Thursday, December 15, 2005, 07:41 PM EST
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CFB]
Joe Must Go.
A little over a year ago, a large chorus of Penn State fans and Joe Paterno detractors began chanting that phrase (and others, which happened to be a bit more colorful) in reference to the 77-year-old coach of their beloved football team. If you ventured close enough to State College, you could almost hear the murmurs echoing off of Nittany Mountain.
"Paterno can't recruit anymore." "The offense is outdated." "The game has passed him by."
The Nittany Lions had just finished a 4-7 campaign, a season that included a 6-4 loss to Big Ten rival Iowa. Just in case you don't follow college football, 6-4 losses don't play very well with the Booster Club, especially if they come in the midst of a six-game losing streak. Stories were written and comments were made and, through it all, Paterno steadfastly held onto his intention of coming back for another season as the head coach of the Penn State football team. Naysayers be damned.
Today, the chorus is silent. Because 18 days from now, those very same Nittany Lions are slated to face the Florida State Seminoles in the FedEx Orange Bowl on January 3. A team that finished ninth in the Big Ten in 2004 is currently #3 in the nation and was a single play away from running the table this year. Silence is golden.
Paterno claims not to listen to the critics, but a man who has been around Penn State football for the past 56 years knows when something is wrong with his team. The offense is outdated, they say? Fair enough. What did JoePa do about it? He gave offensive coordinator Galen Hall, a three-time Coach of the Year in NFL Europe, full control of the play-calling. And he allowed senior Michael Robinson - the most dangerous player in college football east of Texas - to play quarterback full-time and utilize his myriad of skills. The result: a 10-1 season, the most prolific offense in recent Penn State history, and a trip to a BCS bowl game.
Paterno can't recruit anymore? Says who? In the past two seasons, the Nittany Lions have pulled in a pair of Top 25 recruiting classes, with impact players on both sides of the ball. Sophomore quarterback Anthony Morelli is more than capable of stepping in under center once Robinson leaves for the NFL after this season. Fellow '04 recruit LB Dan Connor followed up his stellar freshman campaign (85 tackles, 9th in the Big Ten) with 69 tackles after being suspended early in the season for conduct detrimental to the team. Connor and junior Paul Posluszny (winner of the 2005 Butkus Award as the nation's best LB) form what may be the best linebacker tandem in college football.
Last year's recruiting haul was highlighted by the signing of WR/KR Derrick Williams, who was arguably the best player coming out of high school last season. Another member of that class was CB/WR Justin King, who began paying immediate dividends as a defensive back, earning a spot on the 2005 AP Freshman All-American team. The 2006 class is already shaping up to be another stellar group, and the fact that Penn State will be playing in a BCS bowl game won't hurt matters, either.
Paterno is in that elite class of older college coaches - Bobby Bowden, Eddie Sutton and John Chaney come to mind - who should be allowed to go out on their own terms. With 40 seasons under his belt as the head coach of the Nittany Lions and two National Championships, he's earned that right. And the naysayers who have been quiet this year should begin chanting another phrase in praise of the man who has returned their team to prominence: Joe Must Stay.
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