Bobby Bowden becomes FBS all-time wins leader after Joe Paterno's wins vacated
Head Coach Joe Paterno (R) of the Penn State Nittany Lions and Head Coach Bobby Bowden of the Florida State Seminoles shake hands before the FedEx Orange Bowl on January 3, 2006 at Dolphins Stadium in Miami, Florida.
/ Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images(CBS/AP) Once-sainted coach Joe Paterno lost the respect of many for his alleged role in concealing the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.
Now he's lost his place in the record books too.
On Monday the NCAA vacated all Penn State victories from 1998-2011, which means Paterno will lose 111 wins. That means Former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden will now hold the top spot in the NCAA record book with 377 Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) wins.
"I didn't want it to happen like this," Bowden said. "Wish I could have earned it, but that's the way it is."Paterno, who was fired days after Sandusky was charged, will be credited with 298 wins. Vacated wins are not the same as forfeits — they don't count as losses or wins for either school.
Former Grambling State coach Eddie Robinson holds the record for Division I-AA (FCS) wins with 408.
Earlier this month Bowden was critical of Paterno after the release of a scathing report that blasted Paterno and other Penn State officials.
"We were pretty close as coaches, and everyone has such great respect for Joe," Bowden said. "Still, you must look at it as a man who made a mistake -- not a little-itty mistake, but a very serious mistake."
In a statement, the Paterno family criticized the NCAA sanctions. "The sanctions announced by the NCAA today defame the legacy and contributions of a great coach and educator without any input from our family or those who knew him best," the family said.Popular in Sports
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Sandusky, as soon as he's sentenced and lands in mainstream population somewhere...is going to learn what all pedophiles learn in prison...that you don't ever want to be a convicted child molester in prison
Hard working criminals (mobsters, hit-men, take-down artists, thieves etc) resent being locked up with them. Jerry is also going to relearn every day what it's like to be brutally abused by those more powerful then he.
Fine so far!
I have rejoiced in the DE-canonization of Joe Paterno...cheered when he lost his reputation, his legacy, his statue...and his 13 years of victories...until I thought about the young athletes who actually played and won those games. Granted, they were recruited, trained, coached and inspired by Paterno...but THEY won those games...and unless any of these young men are shown to also be child molesters...none deserves the punishment they've received.
Likewise any athletes who are still attending PSU this fall...and the 10 a year who won't be attending at all
There are going to be so many investigations, civil and criminal trials over this, with so much more information (and culprits) emerging, that the prudent thing...the REASONABLE thing, for the NCAA to do, was to wait and take copious notes...
Not stage a media-inspired power-play...
Those responsible should be exposed and punished in accordance with the law...and perhaps the university...but not in a manner that impacts so badly on the university students themselves
Football is simply a game. Abetting and enabling children to be sodomized and raped is pure evil. Those involved are guilty of stealing the very souls of countless, innocent children, and for what? So that middle-aged "adults" can mindlessly cheer on a football program and an institution that was protecting a pedophile?
Can we be spared the image of clueless freshman girls and alumni weeping and laying wreaths at the site of the removal of the statue of the golden calf?
Had Joe Paterno done the right thing, he truly would have been a hero. He had the opportunity. Not once but likely dozens of time. But his silence reveals a total lack of morality; his hypocrisy unfathomable; his excuses lame and not credible. It is clear that Paterno knew EVERYTHING that happened in, on, or near that football program. It's an undeniable fact.
The Bible states: "Whoever would harm one of these little ones, it would be better for him if he had a heavy weight fastened about his neck and be thrown into the sea"
This is where the "legacy" of the beloved "JoePa" lies--under the depths of the sea.
Paterno had no one to blame but Paterno. It's long past the time that his supporters accept reality and yes, even their own culpability. To many, college days are sometimes people's happiest times. But for God's sake, can't these Penn State alumni admit to themselves that they were duped? This blind, mindless "boolah-boolah" mentality is part of the systemic disease that creates such a cesspool of corruption. For God's sake, can't these people GROW UP??
Probably not. There are millions who still believe that "Nixon did nothing wrong." There are people who still believe that the U.S. faked the moon landing. And yes, there are people who will always believe that Joe Paterno was a "god." He wasn't. He was a fatally flawed human being who valued his reputation and his empire more than the innocent children who he turned his back on.
It's hard to learn that you have been taken in by a cult. But the first step in doing so lies in acceptance that you were. And the first step for those grieving over Penn State's football program is for them to accept the fact that Joe Paterno, the school, the administration, and everything associated with it was a fraud of the most egregious kind.
No event in recent memory better calls to mind the quote: "The only thing required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing."
Perhaps these men were once good. But in the end, THEY DID NOTHING! And evil prevailed. No penalty invoked upon Penn State will even make a dent in the irreparable harm, pain, and destruction they caused.
God help them.
These penalties are a stinging blow to a lot of students who were not and are not responsible for what happened. They did not know and I would like to think that if even one of them had known, he'd have said *something* to somebody. But would he have? Would such a student/team member have risked the wrath that would have befallen him had his words struck down Sandusky or the mighty JoPa?
It is not likely that such a student would have acted any differently than the janitor who knew about it and did nothing because he feared that same wrath; that same wrath that some of you would now unleash upon all concerned.
Collegiate athletics, take notice. Football became too important to Penn State. I believe this will change that.
What college-bound football player is going to be seeking a Penn State Scholarship anyway? Who the f*ck wants THAT on their resume????!!!!
The rapes, on the other hand, they happened. They happened over a period of years. They messed a lot kids up for years, maybe for life. Yes they definitely happened. The kids: they tried to erase them, but they found that no matter what they did, they couldn't. It couldn't be erased. The rapes infected their dreams, they haunted them every day. It crippled them. They were a horrible, disgusting secret that sickened them to their core. Because, you see, they were kids, and when you rape kids, it's like killing their souls. And they carried those soul-killing memories around like a 20 ton weight that no one could see. Yes, that all definitely happened. And that, my friend Jack, is truly unfair.