Jay Paterno fires back at NIL rumors sparked by Micah Shrewsberry’s comments

STATE COLLEGE, PA — The Penn State basketball team lost its head coach, Micah Shrewsberry, earlier this week when he opted to take the Notre Dame job. Since then, there has been a whirlwind of rumors surrounding his reasons for leaving — one of the top ones being that Penn State lacked NIL funding. On Saturday, Penn State trustee Jay Paterno — son of legendary football coach Joe Paterno — fired back at these rumors, stating that they are untrue and hurt the program.

Jay Paterno fires back at NIL rumors following Shrewsberry’s departure

The rumors surrounding Penn State’s issues with NIL are nothing new; however, after Micah Shrewsberry left for Notre Dame, his warning about NIL at Penn State became the talk of the town.

“It’s about what you want as a program and what you’re happy with,” Shrewsberry said. “If we have a little bit more that we’re offering to our guys, or that we’re doing for our team in NIL, that top 30 class is probably top 15 in the country. Just one or two more guys.

“I can’t speak for everybody, but I would say of 14 teams in the Big Ten, we’re probably 14. Maybe 13,” Shrewsberry said. “So it’s just about who we want to be as a program. What are we willing to say is going to be our standard?”

This morning, Jay Paterno had his own thoughts on the matter, stating, “Fact: Dedicated Penn State fans/community & met every basketball NIL request. The latest increase exceeded in just 2 days. That’s how Penn State Alumni responded. Those spreading any counter-narrative only hurt the program’s coaching search & future.”

Fact: Dedicated #PennState fans/community & @success_w_honor met every basketball NIL request. The latest increase exceeded in just 2 days. That’s how #PennStateAlumni responded. Those spreading any counter-narrative only hurt the program’s coaching search & future. #WeAre

— Jay Paterno (@JayPaterno) March 25, 2023

This is the first time that we have seen anyone really push back against the narrative that Penn State has lacking NIL funding. We will see how this shakes out, though it is good to see someone confirm that the basketball team was given the NIL that it asked for to compete — hopefully, this attracts a solid new head coach for 2023-24.

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