Penn State Football: The Seven Victories of a Highly Effective Joe Paterno

Stephen Covey wrote the book in 1989.

And more than 15 million copies have been sold in nearly 40 languages since then.

But Joe Paterno has been living “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” since he became Penn State’s head coach in 1966.

Now, more than ever given the 84-year-old coach’s age and physical condition – he’s still recovering from injuries suffered in a collision during summer drills – Paterno not only has to be effective, but efficient.

He has no choice. Despite his iconic statue, Paterno is obviously aging in all the ways that happen to all of us.

But he has adjusted what he does and how much of it. The new formula is working. And right now that means a record of 7-1, 4-0 in the Big Ten Conference, first in the Leaders Division and 19th in the latest BCS rankings.

JOE’S ENTOURAGE

Paterno’s 21st century strategy is straightforward: He’s surrounded himself with good and loyal people. He’s listened to them — at last, many would say. He’s kept them at Penn State. And that has allowed him to lessen his own load.

His left-hand man, the director of operations and driver of his golf cart and shuttle to and from Beaver Stadium, has been at PSU for 28 years.

The associate A.D. for football is 10 steps across the hall and has worked for Joe in one way or the other since 1967. His administrative assistant, right next door, injects an abundance of energy and a protective quality to her boss’s workplace.

The athletic director used to be Paterno’s G.A.

His coordinators, both on offense and defense, played for Paterno 52 and 36 years ago, respectively. And respectfully. Three former college and pro head coaches are on his staff, and only one of the nine core assistants have departed Happy Valley since the 2007 season.

The team doctor is one of Paterno’s closest friends and accompanies him everywhere. To wit: When a handful of Penn State officials flew to Tampa, Fla., for a pre-Outback Bowl press tour, the doc was part of The Rat’s pack.

His consigliare is devoted exclusively to football PR and marketing, from recruiting to stadium cheers. His S.I.D. of 18 years is as nonplussed and loyal as any in the business.

His daughter manages many of his business affairs. His namesake coaches the quarterbacks, as well as displaying a media savvy that might even surpass his dad’s.

Even the regular media corps is accommodating of Paterno’s age, both friendly and respectful.

And his wife Sue’s role in his success is a whole different story.

Together, the coach’s entourage allows JoePa to be JoePa.

67 SINCE NORTHWESTERN 2004

Since a 14-7 loss to Northwestern on Nov. 6, 2004, Paterno’s teams have won 67 of their last 87 games – a .770 winning percentage. And over the past four seasons, the Nittany Lions are 11-2 in Big Ten road games – and yes, we know Columbus and Madison are on the horizon.

What makes this remarkable is that Paterno has suffered three football-related injuries in that time. Football-related. Busted his leg on the sidelines against Wisconsin in 2006. Hurt his hip doing an onside kick preseason 2008. Then, 11 weeks ago, he was blindsided by Devon Smith during summer practice.

Imagine any other guy in his 80s surviving all of that and continuing to show up for work, every day. (And yes, we know he often works from home; well, so do I.)

A good part of the job – as in the good part, the on-the-field coaching thing that Joe has whittled down to 80 percent of the position – is not a desk job. These have been injuries of action, not age – although yes, exacerbated by Joe’s octogenarian status.

Since 2006, Paterno has missed just one game (Temple, 2006, a 47-0 win) and a few practices. That’s a testament to his incredible will, his generally unbelievable physical recuperative powers and his aforementioned organizational skills.

He used to be a guy who decided which player was going to be featured on the cover of the Beaver Stadium Pictorial. Now he delegates like crazy, begs off many of the commitments that typically come with the job and still eschews headphones, choosing instead to pass notes in the coaches box during games.

He’s figured it out, all right — not by plan but by circumstance.

Paterno may not be doing more with less on his way to 408 wins, but his current teams are winning at practically the same rate they have since the 1960s — when Paterno called every single offensive play, did dozens of mid-week in-season interviews and never met a banquet or recruit’s mother he didn’t like.

Paterno has morphed from micro-manager, master-marketer and program-builder to a consensus-building $70 million empire chairman of the board. Admittedly so.

“The staff has done a really great job,” Paterno said after his 408th victory on Saturday. “If there’s anything I’ve done is that I’ve tried to be a mediator when we’ve had some differences of opinion, tried to direct some things, tried to make sure we did the right thing with a player…”

7-1 AGAIN

And now, once again, Penn State is in the midst of a run that was remarkably commonplace from 1972-86. In those 15 seasons, Paterno had seven 7-1 and four 8-0 starts to the season. That’s 11 of 15.

Over the past seven seasons, he’s had three 7-1’s (2005, 2009, 2011) and one 8-0 (2008). That’s 4 of 7, not quite the regularity of his heyday — but still pretty darn effective.

Oh, and by the way, he still doesn’t cheat.

There have been numerous concessions to his age and injury. On gameday Paterno doesn’t ride to Beaver Stadium on the team bus. He coaches from the press box. Sometimes he’s not in the locker room at halftime. He doesn’t hit the road to recruit or pack ’em in at alumni functions around the state.

He’s not a fixture at the weekly meeting of 600 boosters in the State College Quarterback Club. He does a few pre-recorded questions for the Thursday night radio show on which he used to appear live.

The weekly highlight show, “TV Quarterbacks,” used to run 58-plus minutes and Paterno’s mug was on-air for a third of them. Now, “The Penn State Football Story” shows clips of Joe’s press conferences and a few archival snippets. On the post-Eastern Michigan PSFS, Paterno occupied just 135 seconds of the 21-minute program.

PATERNO’S PRIORITIES

Yet.

There’s the little boy from Make-A-Wish who visited Penn State during last year’s Blue-White Game, who only wanted to meet the legendary coach.

Wish granted. When the boy and the coach were alone in his office, Paterno got down on one knee to look the kid in the eye and, wagging his finger, promised the youngster he would return for the Northwestern game. The kid did – and you thought Win No. 400 was the miracle that day.

There’s the family whose father was terminally ill and wheelchair-bound, and the daughter was a Penn State undergrad. Through the friend of a friend, the dad and his wife and their wide-eyed kids spent a memorable hour in Joe’s cavernous office, taking pictures, drinking sodas, having – almost literally – the time of their lives.

“That was the best day of my entire life,” the daughter later told me, sharing photos of the visit months after her father passed away.

There’s the telephone call Joe made to the sick dad of another student. The call came too late, the parent having died a few days before Paterno’s call. The coach didn’t know of the passing when he picked up the phone.

Paterno’s message, saved on voicemail, is a family treasure. It’s a constant reminder, the son says, of how much they loved their dad and how much he loved Penn State football. 

And then there’s the Penn State undergrad who Paterno took under his wing over a decade ago when the student almost died after taking ill covering football for The Daily Collegian. The two are still friends, the kid now a successful 30-something who visits Joe and Sue at their house when he travels back to Penn State.

This past spring, the young man was returning to campus to receive an award from his alma mater. So I surreptitiously dropped a note to Paterno, telling him that his protégé was going to be in town. For his part, Joe picked up the phone, called me and pulled out his calendar to see when would be a good time to surprise the former student with a visit to practice to see the coach.

It was in the midst of spring drills, and no way the coach of the Penn State football team had the time to make that call himself.

But even now, with Joe Paterno some things are too important to delegate.

Related content

• StateCollege.com’s Penn State football page