Iconic Penn State football teammates split on path forward for Beaver Stadium, Paterno’s legacy

On Monday, the Penn State Board of Trustees approved a 15-year, $50 million deal to grant West Shore Home the naming rights to Beaver Stadium’s playing surface. The second-largest gift in Nittany Lions athletics history, the partnership – and the “West Shore Home Field at Beaver Stadium” era – begins with the 2025 Penn State football season.

The decision is not without its detractors, as a vocal segment of the Penn State community feels that the Beaver Stadium turf should be used to honor Joe Paterno. This divide is even found among some of the final Nittany Lions to don the Blue and White under the legendary coach.

Paterno’s last quarterback: “There shouldn’t be a price for our identity here at Penn State”

Former quarterback and trustee Matt McGloin was among the dissenting voices in the Board’s 22-8 motion approving the naming rights partnership. The last Nittany Lion to line up under center for Paterno, McGloin criticized the move as an erasure of the past.

“I played for Joe Paterno for four of my five years at Penn State and had the honor and privilege of being his last quarterback,” McGloin said during Monday’s meeting. “In the summer of 2011, the university had decided to name the field after Joe, and here we sit 14 years later, and the field at Beaver Stadium has not yet been named Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium.

“Is this because we’re fearful that we may receive some criticism for it? Personally, in my career, if I was concerned with criticism, I would have never set foot on Penn State’s campus in 2008. If you listen to criticism, this university would not have gotten through the 2012 year which, as we all know, was the darkest period any university had ever faced. Without 2012, the year in which we essentially faced the death penalty, this university would look a lot different than it does today.”

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McGloin was not the only trustee with ties to Penn State football against the deal. Letterman Brandon Short and former quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno, who is also the son of the coaching icon, also voted “no” on Monday.

“There’s a great amount of us that still carry on Joe’s legacy and will continue to do so,” McGloin continued. “But by not giving him the honor he deserves, you’re trying to eliminate the past and everything he stood for: every player that played for him, every player that walked through that tunnel, every player who graduated, every player who may not have made it, every player whose life may not have been changed for the better.

“You’re trying to erase 46 years as a head coach. And what’s happening now may look like a successful move, but I don’t believe it’s a very honorable one. And success without honor is an unseasoned dish. It will satisfy your hunger, but it won’t taste very good. I’m urging you to do the right thing for Penn State, to do the right thing for the Paterno family, to do the right thing for Joe. There shouldn’t be a price for our identity here at Penn State.”

The best way to honor Paterno is for Penn State football to win a title, says Mauti

© Rob Christy-Imagn Images

However, not all of Paterno’s former players oppose the decision. Linebacker Michael Mauti, a teammate of McGloin’s, expressed that the best way to honor Paterno’s legacy is with success on the field that is being so hotly debated.

“I played for Joe Paterno. My dad played for Joe. My brother played for Joe,” Mauti wrote on X.  The former Penn State football captain currently serves as the associate director of development at the Nittany Lion Club. “Certain his legacy isn’t about a name on a field—it’s about what we do on it and the impact we make outside the lines. [In my opinion, the] best way to honor him is to go win a national title. Let’s get aligned around that. WeAre.”

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