I was was drunk in the nosebleeds at OSU ‘05 screaming at everyone who called for Joe’s head “YOU DON’T GET TO CELEBRATE THIS WIN!!!”

But lets be honest, I don’t think he could really hang out and coach that much longer before his health starts to deteriorate, etc. Personally i’m a huge fan of Schiano, and if we had a chance to get him at the end of this year, I would say that the administration “nudge” him to retire and not renew the contract. If there is no Schiano on the horizon, and he can keep up with it all, let him coach

I say let him coach until he can’t stand anymore… Then, if he wants, someone can wheel him through the tunnel to the sidelines for every game… Lets be honest… Joe is an icon… at this point in his life/career, it means a lot more to the fans/players that he is there with them on the sidelines then what strategic value he brings to the team. That is what offensive/defensive coordinators are for… I love the ”/” button…

Much appreciated. I can only imagine how hard it is generating ideas daily.

For new blood. I love what Joe Paterno has meant to Penn State. Sure, he has every right to determine whether or not he should go. But I wish he could see the reality of what’s happening. Save for 2005, Penn State has been mediocre for years. I think we wasted a lot of talent the last two years (shouldn’t Penn State have been in the running for a BCS bowl in 2007??). It’s very frustrating for me to see the same thing over and over and over. He should be allowed to bow out gracefully this year, then we move on to someone new, whether that’s Larry Johnson or preferably someone from the outside (Bill Cowher, the Iowa coach, or the Rutgers coach)

I know this is a very unpopular view (I catch grief from most of my friends and peers on this), but I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. I think it’s time.

He is a true legend of college football and should have his say in everything. PSU owes more to Paterno than any single professor, alumni, etc. This man put PSU on the map both academically and in the sports world. I have always made the argument that Paterno is one of the 3 most important people in the history of Pennsylvania….William Penn, Ben Franklin, Joe Paterno!

Forcing Joe Paterno out is like telling Tiger Woods at the end of his career that he cannot play the Masters anymore!

They had a quote from Nate Cadogen saying that Joe said (from Cadogen) “until god calls him back he’ll be here until then”. I have a suspicion that this is his true intention and will likely be what we see. I cannot say if this is good or bad, clearly it would be nice if he were out recruiting but so far so good this year. Clearly he can still coach, I would say that there is no one in the country who can get their team ready like Joepa can given time. We just expect bowl wins now, and that is because he still knows how to coach. So I think we as fans just have to do our best to enjoy what we have for now, I am pretty sure Spanier is not checking into BSD for our opinions, and am not sure how much he will be able to control the situation if we get into a BCS game this year (I hope!).

Joe Paterno is a national treasure. The man has had a major impact on Penn State, but more than that he has had a major role in shaping the game of college football into what it is today. People say he is tarnishing his career by holding on too long. I say, the only thing tarnishing his career are the people calling for him to step down. The game of college football is way better with Joe Paterno in it than without him. We need the cherish him while we can.

As long as Joe can win a minimum of 9 games a year, then I can tolerate the underachieving seasons until he leaves on his own. It pains me to see missed opportunities go by each year but Joe stuck with us when the Patriots came calling with a crazy offer back in the day so we should stick by him. His loyalty to PSU in many instances and his emphasis on all that is good about college sports is what gives him the right to stay if he wants, as long as his health and mental state don’t become too bad.

Do I wish that he would retire, yes. Do I think that it should be his call at this time, yes.

First off, nice discussion fugimaster, I completely agree with you. I’m also in the “Keep Him” crowd. I debated this subject with a guy last season (you know, the 2nd season with our wonderful #14) who was in the “Joe Must Go” crowd because he thought we should be going for an NC every year now (like a new coach is going to do that). By the end of the conversation, he appeared to be a little less hostile to Joe. If you go to Wikipedia and look at the PSU football page (which is very nicely done btw), you start to see a pattern over his whole career here.

His first season was 5-5, understandable for his first year as coach. 8-2 second season, then two undefeated seasons. If you keep travelling down the timeline, you start to see that these incredible seasons that Joe had came after a few years of mediocrity. 70’s, 80’s, 90’s all tend to show the same general pattern, from mediocrity comes success. There are a couple of deviations, much of the 70s was incredible with only 7-5, and an 8-4 season as the worst, while the early 2000’s were less than spectacular as we all know.

