Joe Paterno was made aware of possible sexual molestation charges by a graduate assistant and only told the President of the Athletics Department at Penn State University. Some claim he had a moral obligation to notify the police to protect other children from future harm. Did Joe Paterno Do Enough? Should he have done more?

Chris King

Penn State University Nittany Lions are in the midst of a major sexual molestation crises involving their former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. The Attorney General of Pennsylvania released documents that included information on what Legendary Coach Joe Paterno knew and did regarding the scandal. It revealed in 2002, "JoePa" was made aware Sandusky and what appeared to be a ten year old boy were in the shower together in the football dressing room by a graduate assistant. It is also known JoePa waited one night and then relayed the information to the Athletic Director but did nothing else. And because of this, some are calling for him to be gone.

Kyle Zimmer12

With Sexual Molestation and Cover-Up allegations being levied on the Penn State University athletics department, has Joe Paterno's reputation been forever tarnished?

Chris King

BY GENARO C. ARMAS - Associated Press

Get the biggest news in your email or cellphone as it's happening. Sign up for breaking news alerts.

Jeff Evans

Was JoePa Right?

Brian Johnson

Posted by Tom Fornelli

It seems there is no coach out there who isn't capable of breaking an NCAA rule from time to time as even Joe Paterno, the legendary head coach at Penn State, can find himself running afoul of the NCAA. In a recent interview with ESPN for a show he's doing with Duke's head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, Paterno came clean about a minor violation he's committed recently.

Passing by Holuba Hall, where several football players were conducting unsupervised workouts, Paterno stopped to watch for a few minutes without speaking to anyone, he said. Suitably impressed, he returned to his office where he reported to the coaching staff that at least one player had looked good and caught his eye.

"You know you broke a rule?" someone said, pointing out that coaches aren't permitted to watch players working out before the start of practice in August.

Penn State spokesman Jeff Nelson said the university will report the incident to the NCAA.

"Our compliance office is aware and will relay the circumstances to determine if there was a secondary violation," Nelson said.

Bring the hammer down on them! Sanction Penn State back to the Stone Age!

Seriously, this isn't a big deal at all, and I highly doubt anything will come of it. Though it does highlight how silly some of the rules the NCAA puts in place. I mean, oh the horror of a football coach watching his players work out. Soon he might say something nefarious like "good job!" 

Jeff Evans

Posted by Bryan Fischer

Penn State head coach Joe Paterno is a living legend and seen his fair share of recruiting methods over his 62 years of coaching. After all, when Paterno first took over the reigns in Happy Valley, the cell phone was decades from even being conceived. As technology and NCAA recruiting rules have progressed though, so has JoePa believe it or not.

The 84 year old has cut back from recruiting a little bit - he rarely hits the road and hasn't traveled for an in-home visit in over three years - but using video conferencing technology this year has allowed him to continue to make an apperance in recruits' homes. Services such as Skype, which transmits video and audio over the internet to computers and phones, has exploded onto the scene lately with coaches such as Alabama's Nick Saban making frequent use of the latest and greatest thing in recruiting.

"The only question Joe had about it was, 'How do you spell Skype?'" Jay Paterno, the Penn State quarterbacks coach and Joe's son, told the Altoona Mirror. "I actually knew. Then he said, 'What exactly does it mean?'"

Well, thanks to Austintown (Ohio) running back William Mahone and another social networking service, Twitter, we now have acutal proof that JoePa is Skyping like the best of them.

"Jo pa on skype!" Mahone tweeted Tuesday morning, along with the picture on the right.

Already holding an offer from Penn State, Mahone is primarily being recruited by Jay Paterno. In addition to the Nittany Lions, Pittsburgh, Michigan State, Northwestern and Boston College are some of the programs who are heavily pursuing the 5-foot-11, 205-pound running back who shined at the recent Ohio State Nike Camp. 

