Penn State board punts, for now, on naming field for Joe Paterno
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — For a quick minute, the Penn State board of trustees opened a public discussion Friday that has been a long time coming: How to properlyand appropriately honor the legacy of its late and legendary head football coach Joe Paterno.
The door opened at the board’s public meeting Friday, when trustee Anthony Lubrano, a longtime defender of Paterno’s legacy at Penn State, introduced a resolution from the floor to have the field at Beaver Stadium named for the coach at a date and time to be decided in fall of 2024.
But the public discussion ended almost as quickly as it began, when Jay Paterno, Paterno’s son and, like Mr. Lubrano, an alumni-elected member of the board, spoke against the resolution.
Jay Paterno began with a ringing defense of his dad’s actions prior to and during the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal that ultimately led to the elder Paterno’s abrupt firing. Jay Paterno also indicated that he could get behind Mr. Lubrano’s effort in the long run.
“Getting it (Paterno’s legacy) right is important because that decades-long era of Penn State history was never about one man,” Mr. Paterno said. “Thousands of players, coaches and administrators and tens of thousands of fans earned ownership of that era’s proud history of success with honor.”
But President Neeli Bendapudi’s administration, Mr. Paterno noted, has asked for a deferral on this question at this time, to permit an all-in focus on the university’s current budget challenges, “with an eye towards future recognition.”
Mr. Paterno said his father would respect that stance, “and he would not want the focus on him to be the issue of the day. That should not surprise anyone who knew him.”
Jay Paterno then asked for Mr. Lubrano to withdraw his resolution.
Mr. Lubrano agreed, while reserving the right to reintroduce it a later date.
For most of his career, honoring Joe Paterno was not a controversy at Penn State.
The former coach is the all-time wins leader in college football, he led the Nittany Lions to two national championships, and he also used his clout to turbocharge philanthropic support for the university’s academic mission.
But all that was turned upside down in 2011, when Paterno’s longtime top defensive coach Jerry Sandusky was charged after a lengthy grand jury investigation with being a serial child molester. Questions were raised about how much and how long Paterno knew, and that board of trustees abruptly fired him by telephone days after Sandusky’s charges were filed.
Paterno was never charged with any crimes, and there is an argument that, in taking a direct eyewitness allegation about Sandusky that he received in 2001 to Tim Curley, the athletic director at the time, Paterno did exactly what he supposed to do — notifying his superiors.
But subsequent investigation raised other questions about Paterno’s role, including a Curley email to then-President Graham Spanier that suggested Curley had conferred with Paterno about what to do about Sandusky.