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In about the last ten days, college athletics has had one of its all-time low points, but also a quality high point.
The big talk around the sports world is the scandal around former Penn State University football coach Joe Paterno. By now, most people, even those not involved with sports at all, have heard about the allegations against former assistant coach Terry Sandusky. The reason why Paterno is involved with this is because of what he failed to do as a major figurehead in University Park, PA.
This scandal is quite a dark cloud over the illustrious career of the winning-est football coach in Division I college athletics. Paterno stands alone in the world of Division I-A (or what is now known as the Football Bowl Subdivision) in the 400 win club with 409 victories.
The general public now associates this scandal with him, but the majority of the college athletic world will see his legacy as a great mentor, coach, and individual.
Numerically speaking, he worked for Penn State for 62 years, of which 46 of them were as the head coach. He won 24 bowl games, also most in history, and obtained two national championships in 1982 and 1986. He also made sure his athletes graduated as the graduation rate at Penn State according to a 2008 report was 78% versus the rest of the Division I world at 67%. Paterno has also donated over $4 million to Penn State and helped raise over $13 million for a library expansion.
In my opinion, the best way to get over tragic news is to be notified of not-so-tragic news.
On November 15, 2011, Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski surpassed 903 victories becoming the all-time winning-est basketball coach in Division I. Krzyzewski’s coaching greatness has somewhat surpassed Paterno.
Numerically speaking, included in his 903 wins are four national titles (twice as much as Paterno), 13 conference championships, 11 Final Fours, and three gold medals. Krzyzewski also graduates more student-athletes at 91% in a 2006 study.
Altogether, these two coaches have amounted 1,312 victories. They have coached phenomenal athletes that have gone pro. Paterno had guys like Lavar Arrington, Kerry Collins, and KiJana Carter and hall-of-famers like Jack Ham, Franco Harris, and Mike Munchak. Krzyzewski had JJ Reddick, Shane Battier, Grant Hill, and Christian Laettner.
After the cloud that is the Sandusky controversy clears, Paterno will hopefully be remembered by the majority in the same light as Krzyzewski, but only time will tell.
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