Mahone has already unofficially visited State College to see the elder Paterno up close and personal and while he still might still be a few months from making a decision, getting a call -excuse me - getting a Skype call from a legend like JoePa probably helps the Nittany Lions' chances.

Jeff Evans

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. --

Mike Krzyzewski and Joe Paterno leaned over in their cushy, brown, leather chairs and talked as if they were old acquaintances even though it was the first time the college coaching greats had spent any significant time together.

Combined, they have a remarkable 1,301 victories and six national titles. But Monday's made-for-TV meeting between Duke's basketball coach and Penn State's Hall of Fame football coach was dominated by exchanges about coaching philosophies, leadership and lighthearted banter — not quarterback controversies or Xs and Os.

"Actually, I think your statue should be bigger," the 64-year-old Krzyzewski joked to laughs in the crowd of more than 800 at a Penn State auditorium for the taping of an ESPN program. Paterno has a statue dedicated to him outside Beaver Stadium.

The show "Difference Makers: Life Lessons with Paterno and Krzyzewski" is scheduled to air June 30.

"Tell me, what is an icon," Paterno, 84, responded rhetorically when asked by an audience member what it was like to be held in high regard.

The rest of his answer was delivered with trademark wit, eliciting howls from attendees.

"If you mean some good-looking (guy) ... I like it," he exclaimed before striking a brief pose.

Krzyzewski (900 career wins, four national titles) and Paterno (401 wins, two national titles) had lunch at the Nittany Lions' football complex before the primarily invite-only taping. ESPN anchor Rece Davis moderated, while organizers preselected audience members in the auditorium and at Duke via teleconference to ask questions.

Both coaches signaled it was time for the NCAA to update or revise rules governing athletics. NCAA president Mark Emmert hopes to gather about 50 presidents or chancellors in August for a two-day retreat about the future of Division I sports.

It was the closest the roughly 90-minute discussion strayed to any controversial topic. No questions about recent scandals that have touched high-profile programs such as Ohio State football or Tennessee basketball.

"The first thing, the NCAA needs to modernize .... We need to revamp the system to keep up with the culture that we have," said Krzyzewski, giving as an example restrictions on the use of electronic communications such as texting and Skype.

He added he hoped the NCAA would give coaches "as teachers more opportunities to teach," referring to restrictions on access to players.

Paterno agreed on the need to update, offering as an example a recent instance in which he said he may have broken a rule "without even thinking about it" — though son and quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno said his father likely exaggerated circumstances to make a point.

Paterno said he walked into the team's indoor practice hall unwittingly when some players were walking out. He didn't talk to the players, but later told some assistants that one of the players looked good — when a staffer told him he broke a rule.

"So I think we ought to take a look at where we are, and what we're going to do about it," Paterno said before also suggesting the NCAA look at making freshmen ineligible again and adding more scholarships. He declined to compare whether the game has grown cleaner or dirtier, but added, "I think we've got an ongoing situation where we don't have a lot of control over."

Primarily, the discussion revolved around the similarities between Krzyzewski and Paterno, and how the coaches have built clean, model programs in their respective sports. Both rely heavily on family on the job and to keep them grounded at home.

"What (Paterno) has been able to do is change how you teach ... without changing the values of how you teach," said Krzyzewski, who added he incorporated a similar mantra.

"But values are never compromised. That's the bottom line," said Krzyzewski, who at times struck a deferential tone to Paterno.

Jeff Evans

June 27, 2011

Click Here to Read a Feature Story on the Event

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; June 27, 2011 - The unique discussion featuring Penn State football coach Joe Paterno and Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski and several of their former student-athletes is set to air on Thursday, June 30 on ESPN and ESNPU.

"Difference Makers: Life Lessons with Paterno and Krzyzewski," was taped June 20 in front of an enthusiastic audience of 900 in Penn State's Eisenhower Auditorium. The program will air Thursday at 8 p.m. on ESPN and continue at 9 p.m. on ESNU.

