Joe Paterno Loyalists Must Calm Down

Okay, so here's the deal, within the next couple of years (if not this year) JoePa is going to be leaving the Penn State program. He is finally going to unroll his khaki's, remove the coke bottle thick glasses from his face, and hang up his black sneakers. I know that for some of you this might signal the end of the world, but it will also usher in a new era at Penn State. For some of you, when we talk about this you get hopeful and excited for the unknown, what the future can bring; however, for others you get really defensive and seem to think that all will be lost with JoePa gone.

But here's the truth of the matter, college football today is a new beast. It is all about the money, recruiting nationally, and maintaining and energized program (which comes with winning). Now if there is one thing that JoePa is known for, it has been winning, and I mean winning both on and off the field. He has a great reputation for building men out of boys, establishing one of the highest graduation rates for the players he has coached throughout the decades. He has brought championships to Penn State, affected the use of replay in college football, for goodness sake the man has the library named after him on campus well before talks of re-naming Beaver Stadium after him started. He has accomplished so many things for Penn State, the institution of college football, and student athletes everywhere.

JoePa has definitely cemented his legacy as one of the best coaches of all time (if not the best coach of all time) by setting a certain standard for his program. He has maintained the integrity of the student-athlete throughout the years while scandals have been abound every where across the country. Very rarely does a JoePa coached athlete go under investigation for receiving benefits while they played under him, and hardly ever do they recruit guys that have character issues. Yeah you can point out a few that had their fare share of troubles, but if you take a look at the whole picture, 20 guys out of the hundreds of guys JoePa has coached in his 60 years on campus is really not that bad (especially during an era where scandals are popping up every week in college football).

So where does that leave us now?

With all due respect and love to JoePa, the change that most people are calling for is for the better (it is not just because of the struggles of this team last year, which many of you will use as your justification to disregard articles such as these). As hard as it is for most of you to believe (because you are simply in denial and think every call for a change is a shot at JoePa), but Penn State is a huge sleeping giant in college football today. The program lacks the enthusiasm, the energy, and excitement of other programs across the country. With their location, facilities, and deals with Nike, Penn State could easily be among the elite year in and year out. Now most of you JoePa loyalists are already prepping your response to the tune of, look at USC, Florida, and Texas this year, they've all had bad years, but this is not just about winning. Even though those programs had bad years this past year, their programs are still surrounded with excitement, they have a certain life that is in them, and high profile players want to play there.

Now on to Part II of how Penn State is a sleeping giant. Penn State, year in and year out, is always in the top 10 for attendance for home games. Now with the STEP program in place, they can take advantage of all of their wealthy alumni. Go ahead and grit your teeth and say that the program is already going downhill and losing integrity with every step, but you are the same people that are going to fund this program. There is one reason and one reason only to instill this program, because the Athletic Department knows that they are going to build up some excitement that maximizes revenue for them. In simple terms, it means that they are going to hire a big name coach that is going to generate major excitement, and fans are going to pay up to come see them. They have plans to usher in a new era, an era that hopefully wins, but definitely an era that brings in the cash. The final interpretation of the STEP program also indicates to the rest of the country that this is going to be a premier spot when it opens up, so believe me, there will be no shortage of big name candidates when JoePa leaves the program.

Now onto Part III, the location of Penn State is key. At a time where the Big East is reeling, and the biggest name in the conference is located in Texas, and the ACC is mediocre all over the board, Penn State could own the East Coast in terms of recruiting. In case you don't believe me, ask Joe Paterno himself, he used to reap the benefits of plucking players away from those conferences when we used to recruit the Carolina's, Georgia, and Florida really well. Yes, we used to recruit those areas and recruit them well, all because we had an energetic coach that didn't take no for an answer, a coach that carried a certain enthusiasm that was so contagious that you would be a fool to deny it. How is it that Stanford (outside the military academies, has the most difficult job recruiting players that meet their admissions standards) has 8 four-star recruits from 7 different states, but Penn State only has 1 four-star recruit total? Basically what I'm saying is that we could own the East Coast in terms of recruiting, including major areas in Big East and ACC country.

Finally, we need for our coach to go out on top, before anything can happen to tarnish his legacy. But the sad thing is that even if something happens, with the way college football runs now, everyone will quickly forget and move forward. No more reports of players tweeting about how out of it Joe Paterno was at the Senior Banquet, no more e-mails about JoePa prepping for a Thanksgiving Day Bowl, and no more radio interviews that become instant YouTube hits for all the wrong reasons. Will JoePa know when the time is right to step down and cement his legacy for good? I don't know, but what I do know is that Penn State will finally catch up with modern times and be injected with so much energy when he leaves. Let me remind you, the only reason why that will be possible, the only reason Penn State is going to be one of the top jobs in the country in the near future is because of JoePa. He's the one who made it happen and made it possible. So for you JoePa loyalists that are thinking the calling for a change is going to decimate JoePa's legacy, you are completely wrong because it is his legacy that made this job what it is today.

WE ARE.......................