Joe Paterno

Its 12:33 pm
    Nothing new really to post about...but since I'm trying to post something everyday,I have say something,right?
After all,I have 3 followers I don't want to disappoint...
   The big news is that Penn State football coach Joe Paterno passed away from lung cancer at the age of 85. Joe,whose teams won 409 games, was superb coach. Penn State ran a clean and classy program under JoePa and had one of the highest graduation rates during his term. The Nittany Lions sent many great players to the pros,in fact the school became known as "Linebacker U."due to wealth of talent it sent to the NFL.
  Joe loved to coach and it seemed just as the school was trying to force him to retire,he would come up with a highly ranked end of the season team that would come out of nowhere to win 10 or 11 games and finish in the top 25.
   But Joe wasn't perfect,he could very mean and petty at the worst times. He was the one who ended a very good rivalry with the U of Pittsburgh by declaring he didn't the game as much as Pitt did. Many fans were outraged by the arrogance of Paterno and weren't afraid of calling him out.
 And of course the terrible legacy he leaves behind in turning the other way when a former coach was caught red handed sexually assaulting a 10 year old at the school. The scandal and Paterno's poor handling of it finally was enough for the school to fire him in disgrace. It will be a very long time if ever for the name Paterno to linked solely to the 409 wins and not harboring a child rapist.
  Its really too bad that this incident won't spark total reforms on the NCAA level...to really hold big name coaches like Paterno,Bobby Knight or Mike Leach accountable for such gross misconduct. Abusing players,allowing hazing,binge drinking and sexual assaults is tolerated as far as the coach is concerned. The coach really needs to do so much in recruiting then timing speed,jumping and size. Coaches need to examine both they are bringing into the program both as a player AND his coaching staff.
  They are the ones who need to be held accountable,if a player has a any sort of a arrest record for violence or an potential assist coach has had a shady past,then why risk bringing such headaches into your program?
The pressure to "win at all costs" is what is destroying American sports just as surely as Jerry Sandusky destroyed Joe Paterno's legacy. This case should be a wake up call as to rediscover what being a coach is all about....to teach sportsmanship,character and class both on the field and off. I wonder if the NCAA is really listening and watching.....time will tell.