Paterno and Krzyzewski joined host Rece Davis of ESPN in discussing of variety of subjects, including leadership, teaching, values, the impact of family and rules changes they would be like to see implemented.

The Hall of Fame coaches, who have combined to win and 1,301 contests and six national championships, also took questions from the audience and from Duke students on the Durham, N.C campus via Cisco Telepresence technology.

A quartet of former standout Penn State and Duke student-athletes also participated in the special event to talk about the impact Paterno and Krzyzewski have had on them as students and after graduation. Former Nittany Lions Matt Millen and Michael Robinson and former Blue Devils Jay Bilas and Jay Willliams also took questions from Penn State and Duke students.

In his 46th season as Penn State's head coach and 62nd year on the coaching staff, Paterno is the all-time leader in Football Bowl Subdivision victories (401), bowl wins (24) and appearances (37). He has guided Penn State to National Championships in 1982 and 1986, five undefeated seasons and three Big Ten Championships. Paterno was inducted into the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame in 2007 and has been selected AFCA National Coach of the Year an unprecedented five times.

Jeff Evans

Joe Paterno and Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski are a pair bound not only by their countless wins and national championships, but also by their influence on college athletics and their communities.

The two were brought together by ESPN for the first time on Monday, sharing the same stage in Eisenhower Auditorium for a taping of an upcoming special entitled “Difference Makers: Life Lessons with Paterno and Krzyzewski."

ESPN will broadcast Monday’s taped event at 8 p.m. on June 30, and additional footage of the event will be shown at 9 p.m. on ESPNU.

The moment they took the stage, Paterno and Krzyzewski were greeted with a standing ovation.

“This is a time in college sports when so much of the things that we have to talk about in the media tend to lead toward the negative side,” host Rece Davis said to the nearly 1,000 audience members gathered to watch the taping. “These two gentlemen have built programs that stand for everything that’s right in college sports.”

Davis led the 90-minute discussion with the two coaches, which touched on a handful of topics including leadership, integrity and family.

Davis’ first question was simple: "What makes a great leader?"

Krzyzewski was quick to take the opportunity to express the impact Paterno's had on his time as a coach.

“What Coach [Paterno] has been able to do is change along the way in how you teach while never compromising the values of what you teach,” Krzyzewski said. “That’s the greatest lesson I’ve learned from watching him and his program. We try to do that. We try to be flexible, but not flexible in values.”

The two shared an easily apparent chemistry, laughing and smiling during commercial breaks, acknowledging one another’s accomplishments and dropping subtle wise cracks at one another to keep the audience laughing.

When he discussed the importance of trusting his family and incorporating it into coaching the Blue Devils, Krzyzewski spoke of his three daughters’ involvement in his program.

Krzyzewski joked that he hopes his daughters can be close with his team, but not too close.

He added that advises his daughters to look for a good-looking man who they can trust.

Paterno was quick to respond to the Duke coach’s words of wisdom.

“I wonder what [Krzyzewski]’s wife’s father told her then,” Paterno quipped, sending a wave of laughter through the audience.

Along with Davis’ questions, the coaches also took questions from the audiences and students from Duke were able to ask questions via a web cam in Durham, N.C., as well.

When asked what his greatest interaction with Penn State fans has been, Paterno seemed to have no trouble narrowing down his answer.

“When I walk into Beaver Stadium and the fans start cheering – that, to me, is great,” the 84-year old coach said. “All the preparation is worth it.”

Once Paterno and Krzyzewski finished their segment, Davis invited a handful of the coach’s former players on stage to discuss the experiences they had playing for such iconic leaders.

Jay Bilas, ESPN college basketball analyst and former Duke player and assistant coach, and Jay Williams, the 2002 Naismith College Player of the Year at Duke, spoke about Krzyzewski.

Former All-American linebacker Matt Millen and 2005 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year Michael Robinson talked about Paterno.

