ALTOONA, Pa. -- The "Paterno people" problem has resurfaced at Penn State.
Not that it's ever gone away.
No matter how much James Franklin and so many others at Penn State work toward improving the football program's future, there remains a group of people associated with the school who are more concerned about the past -- specifically, Joe Paterno's legacy.
Here's the question for Jay Paterno and Anthony Lubrano: If they were being totally honest, would they rather:
A: See Franklin and Penn State win a football national championship in the coming years, or …
B: Have Joe Paterno's legacy restored to anything close to where it was before the Sandusky scandal
We will never get an honest answer from Jay or Lubrano on that question. But I am 100 percent certain that the answer is B -- and it isn't remotely close.
Does this problem exist at ANY other major college football program? No, because it's asinine, counterproductive and you can even say sabotage, to a degree, for key school officials to undermine the current football coach and program by continuing to make headlines because of a ridiculous personal pursuit to right a wrong regarding a previous coach.
Sure, absolutely, many Penn State fans feel JoePa was wronged. They have the right to their opinion on that, even if the VAST majority (dare I say 99 percent) of non-Penn State fans around the country completely disagree with that assessment.
But what happens every now and then -- and it happened again this week -- is that any time efforts are made regarding the Paterno legacy issue, the result is more wide-scale embarrassment for Penn State.
The latest issue centers around an effort made by some Board of Trustees members to name the field at Beaver Stadium after Paterno. You can read all the particulars in this story by Spotlight PA, including how discussions on the issue may have violated open-meeting laws.
Friday, the silliness included BoT member Lubrano introducing and then withdrawing a proposal on the Paterno field naming issue during a Board meeting.
From All Penn State:
Near the conclusion of the Penn State Board of Trustees meeting Friday, trustee Anthony Lubrano introduced a resolution asking the board to recognize Paterno in two ways: to hold a Joe and Sue Paterno Day this fall and to name the field at Beaver Stadium after the late Penn State football coach. Lubrano cited Paterno's work as football coach, athletic director and fundraiser at the university and Sue Paterno's philanthropic and humanitarian achievements.
But Lubrano, an alumni-elected trustee for whom the university's baseball stadium is named, quickly withdrew the resolution following a statement from Jay Paterno, a former Penn State assistant football coach and fellow alumni trustee. Jay Paterno asked that the resolution be withdrawn while the university navigates continuing financial challenges, which include planned $94 million in budget cuts in 2025.
What in the world is going on at Penn State, when these kinds of shenanigans are taking place, orchestrated by Board of Trustees members?
Former Penn State football star Brandon Short, also a member of the Board of Trustees, called it a "political stunt.”
"As much as I support this resolution, support honoring Joe Paterno and honoring Sue and doing everything that we can to honor their name, I don't support continued political stunts in Joe Paterno's name," Short said, according to All Penn State. "To put out a resolution, to say all this, and then pull it back is insulting to me personally. It was not necessary."
Of course it wasn't necessary. And of course it was counterproductive to Penn State football in 2024.
Franklin doesn't need the football program making this kind of news. Ever. Bill O'Brien didn't need it when he was the coach more than a decade ago and famously told a reporter that it made him want to punch a windshield when talking about the "Paterno people.”
But Jay Paterno, all these years later, still doesn't seem to have anything better to do as a Board of Trustees member than to spend his time trying to restore his father's legacy.
As a son, that's his right.
As a Board member, that's his failing.
Same for Lubrano, who along with Jay will probably be able to have a lifetime seat on the BoT because there are still a whole bunch of Penn State fans who completely agree with what they're doing.
But what they're doing isn't helping. At all. Not if you truly care about the success of Penn State football.
The program doesn't need to be in the news for this stuff. The program doesn't need school officials who would answer the question up above with a B instead of an A.
Paterno's legacy will never be restored to what it was.
NEVER.
That ship sailed a long, long time ago, regardless of whether Jay and Lubrano and anyone else want to accept it.
