He’s been the head football coach at Penn State through 695 games and five decades, logging more career victories than any other major college-football coach.
But would Joe Paterno call himself an icon?
At an event taped Monday afternoon for ESPN, the 84-year-old didn’t sound so sure.
‘I don’t think about it that way,’ Paterno said, answering an audience member who asked what it’s like to be a preeminent Penn State icon. ‘I’m delighted there’s so much interest in Penn State — and maybe football has helped create some of that interest and loyalty.’
As far as being an icon, though?
‘Tell me what’ that means, Paterno said. ‘If you tell me (it means) some good-looking … — I like it.’
The audience in the university’s Eisenhower Auditorium roared, applauding the vintage Paterno humor.
It was one of numerous unscripted laugh lines that Paterno delivered during the nearly three-hour University Park gathering, a made-for-TV production that will appear on ESPN and ESPNU this month as ‘Difference Makers: Life Lessons with Paterno and Krzyzewski.’
ESPN ‘SportsCenter’ anchor Rece Davis interviewed Paterno and Mike Krzyzewski, the Duke men’s basketball coach since 1981, together on a raised platform on the Eisenhower stage. A backdrop of several dozen Penn State students sat behind them, with several hundred more spectators — all admitted free of charge — seated in the audience.
Davis asked a range of questions, focusing on themes such as leadership, family, mentoring and teaching. ESPN also incorporated audience questions — not only from Penn Staters in the room, but also from Duke devotees who appeared via Cisco Telepresence from Durham, N.C.
‘These guys (Paterno and Krzyzewski) have never met until today — and that’s history,’ said emcee Jeff Brown, who helped to steer on-camera audience reactions in Eisenhower Auditorium.
Despite their lack of prior communication, Davis said, the men have fostered athletic programs that mirror each other, underscoring integrity and off-the-field performance.
The coaches’ personal lives also share similar elements: Both grew up in urban areas and went to Catholic schools. Both have tight-knit families. Paterno has a son on his staff; Krzyzewski has a daughter and a son-in-law on his.
‘These two gentlemen built programs that stand for everything that’s right in college sports,’ Davis said. He said both programs — Penn State football and Duke men’s basketball — help set the groundwork for young athletes to become men who contribute to their communities.
At the same time, Paterno and Krzyzewski have forged some of the most winning records in college athletics. Krzyzewski, for his part, is three victories shy of the Bobby Knight’s all-time career-wins record.
‘There’s no one type of leader,’ Krzyzewski said. ‘ … A really good leader is able to create an environment where everyone has ownership.’
That, he said, is because ‘if you own it, you’ll fight for it.’
Among other highlights of the taping event:
- Paterno said a great teacher needs conviction, empathy and the ability to get a player ‘to understand he can do whatever he wants to do if he’s willing to pay the price.’ Good teaching also requires a careful study of each kid being taught, Paterno said. Sometimes they need a ‘kick in the rear end’; other times, ‘a big kiss,’ he said.
Krzyzewski jumped in: ‘I watch Coach (Paterno) all the time; I’ve never seen him kiss.’ He suggested perhaps Polish guys could learn something from Italians.
- ‘I think we’re products of the people we grew up with,’ Paterno said, reflecting on his youth in New York. His father, he said, studied into the wee hours of the morning as he pursued a law degree. Paterno wanted to follow in his footsteps, he said, but got hooked on coaching, where he could ‘see what some kids lacked.’ He found a skill in putting in ‘my two cents’ to help guide them to a better path, Paterno said.
- In the Paterno family kitchen, the coach said, there’s a item that reads: ‘Our family is a circle of strength.’
‘Trust is a great way to put it,’ Paterno said, attempting to explain the glue of his family. ‘When I pray,’ he said, he always gives thanks for his family.
- As Paterno fielded the question about what it’s like to be a Penn State icon, Krzyzewski interjected: ‘Actually, I think your statue should be bigger’ — to the apparent delight of the audience.
- Paterno referenced a couple themes used by the late former Penn State football coach Rip Engle — messages that Paterno still uses today, he said.
One is the importance of being flexible while never losing sight of ‘what you want.’ The other, Paterno said, is to focus on the recruits you have, not the recruits you’ve lost.
‘We weren’t very good last year,’ he said. ‘ … I think if I’d done a better job coaching, we could’ve won a couple more games.’
- Paterno also addressed why he didn’t accept an opportunity to coach in the NFL.
‘I stayed because I felt this is where I thought I would be happier and where I could do more good,’ he said. ‘ … I love State College. I love Penn State. I love the people I’ve gotten to work with.’
- Answering a question from former sports reporter Malcolm Moran, who runs the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State, Krzyzewski and Paterno both indicated they would like to see reform in NCAA rules. Krzyzewski said he believes coaches should be allowed better access to their players. Paterno said he’d like to see discussion about making freshmen ineligible to play once more — and about developing more scholarships.
- Former Penn State football players Michael Robinson and Matt Millen, along with former Duke basketball players Jay Bilas and Jay Williams, appeared on stage for supplemental interviews with Davis. They talked about their respective experiences with the coaches. Millen, at one point, offered an unsolicited Paterno impersonation that fired up the room.
Attendees at the event, sponsored in part by the Curley Center and supported by the Penn State and Duke athletics departments, included a variety of well-known area residents, including U.S. Rep. Glenn ‘G.T.’ Thompson, R-Howard; university board Chairman Steve Garban; and incoming Penn State men’s basketball coach Pat Chambers.
The production created from the taping will appear in two parts. The first is slated to appear on ESPN at 8 p.m. June 30; the second, on ESPNU at 9 p.m. June 30.
Subsequent presentations of the production will appear in a 90-minute format, organizers said.
Related content