“I didn’t know there were so many similarities between Coach K and Joe Paterno,” Williams said afterward. “Hearing them speak and hearing how their basic values have sustained across their tenure as coaches really lets you know that they’re doing things the right way.”

Williams added that though both coaches have been highly successful leading their teams on the field and on the court, it’s what they’ve achieved in improving the lives of their players that is truly important.

“I think their rate of good individuals, better people, that come out of these universities and programs, is something a lot of people don’t talk about,” he said.

Jay Paterno, Joe’s son and the Nittany Lions’ quarterbacks coach, said he’s still learning from his father and learned from Krzyzewski despite having met him that day.

He added that regardless of someone’s profession, anyone can learn from listening to and practicing what the two iconic coaches preach.

“When you have two guys that have done it as long as these two guys have done it, and have done it the right way for as long as they have… they’re obviously not perfect, but when you have those two guys, you better listen,” he said. “You don’t get that kind of opportunity very often.”

Jeff Evans

Hall of Fame Coaches to Discuss Leadership Monday at 1:30 p.m. in Eisenhower Auditorium

June 19, 2011

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.-- More than 100 tickets for Monday's taping of an ESPN special featuring Penn State football coach Joe Paterno and Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski will be available Monday beginning at 8 a.m. at Eisenhower Auditorium on the Penn State campus.

The legendary coaches will discuss teaching leadership and teamwork, among other subjects, for a show, "Difference Makers: Life Lessons with Paterno and Krzyzewski." The unique event will be held at Eisenhower Auditorium. All members of the audience are asked to be in their seats by 1:30 p.m.

Penn State students with a valid student ID were able to secure two tickets for the event starting last Friday. On Monday at 8 a.m., Penn State students, faculty/staff and the general public will have an opportunity to secure a ticket for the free event while tickets remain.

Those ticketed for the event must remain in attendance for the entire event, which begins at 1:30 p.m. and is expected to last a minimum of 90 minutes.

Parking for the event will be free in the Eisenhower Parking Deck, with any necessary overflow directed to the East Deck, located off Bigler Road.

Ten days after the taping, the hour-long show, "Difference Makers: Life Lessons with Paterno and Krzyzewski," will air Thursday, June 30 at 8 p.m. on ESPN. The program will continue at 9 p.m. on ESPNU with questions from the audience for the legendary coaches. Penn State and Duke students will be asking questions of the Hall of Fame coaches for the program.

The on-campus component of the event is sponsored by the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism, housed in the College of Communications at Penn State, and made possible with cooperation from Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics and Duke Athletics.

Jeff Evans

June 20, 2011

Photo Gallery

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) --Mike Krzyzewski and Joe Paterno leaned over in their cushy brown leather chairs and talked as if they were old acquaintances even though it was the first time the college coaching greats had spent any significant time together.

Combined, they have a remarkable 1,301 victories and six national titles. But Monday's made-for-TV meeting between Duke's basketball coach and Penn State's Hall of Fame football coach was dominated by exchanges about coaching philosophies, leadership and lighthearted banter--not quarterback controversies or Xs and Os.

"Actually, I think your statue should be bigger," the 64-year-old Krzyzewski joked to laughs in the crowd of more than 800 at a Penn State auditorium for the taping of an ESPN program. JoePa has a statue dedicated to him outside Beaver Stadium.

The show "Difference Makers: Life Lessons with Paterno and Krzyzewski" is scheduled to air June 30.

"Tell me, what is an icon," the 84-year-old Paterno responded rhetorically when asked by an audience member what it was like to be held in high regard.

The rest of his answer was delivered with trademark wit, eliciting howls from attendees.

"If you mean some good-looking (guy) ... I like it," he exclaimed before striking a brief pose.

Organizers said the meeting was two years in the making. Krzyzewski (900 career wins, four national titles) and Paterno (401 wins, two national titles) had lunch at the Nittany Lions' football complex before the primarily invite-only taping. ESPN anchor Rece Davis moderated, while organizers preselected audience members in the auditorium and at Duke via teleconference to ask questions.