But your analysis is completely correct. Every few seasons now, the “Joe Must Go” mob starts to gather their pitchforks and torches, but then there’s a light at the end of the tunnel of those dark periods, and the mob subsides. The only differences from the past are that Joe obviously wasn’t 82, and it’s much easier to blame his age on not going for a NC every year (or at least a BCS bid). I want to keep him with the PSU family as long as possible, but I think from all the pressures both administration, fan and press-wise, he’s going to go without a fight at the end of this year. But I really hope I’m wrong because it makes me sad to think that there will never be anyone like this man again, and I know that as long as I live I will miss seeing him pacing the sidelines after he’s gone, but I will cherish the memories of seeing a Legend like Joe for the rest of my life.

But I think this year is it. I think we’re going to have a good team this year and it just seems right. Just a gut feeling for me. I’d like to see a change b/c I think the program needs a shot in the arm, but even if this isn’t his last year I’m willing to be patient for a few more years of 9-4 type seasons if it means JoePa can go out when he’s ready. He’s earned that much.

I think Joe has earned the right to stay as long as he would like and personally if that was another 10-15 years I would take it. It isn’t, so I think chasing him out now would be a travesty. However, I would like to see some of the Asst. Coaches leave. I am in the JayPa must go camp. I don’t think he deserves to be in the position that he is in and that he ought to go to another program to prove himself. Unfortunately, I don’t see JayPa leaving until JoePa is gone and someone else is driving the ship.

Eventually JoePa is going to retire and that is going to be a very sad day for Penn State and college football as a whole. So lets enjoy the old coot while we still have him leading the team out of the tunnel.

1. He decides to retire;
2. He dies;
3. Public opinion against him becomes so overwhelming that Graham Spanier has ability to force him out.

Number Three is so manifestly unlikely as to be almost irrelevant. Even people who wish he step aside, the group that I’m in, can’t imagine running him off the sidelines. So as long as the team is reasonably competitive and JoePa’s health holds, he’s going nowhere. This teams is almost a mortal lock to win eight or nine games this season, and when it does, Joe keeps coaching into 2009 and beyond. It’s pretty simple really.

Joe’s succession plan is this. "I’ll keep coaching until I die or get too sick to continue, at which point someone from on staff will have to replace me for continuity purposes". Hence, the next head coach will come from the staff, even if it’s only on an interim basis.

and we are going to nudge out paterno

GET REAL!

JOEPA forever

I admit, in the days after the after losses to scUM and OSU the last couple years, I had one foot on the “Joe must go” bandwagon. But with each offseason comes tranquility and peace of mind.
The bottom line is this…Joe has been loyal to this program for 58 years. For many of us, Joe was coaching (or asst.) for 2 or 3 DECADES before we were even born. Joe has been loyal to this program, its fans, the players and his staff. I think he deserves some loyalty from us as fans.
Besides, even if we get a new coach for next year, we will inevitably have a couple mediocre seasons while the new coach becomes adjusted to the program. So why not spend those mediocre seasons with our old pal Joe?
A coach like JoePa is hard to find in this world of DickRods and Les Miles’. Let’s appreciate what we have now, while we still have it.

Joe Paterno’s biggest legacy may be the “grand experiment” in which he tried to use college football as a way to teach student-athletes to become better people and citizens. His true success isn’t measured in national championships, undefeated seasons, Big Ten championships, or wins and losses. It’s measured by the graduation rate and the success of his players as people.

Those who attempt to judge his value as a football coach by the team’s wins and losses fail to recognize the fundamental message of his career, and his lasting legacy, namely, that football is a wonderful way to teach people about striving to be their best.

Retire? And the college football to the Barry Switzers and Jackie Sherrills of the world. No way.

Joe waited out Barry and Jackie. If he retires today he leaves college football to the Rich Rodriguezs, Urban Meyers and the rest of the mercenary CEOs of the college football factories.

The problems with college football today make Jackie Sherrill figuring out a way to keep Dan Marino academically eligible seem positively quaint. Shit, Jackie and Joe are even friends now. There will never be another SMU, with boosters just dumping money illegally into the program. The money is too big now to risk major sanctions.

The problem today isn’t rouge non-compliance, it is faux compliance. Today colleges are following the rules like Halliburton does, i.e. pushing the limit as far as they can go while at the same time maintaining plausible deniability. I’m looking directly at Ohio State and USC. The infrastructure of these programs has gotten so big and sophisticated that the NCAA doesn’t even stand a chance.

The sprit of college football is going away; you know college kids playing a game? Now it’s about profitability and…well…it’s about profitability. Everything else comes second.

As much as he’d like to, Joe’s too old to wait this trend out. The real question is where does Penn State fit in the new world order?