I don’t have a problem with this one incident, but I do find that JoePa’s press relationship has gone sour in recent years. You can easily compare him to Bobby Bowden. Bowden hams it up for the camera, goes through the “aw shucks” routine and gives his players relatively free access to the media. As a result, the transgressions by his players and his mediocre record has been glossed over by the media. If FSU made it to a BCS bowl game, there would be no mention of his “old school” methods. In journalism speak – that means “cranky” which simply means “old”. Bowden’s age is never the lead in the story because he doesn’t act old.

I’m not saying that JoePa should turn into the northern version of Bobby Bowden, I’m saying that his frosty relationship with the press, compounded with the police blotter issues of the past summer, has led to this small issue compounding into a legal action. Maybe Lisa Salters felt that the Penn State Athletic Department and Media Relationship Department were disrespectful to her. I can imagine how hurtful that can be as a PSU alum. If anyone should be granted access, it’s someone like Salters that the closed ranks of the PSU AD can trust.

I respect JoePa immensely and feel that he has earned tenfold more respect than the press grants him, but perhaps he should ease up a little. It’s not a major deal for him to grant another bland interview, to give the players a little more access to the press to humanize them, and even to give a journalist a story every once and a while.

You realize that so much of the press BS leading up to the Rose Bowl was about Joe… maybe he felt.. and justifiably so that he wanted the focus to be on the TEAM of young men he brought out to play the game rather than on him.

Does anybody think that maybe he had just gotten tired of being asked the same questions repeatedly all week?

If Lisa Salters, alum or not, needed a single interview to boost her career… why is she still working the sidelines for ABC/ESPN, I really don’t think one interview will boost her career.

I understand JoePa’s point, but at the same time what is the message he is sending to the team? To me, I read this as him following the rules (i.e. contract) when it is convenient. Is that a message you want to send the team?

This wouldn’t even have been an issue, if ESPN didn’t tell her to mention it. Like KHD said, there are thousands of these “contractual obligations” that are broken every bowl game. ESPN was ticked, and wanted to poke PSU in the ribs about it.

This was hardly the worst things JoePa’s done to the media…

I think this was just another angle to repackage the “Joe Paterno is so old” story.

Joe Paterno is so old that he has to sit up in the press box even if it means paying $10,000 out of his own pocket.

There is a special place in hell for anyone who fines an 82 year old man because he has trouble walking four weeks after hip replacement surgery.

like an integrity challenged institution throwing a hissy-fit.

they could have let it go with Joe declining to be interviewed. Instead, it was that Joe refused to give a contractually obligated interview.

I find it somewhat odd that Herbstreit AND Salters both somewhat picked on Penn State, much more than usual Herbie’s usually in our corner, or at least balanced, but many people on this board picked on Penn State.

And as to the “us against the world mentality” it seemed like that the whole game… from the press leading up to it, to the announcers, to the refs, Penn State was fighting an uphill battle the whole way. It would be convenient to say that the game was decided before it was played, but I won’t go that far, I’ll just throw that out there. However, I think Paterno sensed a little bit of that.

It’s quite possible that JoePa felt he was being trapped. If someone is granted an interview, they get to ask the questions and basically dictate wherever the interview is going to go. While he should probably trust Lisa Salters more than that, it appears, for one reason or another, he still didn’t want to do the interview. Looks like he might have been right.

Then ESPN had her go through that spiel to explain the situation. Or ESPN wanted to frame JoePa, like they always do, as an old crotchety curmudgeon. It’s not that big of a deal to me.

Nevertheless, Lisa was at a PSU Los Angeles Chapter alumni dinner back in 2004 and said she wanted to see Joe go. A big hush came over the crowd. But that was before Robinson’s year so I don’t know what her feelings are now.

Or whether she has feelings at all. ESPN probably brainwashes all their reporters into high octane, rude, unforgiving, whipper snappers.

Announcer: “Coach Paterno, you’re old. Care to comment?”

JoaPa: “…”

Just to see what they say. The whole controversy is kind of stupid, and I’m amazed that it would be a contractually obligated interview, but maybe we’ll get some answers.

Already 39 comments about this (non) issue. (yes, I’m guilty of one of them.)
How many days until the Blue White game??

Has been like this with the press for decades….nothing new here.

I never liked Salters

I understand he is a grumpy old 83 year old man but this is primetime. Whether he wants it or not all this stuff IS about him. Sometimes we all have to do things we don’t neccessarly want to do. I understand his respect thing but I don’t think that arguement is valid. Everyone wanted him on that field………. His players, USC players, coaches, fans and the media. He should have abliged and at least given a freakin soundbite. It’s part of his job. If anyone got robbed in this whole thing it was the USC players who didn’t get to shake hands with the “Legend” or compete with him on the sideline. Joe does his best to outsmart the media but either way he finds himself in front of that same group of guys, in the same room every single week. It is all part of his job.

Just one mans take.

whatever the hell he wants. Grumpy old man…maybe. Contract obligation…maybe. Greatest college football coach of all time…YES! Lets please move on to something else.

I found out the real story behind the “interview” incident.

Apparently, Joe had lined up three naked Song Girls face down in the press box, and was in the middle of doing lines of coke off their shapely, firm, tanned asses. As there were still two cheeks worth of blow to do, he figured he’d just skip it and talk to Salters some other time.

Can you blame him for ignoring some bullshit interview about being old? I don’t, and you shouldn’t either.

I think this thread has been a good debate about JoePa and media relations.

That they fine Joe. It will give me 10,000 more reasons to hat ESPN.