Penn State Coach Joe Paterno (official thread)

[Zurp]

Found this interesting:

Originally Posted by [URL="http://www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/shared-gen/ap/General_College_Sports_News/FBC_Penn_St_Paterno.html&quot

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Paterno Weary From Off-Field Issues

While a possible punishment in the courts is still to be decided, Paterno already handed one down to the entire team: the Nittany Lions will clean Beaver Stadium on the Sunday's after every home game. Paterno also said all of his players would do several hours of community service.

[CleveBucks]

football players already do community service. at least at OSU.

[Zurp]

Originally Posted by CleveBucks

football players already do community service. at least at OSU.

How about clean up the stadium after home games? That's the part I found to be weird.

[BB73]

Originally Posted by Zurp

How about clean up the stadium after home games? That's the part I found to be weird.

There's a 'PSU garbage' thread in the Reference Locker.

[sandgk]

One thing for sure JoePa gets my vote for coaching move of the week with his post-game clean-up squad-wide punishment to the football team.

JoePa, putting the old back in old school.

[Bleed S & G]

Originally Posted by sandgk

JoePa, putting the old back in old school.

[sandgk]

This is an interesting viewpoint from Centre Daily columnist Ron Bracken. In a nutshell he views the public declaration of the team punishment to clean up the Happy Valley stadium as at least part political maneuvering to undercut the Office of Judicial Affairs. Which OJA has responsibility for meting out punishments of a more stern nature to students at Penn State. For backdrop consider that when there was the incident involving LB Dan Connor and what Lion fans call "phonegate" JoePa felt he and Dan got the short end of the stick.
For the record, I still view this as good old school discipline, but that aside
here is the centredaily article from Bracken.

Why this?

Why now?There have been numerous times throughout his career when Joe Paterno has dabbled in politics.
He seconded George Bush's presidential nomination. He's been tight with several governors of this state.
At one point, he was considered a possible gubernatorial candidate himself.
He would have been great at it. The man is a master politician.
And you need look no further than his plan of punishment for those members of his football team who were involved, either directly, peripherally, or not at all, in the fight in a downtown apartment recently.
It's a stroke of political genius.
...

But if you peel back the warm and fuzzy blanket, it's as much a preemptive strike at the University's Office of Judicial Affairs as it is corporal punishment for the players.
Consider the timing of the announcement. It comes before the Judicial Affairs folks begin their hearings into the incident. And it comes at a gathering near Philadelphia where it was guaranteed to get the largest media exposure, which it did. Tuesday's Philadelphia Inquirer, the largest paper in this state and one of the largest in the country, played it prominently on the front page of the sports section.
No candidate running for political office could have done it better.
But as with any politician, you have to take what they say and when they say it, at face value and believe it at your own peril.
....
His move to punish is a classic where, if one member of a group misbehaves the whole group is punished. Most of us have been there either as a member of a team or a class or a scout troop.
....

But this appears to be designed to subvert Judicial Affairs and prevent them from performing the function they're charged with in an effort to save his football team and the season. If that's the case, then it's not nearly as noble as it appears on the surface.



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