I’ve tried to match wits on the chess board, but my wits are wilting, left withered by years wasting away with a baseball game and a beer.One longtime friend has told me it’s appalling how my skills have slipped.
No more days slamming a king down in glory, asking anyone and everyone who steps in my chess path, “Who’s your daddy?”
I’m a louse, a hack, a sad case.
But then again, misery loves company and I have JoePa.
What a legacy: 341 wins, a bronze statue in front of Beaver Stadium and five decades atop the Penn State mountain.
Four losing seasons in five, 1-6 in Big Ten play this year and the mountain is coming down, Joe Paterno and all.
A Penn State alum paid $350 to place a half-page ad in the student newspaper reading: TIME FOR JOE TO GO. Attendance is down and across campus students are callings for his head.
Just like me, who has an endless array of friends lined up to show me my place, Paterno just signed a four-year contract before this season, keeping him on past his 80th birthday, guaranteeing that Big Ten competition can keep on licking their chops when Penn State comes to town, repaying Paterno for all their suffering.
For years of greatness and dedication, he deserves job security and the choice to leave on his own terms. He built the program and he has the right to tear it down.
But when does the judgment of an 80-year-old man outweigh the evidence of five years of losing?
Paterno has hope, but not many do. It’s not the talent. He still has a top-flight recruiting class year after year.
I’m not in the locker room, not behind the closed doors. I can’t claim it’s coaching. I have little perspective on his past prowess or his present inadequacy. It’s just wins and losses.
I haven’t played a game of chess in over six months. I can’t stand the point in the game when I realize my defenses are useless and my king’s a fat man on a naked beach.
Paterno may need a little editing, a Penn State AD to tell him it’s time to hang up the spurs and retire to the Senate with Tom Osborne.
Kerry Collins and Ki-Jana Carter aren’t prancing out of the tunnel in Beaver Stadium anytime soon and Paterno needs to wake up and smell the Nittany Lion excreting on his head.
He’s a grandfather figure, the football legend sitting by the fire telling stories of his days battling Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes. I share my Rhode Island alma mater with Paterno and, even beyond my chess futility, feel for his failure.
NFL, MLB and NBA coaches come and go. College football coaches can become institutions, forgotten in professional sports since the days of Red Auerbach, Tom Landry and Bill Walsh.
Today’s greats like Bill Parcells, Pat Riley and Phil Jackson bounce from one team to the next, architects rather than the foundation itself.
Only MLB mainstays like Bobby Cox and Joe Torre have been able to build and maintain a legacy tied to one organization.
College coaches are sacred, trusted tutors, cultivators of youth and community leaders. But Paterno is a football coach first and foremost, and as much as he built the Penn State program, it’s the property of the fans and students who are both whispering and yelling for his resignation.
3 replies on “Is it time for JoePa to pack his bags for Florida?”
Nice job Good job.
You did miss a coach in pro sports who has built a standing with his current team: Bill Cowher of the Steelers. He’s in his 13th season and has job security.
Also, coaching has a lot to do with it. For instance, his team lost by 9 about a month ago to some team (it does not matter and I don’t remember). I’d say it was a 16-7 score. Late in the 3rd quarter after not doing anything the entire game, PSU scores and kicks the extra point instead of going for 2. I would go for 2. You have no offense and you’d be lucky to score 1 more time.
Alright, that is controversial. But later on in the 4th down 16-7 with about 2:30 to go they had 4th and long (I don’t remember how many yards but it was like 12 or 13). It would have been a 40 yard field goal. They needed a TD and a FG, but instead of taking the FG there, they went for the TD. End of game: 16-7.
His play calling and strategy is not up to par with the other teams in the league and in college football. He is an ancient legend.
JoePa I considered including Cowher, but he’s not truly a great coach and before this little run he’s having, he didn’t have much job security either. I wouldn’t include him with Parcells, Riley and Phil Jackson. He’s had an impressive tenure with one organization, but hasn’t won the big one and seems to, every year or two, have some rumors about him getting fired. I just don’t think he qualifies as a great coach, at least not yet. The same could be said for Jerry Sloan (who has a lot more job security than Cowher). Until he wins a title, he’s just not going to be a great coach.
In terms of Paterno’s coaching, there’s something missing there. He can’t connect with his players or makes bad decisions, but I’m not really sure exactly what has derailed the program. That’s why I think it just comes down to wins and losses.
your right Misread your story accidentally (only that part). Just tried to bring up someone today with stability.
I would disagree about Jerry Sloan. I don’t think 1 time he had the best team in the league and with only 2 exceptions, he never even had the best team in his conference. Last year he had the 12th best team in the west out of 14 and got them into the playoffs. He should have been coach of the year and it should not have even been close. I think Sloan proved last year his greatness. When you think of it, Stockton and Malone were it. They had no true supporting cast. They occasionally had a decent center or a few decent players, but never anyone from the leagues upper echelon. At least the Lakers had other playmakers like Fox. The Jazz never had that. I think Sloan is a great coach.