Andrew Tie
Legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno passed away Sunday from lung cancer. Though many will remember him for his long tenure as coach and the winningest football coach in NCAA FBS, others will remember him for his ignominious firing in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child molestation allegations. While I will discuss his role in the Sandusky case, I am here to say that we should all judge Paterno on his entire body of work. The good he did greatly outweighs the bad, though the bad is horrendous.
In 1965, Paterno began his coaching career as an assistant at Penn State. After 15 years on the staff, he was promoted to head coach. No one could have predicted what would ensue. In the next 44 years as head coach, he set records for the most years as head coach at one school and most wins (409). He also was a 2-time national champion and won myriad coaching awards. But JoePa, as many called him, was more than just a coach. By all accounts, he was a great man on and off the field. He was a father figure to all his players over the many decades that he was there, his players graduated, he donated lots of money back to PSU and he always showed class and humility.
But JoePa was more than just a football figure in Happy Valley, Pa. He was an icon that children looked up to in their football-crazed state for over six decades. The statue erected of him in front of Beaver Stadium tangibly cemented his legacy at Penn State, though it had been built up over many years. In the argument of best all-time football coaches, JoePa is easily top three, but I personally think he would be the best ever. We were all privileged to watch this man coach until he was 85 years old. Though I was never able to see some great coaches like John Wooden, Bear Bryant or Dean Smith, I can at least say I was able to watch Joe Paterno. Most people look to retirement around the age of 60, but Paterno continued to have that fire within him to keep coaching, an extremely admirable trait. Over the last few years, he had suffered from various injuries and health problems. There was a point when he was coaching in the box, rather than on the sideline, because he couldn't stand that long. At that point, you had to wonder how long he could keep coaching, but he just kept on going.
Now, regarding the Sandusky case, Paterno found out about the molestation allegations and did nothing. He didn't report it to the police as he should have. To allow for such monstrosities to continue is baffling, and you have to wonder what was going through his mind - was he willing to do anything to win? I like to think it was just a serious misjudgment on his part because his history does not lead me to believe that he would allow for child molestation to continue. As a father of five and a father figure to thousands of PSU football players, I wonder what he was thinking about those children that Sandusky abused.
But while this marked extremely low point in Paterno's life, I can't help but feel that the media and others calling for his head contributed to his death. It might sound silly, but his lung cancer was exacerbated by his occupational issues. By that, I mean he had been head coach for over 60 years, and when he was forced out, he may have lost his direction and purpose in life. While obviously he was old and had lung cancer, I just do not think it was appropriate for media members to say "the lung cancer is just him trying to deflect the attention away from the Sandusky case and seek empathy." While yes, maybe it did serve that purpose partially, why would anyone be lying about lung cancer? I just feel that some people lost their sense about JoePa and are remembering him for the wrong reasons. A great man and a great coach, the Sandusky case only showed that we're all human, and we all make mistakes. Let's hope the truth comes out and justice served with Sandusky, but for Paterno, may he rest in peace.
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