When asked by former sports writer and current Penn State professor Malcolm Moran, both coaches signaled it was time for the NCAA to update or revise rules governing athletics. NCAA president Mark Emmert hopes to gather about 50 presidents or chancellors in August for a two-day retreat about the future of Division I sports.

It was the closest the roughly 90-minute discussion strayed to any controversial topic. No questions about recent scandals that have touched high-profile programs such as Ohio State football or Tennessee basketball.

"The first thing, the NCAA needs to modernize ... We need to revamp the system to keep up with the culture that we have," said Krzyzewski, giving as an example restrictions on the use of electronic communications such as texting and Skype.

He added he hoped the NCAA would give coaches "as teachers more opportunities to teach," referring to restrictions on access to players.

Paterno agreed on the need to update, offering as an example a recent instance in which he said he may have broken a rule "without even thinking about it"--though son and quarterback coach Jay Paterno said JoePa likely exaggerated circumstances to make a point.

Paterno said he walked into the team's indoor practice hall unwittingly when some players were walking out. He didn't talk to the players, but later told some assistants that one of the players looked good--when a staffer told him he broke a rule.

"So I think we ought to take a look at where we are, and what we're going to do about it," Paterno said before also suggesting the NCAA look at making freshman ineligible again and adding more scholarships. He declined to compare whether the game has grown cleaner or dirtier, but added "I think we've got an ongoing situation where we don't have a lot of control over."

Primarily, the discussion revolved around the similarities between Krzyzewski and Paterno, and how the coaches have built clean, model programs in their respective sports. Both rely heavily on family on the job and to keep them grounded at home.

"What (Paterno) has been able to do is change how you teach ... without changing the values of how you teach," said Krzyzewski, who added he incorporated a similar mantra. The Duke coach at times struck a deferential tone to JoePa on his home campus.

"But values are never compromised. That's the bottom line," he said.

Both men were also raised Catholic in urban areas: Paterno in Brooklyn, Krzyzewski in Chicago.

Jeff Evans

UNIVERSITY PARK — It was a made-for-TV event that made for a little history.

AP photo/John Beale

Penn State coach Joe Paterno, left, and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski meet on stage prior to Monday’s taping of an ESPN episode at Eisenhower Auditorium.

View larger

Two of the biggest names in college coaching, with two of the best résumés in the business, got together on Eisenhower Auditorium’s stage Monday for a conversation about athletics, leadership and all the things that have helped put their programs into an elite class.

A few good one-liners were traded as well.

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, who has 401 career coaching wins and two national championships, and Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has 900 wins and four NCAA titles, spent better than 90 minutes together in a display of great similarities despite their differing sports and styles for ESPN’s “Difference Makers: Life Lessons with Paterno and Krzyzewski.”

“I think we saw two rare people,” said former Nittany Lion and current ESPN analyst Matt Millen, who was on hand for a panel discussion after the coaches spoke. “I do think if you look at the rare ones, regardless of what era they came through, whether it was Amos Alonzo Stagg or whether it was Eddie Robinson, or whether it was Joe Paterno or Mike Krzyzewski or John Wooden, or whoever they are, they have a certain level of character and they have a certain way of doing things, and they don’t change. Those things they will not compromise.”

The event, the first time the pair had spent any great length of time together and lasted better than two hours overall, was taped to be shown from 8 to 9 p.m. June 30 on ESPN, with an additional 30 minutes on ESPNU that same night.

The idea was first concocted about two years ago by Malcolm Moran, the Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society in Penn State’s College of Communications, and after a lot of negotiations between the two programs, ESPN got involved and brought it to fruition.

Before a crowd of more than 800 people, the legendary coaches discussed an array of topics as their roles as teachers, coaches and the best-known faces of their respective universities.

One of the key points touched on how they maintain their high level of success despite being in the same job for so many decades and being so far removed in age from current college students.

