11/21/24
August 04, 2010
Columnists: Age Has Caught Up to Joe Paterno: A columnist in Pennsylvania is alarmed by how Penn State coach Joe Paterno sounded during the Big Ten Kickoff Monday. "Paterno sounded very much like something he never has -- an old man," writes David Jones of the Patriot-News about the 83-year-old coach in his 45th year of coaching. "In the backs of our heads, we know everyone gets old. It's just that a certain personality, so full of sparkle and fizz, can fool us into believing otherwise for a very long time." Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News agrees: "Paterno looked and sounded old and tired. Over the hill. Too old to continue coaching major college football." See the video.
You don't have to sound young, but sounding coherent helps!
I grew up in PA and always followed Penn State and JoPa, but I fear the end of his reign is approaching. I hope this was just a bad day for him.
posted by BikeNut at 11:51 AM on August 04, 2010
Quoting myself from last year: "I'm not sure whether college football fans (and particularly fans of FSU and Penn State) would prefer retirement over their beloved old coaches keeling over on the sidelines."
posted by etagloh at 12:44 PM on August 04, 2010
Paterno sounded terrible in that video. The school should have put someone else on stage and told people he was under the weather.
posted by rcade at 12:56 PM on August 04, 2010
I'm not ready to say this interview is the final proof he needs to give up coaching, because sitting in front of a bunch of writers, something he has done probably a million times in his long career, probably doesn't get him too pumped up. But I have felt for quite some time he's probably too old to keep up with the demands of keeping a top football program on top from year to year. It's a difficult, time-consuming, stressful job for a guy in his thirties or forties, and this guy's more than twice that! I have to wonder just how much of a role he actually plays in the day to day operations of the team. The other coaches may have assumed more and more control of what happens in recent years to the point it's just how things work. I still don't see him leaving until he says so (or dies).
posted by dyams at 02:09 PM on August 04, 2010
Didn't JoPa beat LSU in a bowl game just a few months ago? I'm ready to shovel dirt on his poor head yet. (he did sound old n feeble though)
posted by NoMich at 02:15 PM on August 04, 2010
Having much more familiarity with the process of aging than most here at SpoFi, I can tell you that the ailments that in our youth we shrugged off as a temporary short-term inconvenience become lengthy illnesses that require much more care and caution as we grow older. In Joe Paterno I see an older man who is not feeling particularly well, but who is still able to function well in what he has chosen to do. I'm sure he relies on his staff to do a lot more of the day-to-day dog work than he once did. Does this have an effect on recruiting or the team's record on the field? It likely does, but the won-loss record (22-4 over the past 2 seasons) surely doesn't reflect that. Joe Paterno still has all of his mental abilities. Just listen to some of the answers he gives during the video, and you can hear his sense of humor and quickness of mind. He has always tended to answer questions carefully, lest he commit some of the gaffes so common and harmful to those in public life. Give him enough credit to know when it is time to quit the sidelines. If that means leaving feet first on a stretcher, so be it. It's his choice, not that of anyone else, so long as his job performance is up to par. While the winning has always mattered to Joe Pa, it is not the most important thing. He finds the teaching to be much more important. If sitting out some of your starters to impart a lesson means losing a game, he will do so. Please note that Penn State has been relatively free of the types of scandals that have plagued a number of major programs in the past several years. Paterno's attitude and approach to the game are significant reasons for this.
posted by Howard_T at 03:43 PM on August 04, 2010
The concern with the beloved and long serving Pope Joe Pa the First is that he has never appeared to have done any end-of-career planning, to have considered an exit strategy (or pondered the possibility of a need for one).
He doesn't know when he's going to go, and apparently hasn't given much thought as to how he'll know when it's time to go.
Likewise, the university has given little indication that they have a transition plan in place to rely on when the appointed time arrives.
The overall feeling this has is that either no one wants to hurt the guy they all love so much by telling him the time has come, or no one has the courage to face the unpleasantness awaiting the person who steps up and makes the tough call on this.
In contrast, there was a lot of commentary and opinion being tossed around about Bowden before he stepped down. But his situation was easier for FSU to come to terms with because he made it clear that he understood he had to step aside at some point (he just disagreed about when that was), he wasn't winning 11 games a year like PSU, and there were legal problems and scandal swirling about at every turn, both at the team level and the institutional level.
FSU also had a transition plan in place and a named successor in waiting and many of the finer points of the succession plan were widely known.
posted by beaverboard at 03:54 PM on August 04, 2010
FSU's transition plan was a mistake. There seemed to be too many bosses, and it showed on the field. Paterno hasn't had any diminished success, so whatever he is doing seems to be right. He should stay until he isn't producing or until he wants to go.
posted by bperk at 04:22 PM on August 04, 2010
He doesn't know when he's going to go, and apparently hasn't given much thought as to how he'll know when it's time to go.
Likewise, the university has given little indication that they have a transition plan in place to rely on when the appointed time arrives.
I've always heard that Galen Hall was in control of most of the operation when Joe Pa is not around and he was/is the de facto coach in waiting. I don't know if that has changed recently or if that situation wasn't ever true.
FSU also had a transition plan in place and a named successor in waiting and many of the finer points of the succession plan were widely known.
I don't think that a transition plan publicly known (or not) will make a bit of difference in how smoothly things go when a Bowden or a Joe Pa steps down. The key will be if the program is not on a down slide when they leave.
For example, when Bowden was being shoved out the door, FSU had their transition plan in place, but everyone questioned it because they weren't winning. So the boosters are pushing their buddies and the school president and AD have their agendas and the situation looked to be somewhat chaotic. The same thing would have happened at PSU, if Joe Pa was forced out when PSU was down a few years back. If Joe Pa decides to go out while still near the top, the transition will be a smooth one and it won't matter a bit if we know about the transition plan before or as it happens.
posted by MrNix67 at 05:27 PM on August 04, 2010
If that means leaving feet first on a stretcher, so be it.
I understand the sentiment, but as someone who still remembers Jock Stein's death 25 years ago, I'm not sure you really want a plaque laid in Beaver Stadium to mark the spot where Joe Pa keeled over during a game.
posted by etagloh at 12:04 AM on August 05, 2010
Paterno hasn't had any diminished success ...
From 2000-2004, Penn State went 5-7, 5-6, 9-4, 3-9 and 4-7. That run would get most coaches of big-time programs fired. If that had continued, I think he would've been finally pushed out like Bowden.
posted by rcade at 08:11 AM on August 05, 2010
Yeah, but it didn't continue. How is that relevant today?
posted by bender at 08:22 AM on August 05, 2010
If there was a god, and of course my belief on the subject is clear by my user name, Joe Paterno should coach as long as he is capable and drop dead at the age of 100, painlessly and suddenly while on the sidelines coaching his team as they make the winning touchdown for victory in a National Championship Game. That is what a legacy like his deserves as a final exclamation point to his life and career IMHO/ And yes, they should erect a statue on the sidelines at the exact spot he falls or bury him right there, so he can spend another 100 years on the sidelines.
Can I sell the movie script now?
posted by Atheist at 05:32 PM on August 05, 2010
I didn't realise one had to sound young to coach football. I saw the video and disagree with these people.