Book describes Paterno's reaction to firing
 

Joe Paterno broke down and cried the day after he was dismissed as Penn State's coach, according to excerptspublished by GQ from the biography Paterno written by Joe Posnanski.
Posnanski, a former writer for Sports Illustrated, spent the 2011 season with Paterno as the Jerry Sandusky scandal unfolded and the longtime Nittany Lions coach lost his job before succumbing to lung cancer in January.
The current issue of GQ includs some pertinent passages from the book, which will be available Tuesday.

Among them was the scene at Paterno's house the day after he was fired by the Penn State board of trustees:
On Thursday, Paterno met with his coaches at his house. He sobbed uncontrollably. This was his bad day. Later, one of his former captains, Brandon Short, stopped by the house. When Brandon asked, "How are you doing, Coach?" Paterno answered, "I'm okay," but the last syllable was shaky, muffled by crying, and then he broke down and said, "I don't know what I'm going to do with myself." Nobody knew how to handle such emotion. Joe had always seemed invulnerable. On Thursday, though, he cried continually.

"My name," he told Jay, "I have spent my whole life trying to make that name mean something. And now it's gone


Book describes Paterno's reaction to firing - Yahoo! Sports

Re: Book describes Paterno's reaction to firing
 

Sadly he brought it all on himself.
He had a duty of care to them young men and he failed by being more concerned with his and the colleges rep than the well being of his players.
He may well have been a good man in some aspects but tell that to anyone that was abused after he had the chance to report Sandusky and end any chance of it happening again.

Re: Book describes Paterno's reaction to firing
 

He did far more good than bad. But, his bad was inexcusible.

Re: Book describes Paterno's reaction to firing
 

It really was. He ruled the roost like a dictator, but failed to take care of the details.... and forgot to care for people and the law along the way.

It's the tragedy of Joe Paterno... a true Greek tragedy. How history writes his escapades and how he will be remembered, or forgotten, is all his own doing.

I feel zero sympathy for Joe and his family. He transferred his money to his wife weeks before he passed to circumvent net-worth value to preempt civil litigation. She's now worth millions. Sorry Joe, hope you burn a little....

Re: Book describes Paterno's reaction to firing
 

Great analogy, so true.

Re: Book describes Paterno's reaction to firing
 

"My name," he told Jay, "I have spent my whole life trying to make that name mean something. And now it's gone

Sad very sad.

The thing is though had he and the college gone to the authorities his name would still have have been clean.

Re: Book describes Paterno's reaction to firing
 

Well, you could've added to your already great "name" and legacy by putting a stop to your sick-@$$ co-worker's penchant for child molesting. Instead, you helped cover up the disturbing, disgusting, child-molesting truth because you wanted "to make that name mean something."

Now it "means something," alright. Now you're the guy who didn't speak out about a subordinate who was molesting children in your locker room showers. Now you're the guy who knew about that & did nothing to protect those children. Now you're the guy with a miserably tarnished reputation.

And you deserve it ...

Re: Book describes Paterno's reaction to firing
 

too much truth

It's done, HE destroyed it. I'm tired of people saying he didn't molest any children so he shouldn't be dragged down. Bullsh*t! He covered it up and allowed it to continue and that is why his name means nothing, or at the very least is synonymous for cover ups. Seriously, he, himself erased everything.

Re: Book describes Paterno's reaction to firing
 

I'm living in PA and can tell you, total embarrassment to the state. It's a very restrictive place to begin with with their Omish / Dutch culture then add to that the poor leadership throughout the state and it's a recipe for disaster. Nobody wanted to deal with it so they just did what they always did which is ignore it. Paterno should have been gone a decade ago.

He was not operating at his former capacity any everyone knew it but did nothing to make the program more progressive. Having a man in his 80's dealing with an issue like this...he was in over his head.