“You have to realize things have changed,” Paterno said. “Kids will come to you with different types of backgrounds. There are different temptations, different interests, those kinds of things. You have to be alert, you have to listen to people. ... You want to be flexible, you want to be relative.”

But, more important for both, is doing things the right way.

“Values are never compromised,” Krzyzewski said. “That’s the bottom line.”

And, even as Paterno will be back on the sideline this fall at the age of 84, the Blue Devils leader can understand why the Nittany Lions’ coach continues to keep his program in contention each season.

“He makes sense,” Krzyzewski said after they spent time together before the program. “I don’t know how much you have to adapt if, when you talk he makes sense, and the person listening understands that.”

Another topic touched on leadership, and sometimes how hard it can be to find true leaders.

During their lengthy careers, both coaches have had young men with big personalities who took over their teams.

“I think you can develop leadership,” Paterno said. “...You have to prove yourself before you can lead. Some people don’t want to be a leader, and some are dying to lead.”

The overall theme of the program showed how each of the legends has been able to have such an impact, with the strength and influence of their families, and with core values and goals that haven’t changed.

“They’re winners, they’re very, very bright, they know how to touch kids, young kids,” said former Nittany Lion quarterback and Seattle Seahawks running back Michael Robinson, another member of the panel discussion. “People say, especially Joe, people say he’s lost his — he’s not in touch with the younger generation and Coach K said it best: ‘It makes sense.’ It doesn’t matter how old you are, two plus two is going to be four.”

“When you have two guys that have done it for as long as both these guys have done it, and have done it the right way for as long as they have — they’ll both tell you they’re not perfect,” said Jay Paterno, Penn State’s quarterbacks coach and Joe Paterno’s son. “When you have those two guys you better listen because you don’t get these opportunities very often.”

The program was moderated by ESPN’s Rece Davis, and also had former Duke All- Americans Jay Bilas and Jay Williams as part of the panel discussion. In addition to questions from Davis, the coaches also took questions from audience members both in Eisenhower Auditorium and from those watching on the Duke campus.

One of the toughest questions came from Moran, who wondered what the coaches would like to see from the NCAA after a group convenes this summer to discuss all some of the violations recently brought to light at high-profile institutions, including at Ohio State.

Among points the Krzyzewski made was that “the NCAA needs to modernize” and “revamp its system” to keep up with the way life has changed for college students and coaches.

Paterno said he would not mind if freshman were once again ineligible, like they were until the early 1970s, and he wished the rules were looser in how he could spend time with his players.

The Penn State coach also admitted to a minor NCAA violation, which he didn’t realize until later from the myriad of rules to which he must adhere. He said he walked past the team weight room not long ago and stood in the door for a little while to watch some of his players work out. He then returned to the coaches offices and told some of his assistants what he saw and thought.

“It’s certainly not a major rule violation,” Jay Paterno said. “... Joe may have just been creating a situation just to illustrate a point.”

The show also featured quite a few lighthearted moments.

During discussions about family, Krzyzewski talked about advice he gave to his three daughters as they were growing up, and they could date “good looking guys I could trust — not any of my players.”

Paterno then chimed in: “I wonder what his wife’s father told her.”

When asked what was the greatest moment of adversity he faced as coach, Krzyzewski said, “any moment with Coach Knight,” noting his time as a player and assistant coach for Bobby Knight at West Point.

Paterno was asked by an audience member about his position of being an icon of the university, and Krzyzewski interjected that Paterno’s statue on campus should be bigger.

“As far as being an icon,” Paterno later said, “tell me, what is an icon? If it’s being some good looking (guy) ... I like it.”

For both, their status was set long ago.

Said Davis: “These two programs stand for everything that’s right in college sports.”

We ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments, spam, and other remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of CentreDaily.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

Jeff Evans

We ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments, spam, and other remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of CentreDaily.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

Jeff Evans