  Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.