Paterno....

[ibis]

I love everything about the Saturday game,the teams,their nics,the rivalries,the fact that they play each other only once during the Season,the stadia, (I travel,as a booster, to the Canes away games and have sat in,Ann Arbour,Knoxville,Happy Valley,Chestnut Hill, etc.) I love,the bands,the mascots,the cheerleaders,the dance team...(as a connesciour,I do differenciate)...and the Coaches...which brings me to:Joe Paterno...Jesuit Joe Paterno...a great left handed quarterback,educated by the followers of Loyola at Brooklyn Prep...after Prep...off to Brown,up in LTN's neck of the woods,a school named after a colour....very minimalist...he popped up after that,at least on my rader screen,when he shows up at Penn State to work under Rip Engle...PSU....literally in the middle of nowhere..is off the map football wise....stadium seats,at the time a tad under 50,000..Engle out...Paterno in....when last I plopped my fanny down in the stadium he pretty much built...around 109,000...he's a tenured professor (LTN's shoulders rock side to side,approvingly)..a world class fundraiser,a pal of presidents,his own money in donations,helping to build the library and,maybe most of important of all,he's an educator...you send your kid to Paterno...the little nipper will get a degree a real degree from a great school...so Joe Paterno,born of the streets of Brooklyn,a great coach,a great man..............................a life well lived...

 

[LaTunaNostra]

Another guy who should have already retired.

No disrespect intended. It will be a loss when he does decide to retire, how many old 'name' coaches so well associated with a team are left in the college ranks? The last few years, it doesn't look like recruitment has been too strong at Penn State..set me straight if I'm wrong about that.

On a pesronal level - my favorite college coach of all time was actually the hated, hated rival's guy.

Ara Parseghian.

The legend of Bear Bryant is also fascinating.

 

[ibis]

Another guy who should have already retired.

No disrespect intended. It will be a loss when he does decide to retire, how many old 'name' coaches so well associated with a team are left in the college ranks? The last few years, it doesn't look like recruitment has been too strong at Penn State..set me straight if I'm wrong about that.

On a pesronal level - my favorite college coach of all time was actually the hated, hated rival's guy.

Ara Parseghian.

The legend of Bear Bryant is also fascinating.

...I liked Bryant...Kentucky,A&M,Alabama...such a different time and place...probably couldn't even get an interview now...he was smart...lost to SC...which had more than a few African American on it....saw which way the wind was blowing (and going to blow in the South) and decided to recruit all Americans...good on you,Bear...the other guy...I can speak to his career at Miami of Ohio....as for what he did at Our Lady de loopdy loop...Not a peep....

 

[mr.jameswoods]

Sorry but I don't buy the idea that these old coaches like Paterno looked after your kids while the new guys don't. I think that is a lot of mystique we want to perpetuate about the former greats whether you are talking about Vince Lombardi etc. These guys were about winning first and could give a rats *** about the welfare of these players. I think this is just a lot of story book mythos that is associated with guys like Paterno. I respect Paterno because he won not because of any other b.s. that is associated with him. The guy won and he was consistent with winning.

If anything these old coaches not necessarily Paterno probably got away with abusing their former players because no one looked after the welfare of the players back then. It was not such a litigious society so a university never feared getting sued if their head coach beat on their players or extended their practice hours beyond reason. Bear Bryant and Woody Hayes come to mind. Yeah, I think this abuse is what helped their teams win because their players were disciplined like you wouldn't believe. But I laugh when I think these coaches took care of their players and looked after their welfare....now that's funny.

I remember people would talk about Tom Osbourne as if he was a model citizen. I remember Osbourne did nothing about suspending Lawrence Phillips after he assaulted and physically abused his girlfriend. Osbourne didn't care about ethics or morals then. He only cared about winning yet we depict him as if he was a Saint. Even Bill Parcells didn't get involved when Lawrence Phillips was abusing and selling cocaine in the 80's. He could have looked into it but he looked the other way because they were winning. The bottom line is coaches care about winning first and they always will.

I think people just want to hyperbolize and make heros out of these old coaches because it makes for a good story. But the reality is far different. I would never want to play for Bear Bryant or Woody Hayes. Those guys were a bunch of psychos regardless if they won. I would much rather play in todays college environment where there are some measures taken to protect the players unlike yesteryear. I probably wouldn't be as good of a football player had I played for a guy like Lombardi, Hayes or Bryant. At the same time, I will probably be able to get up in the morning when I'm 35 without having to take a vicodin too or walk without a limp when I'm in my mid 40's.

 

[LaTunaNostra]

I think people just want to hyperbolize and make heros out of these old coaches because it makes for a good story. But the reality is far different. I would never want to play for Bear Bryant or Woody Hayes. Those guys were a bunch of psychos regardless if they won. I would much rather play in todays college environment where there are some measures taken to protect the players unlike yesteryear. I probably wouldn't be as good of a football player had I played for a guy like Lombardi, Hayes or Bryant. At the same time, I will probably be able to get up in the morning when I'm 35 without having to take a vicodin too or walk without a limp when I'm in my mid 40's.

I probably wouldn't last a day with Bear Bryant either.

Joe Namath blubbered like a baby when Bryant died. It could be because it was a particularly amorous day of Joe's 40 year affair with the bottle, or Bear's death inspired a nostalgia kick. But I don't think so.

Of course it is always mostly about winning. But some players, those who need a strong male influence in their lives, who are at some emotional crossroads, identity seeking, prior misfits - they will insist that a coach had a special influence in their lives.

Namath claimed Bryant made a man of him. Taught him character by suspending him when he treated rules ligthtly. Even if Byant's concerns were more for instiling discipline on the whole team, than with teaching Joe to be accountable, what Joe remembered was how the action affected him. And Namath says Bear's influence changed his life.

It doesn't matter if winning was the chief or even only goal, by teaching a player how to win, and to win by working hand in hand with others, that coach marked him for life.

No, the drill sergeant routine doesn't go over big today. But there are young people who would benefit from it, while others chafe. . Coaches who have managed to convince a player that he cares for him on some personal level are the ones who get the glowing testimonies the 'most influential figure' tributes. Over and over. It goes beyond football.

There are players who maintain Parcells' discipline, or guidance, or concern for them is/was instrumental in their lives. A few players here in Dallas who say Bill is a 'father figure", and one who may well have been "saved" by Bill.. We don't know what LT would have been without Bill's influence - it could be dead in a gutter, and it could be another coach would have benefited him on a personal level more. The fact LT did drugs reportedly all through his career does not mean Tuna did not impact him positively.

There is no denying the power of that seminal coaching influence in some player's lives. Coaches are teachers, and every good teacher seeks to bring out the best in his/her student. That best is almost always tied to chararcter and self-discipline.
And Bryant had his share of testimonials. You tell Joe Namath the man whose grave he wept over was only about winning.