On the recordFebruary 9, 2012
It's easy to judge Joe Paterno's career by the numbers--409 career wins, which is a Division I coaching record; 37 bowl game appearances with 24 wins; five undefeated seasons; 62 years at one university, 46 of them as the head football coach. Many of those numbers will never be equaled or passed, but those numbers weren't the most important things to Joe Paterno. JoePa coached the greatest players in Penn State football history--Franco Harris, Shane Conlan, LaVar Arrington, Curt Warner, John Cappelletti, Kerry Collins. More than 350 of his players signed NFL contracts--79 first- team All-Americans. Again, those numbers weren't the most important things to Joe Paterno. Here is what mattered to JoePa: Forty-seven academic All-Americans, 37 of them first team; an 87 percent player graduation rate in 2011--20 points higher than the national average--and according to the New America Foundation, no achievement gap between its black and white players. Joe Paterno loved coaching at the college level because he loved preparing young men to succeed in life. He turned down several offers of coaching in the NFL. He made far less than any other college football coach. During the memorial service for JoePa, a native son of my district, Jimmy Cefalo of Pittston, captured the essence of his coach.…
