On Jan. 21, the greatest man to ever coach the game of college football passed away.
His name was Joe Paterno.
But he will never get the credit he deserves because of Jerry Sandusky and the recent child sex abuse scandal that rocked Penn State. Paterno will be remembered more for last November than he will for the 46 years he devoted to the Nittany Lion football program as head coach.
I wasn’t surprised at all to hear news of the 85-year-old’s death. Football was all Joe Pa had.
Even though Sandusky’s actions were the reason Paterno was fired, Paterno still had to be held accountable for the behavior of his staff. Allowing Sandusky to continually bring children around the team and still have an office on campus when Paterno knew something was going on is unacceptable.
Also unacceptable was CBS News posting a story late Saturday night announcing Joe Paterno had already passed away. Immediately after the story was posted, Scott Paterno, Joe’s son, tweeted, “CBS report is wrong — Dad is alive but in serious condition. We continue to ask for your prayers and privacy during this time.”
For a prominent news source like CBS to report his death prematurely is not only ridiculously unprofessional, but also disrespectful toward the Paterno family. In today’s media age, there is no excuse for such reporting, especially regarding a prominent figure like Paterno.
Paterno’s entire presence in the media has been mishandled over the past few months.
I’m not saying there was a right way to handle what was maybe the biggest college sports scandal of all time, but there was certainly a less wrong way to do it. Firing the legendary coach on the same day he announced he would retire at the end of the season should not have been how Paterno and Penn State parted ways.
So many rumors circled around the Sandusky scandal, and the specific facts about what actually happened still haven’t been cleared up.
Off the field, things didn’t end like Joe Pa wanted, but there’s no denying how dominant he was when on it.
Since taking over the head coaching job in 1966, Paterno racked up a 409-136-3 overall record in Happy Valley. Those 409 wins are the most victories by any coach in NCAA Division I college football history, a record that will never be touched.
He also won 24 bowl games in his time with Penn State, an NCAA record for bowl victories.
He sent more than 250 players to the NFL — from Franco Harris to LaVar Arrington — and always made it a top priority to make sure all his players left campus with a degree.
When one thinks of Penn State, Joe Paterno is usually the first thing to come to mind. He donated millions of dollars to the school, and his name is on the school’s library.
The fact that he was run out of the school to which he had given practically his whole life makes me sick. I’m in no way condoning what happened with Sandusky and all the child abuse allegations, but that in no way, shape or form should tarnish the legacy Paterno left behind.
There will never be a person who coaches a college football team and impacts players’ lives for as long as Joe Pa did at Penn State.
What he should be remembered for most is what he did on the football field for more than half a century.
Long live the king of college football, Joseph Vincent Paterno.
Micah Bedard is a 21 year-old mass communication senior from Houma. Follow him on Twitter @DardDog.
 
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Contact Micah Bedard at [email protected]