As each year passes, the media-driven rumor mill produces increasingly larger volumes of predictions regarding Joe Paterno hanging up his whistle at Penn State.
A sampling from the past seven days:
“Joe Paterno: Retirement Rumors ‘Ridiculous’” WEEI.com
“Rumors fly that JoePa will retire after bowl game” MSNBC.com
“Paterno to retire after Outback Bowl?” Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia
Aside from the continual erroneous speculations regarding his retirement, there seems to be a stream of well meant arguments as to why he should call it quits.
Popular themes include the obvious; his age and health.
How can an 84-year-old man fully fulfill the demanding duties of a college football head coach? How can he aggressively recruit, motivate players and successfully endure a relentless, stressful routine?
Another often used argument is if Joe Paterno’s continued tenure at Penn State is good for the institution that he has so successfully served over the past 60 years?
Indeed, at what point does his age and inevitable physical decline begin to hurt the long-term prospects of the Nittany Lion football program?
Though both these lines of thought are logical and could easily be accepted as valid, it may be worth considering another two reasons as to why Joe Paterno should call it quits after the Nittany Lions New Year’s Day clash with the Gators of Florida.
The Discussion is Beneath Him
It is pretty much a given that with every season, every game and really every decision made that Paterno will be increasingly scrutinized as the head man of Penn State football.
Every result produced by the Nittany Lion team will be analyzed squarely upon the ideological framework of “how it was affected by Joe Paterno still being the coach at Penn State.”
His age, health and physical capabilities will be used to at least partially explain the football fortunes in Happy Valley.
This is a guy who has won two national championships, went undefeated five teams, won 21 bowl games, is 401-134-3 overall and ranks number one overall, all time, among winning college football coaches.
The continued scrutiny over Joe Paterno’s on and off field decision making (in terms of how they are affected by his age and long tenure) while he remains the head coach at Penn State is beneath him.
The Old School Exit Strategy
One of the reasons current college football enthusiasts so value Joe Pa is because he represents an era of college football that is, for the most part, gone.
No names on the jerseys, tough, scrappy Pennsylvania boys knocking people around, no fancy uniforms (you can’t throw back the originals), winning on the ground, stifling defense, team over individual, etc. It is mud, blood and glory (the old fashioned way).
The Nittany Lions play often evokes feelings of the days before facemasks and roughing the passer penalties. No skirts needed.
When Paterno played at Brown from 1946 — 1949 and when he entered into the coaching ranks in 1950 guys like Paul Brown, Red Blaik, Alonzo Stagg and Bud Wilkinson were still in the game.
These guys came and went in a sports world that was heavily covered by a plethora of daily newspapers but lacked the bedazzling instantaneous, over saturated media frenzy (both via TV and the internet) of 2010.
If Paterno could manage to mow down the Florida Gators and step gracefully aside after the game, with no weeks of hype and minus 74 cameras filming every nano second of his final moments as the head guy he could make an exit that is more representative of his absolutely classy 44 years as a head coach.
A surprise, unscripted, unannounced and curiously under media documented retirement that took place after a final postseason game would be an old school exit for an old school guy.
The perfect ending to a coaching career that was close to perfect; thwarting the powerful manufacturers of drama and once again rising above an over the top, hyped up sports world.
