ICYMI: Penn State football honors former coaches including Joe Paterno

Penn State football honored all of the head coaches in program history with a wall on the outside of Beaver Stadium. The wall included former head coach Joe Paterno, who has not had any recognition around the stadium since his statue was taken down over a decade ago.

Celebration of history

Penn State has been adding more and more historical monuments all over campus and around Beaver Stadium over the past few years. The latest addition was a series of plaques that include all of the head coaches in Penn State football history. This includes the first coach George Hoskins in 1892 until the 16^th coach James Franklin.

Each plaque includes a picture of the coach in black and white, the seasons they were in charge, and their overall record at Penn State. Impressively only two coaches out of sixteen have ever had a losing record at Penn State and that is Samuel Newton who went 12-14 from 1896-1898 and Sam Boyle who went 4-6 in 1899.

James Franklin has a start date and no end date yet. His record will be updated when he is no longer the head man in Happy Valley. Currently, Franklin sits with an 84-37 record at Penn State putting him at 4^th in all-time wins. His .694 winning percentage is currently second in Penn State history behind only Joe Paterno.

Joe Paterno Honored for first time in a decade

Joe Paterno’s name has finally returned to Beaver Stadium as he was listed on the wall of coaches. Paterno finished his career with a 409-136-3 record for Penn State good for the most wins all-time in FBS history and a win percentage of .749 which is 6^th all-time.

This is the first time that Penn State has honored Joe Paterno since his statue was taken down in 2012 following the Jerry Sandusky scandal towards the end of the 2011 season. Paterno was fired by the university after the scandal was made public and there is a contingency of the fanbase that doesn’t like the way he was forced out.

The statue is likely never going to reemerge outside of Beaver Stadium. Only a select few even know where it is being stored. The plaque is a small gesture though, by honoring a coach who was the face of the university for his 46 years as the head man of the football program.

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