You’re right. The theme now is “Who cares if they blow the money”.
When Joe was here, he did care. That’s why he thought a college degree was EXPONENTIALLY more valuable long term than a quick buck.
Joe Paterno put education before all else
- Joe McIntyre
- Jan 23, 2012
As he walked into Chuck Benjamin's home in Cresskill, N.J., to recruit the then-high school senior, Joe Paterno happened to notice a book his prospective athlete was reading.
It was "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky,a novel filled with difficult-to-pronounce Russian names such as Raskolnikov, Marmeladova and Zarnitsyn. But Paterno knew their pronunciations. He had read it before. He remembered the characters. He spoke with Benjamin about his high school studies and discussed why he was reading Dostoyevsky's piece.
Before Paterno's visit, Benjamin had visited and received scholarship offers from not only a few "big-time" football institutions, but a number of Ivy League schools, as well. The defensive tackle was a bright kid, earned solid marks in school.
But what made his decision to choose Penn State and deny a university like Dartmouth easy was Paterno's knowledge of the arts and the importance he put on his athletes' education.
"I said to myself, 'Goodness, there is no other coach in the world who is such a Renaissance man, in my mind, as Joe Paterno,' " Benjamin said. "He knows football. He knows literature. He knows politics. He was just incredible. So much for going to Dartmouth, I ended up saying that this is where I wanted to go."
When the coach recruited players, football always remained on the backburner. Sure, these high school stars had aspirations of playing football for the Nittany Lions, but in Paterno's eyes that shouldn't be why they chose Penn State.
Paterno promised parents that their sons were going to come to Penn State to get an education, and he reiterated to players that that's what they were going to get. They were going to have a great college experience, earn a degree and maybe play a little football, too.
He didn't care whether it meant he would lose players on Saturdays or skip recruiting a player in general. If a player didn't take his education seriously, Paterno wouldn't think twice about punishing him or looking him over, a philosophy that few other coaches subscribed to.
That's the way he always was. When he recruited Rich Mauti in the early '70s to when he recruited Mauti's two sons, former Lion Patrick and current Lion Michael, Paterno's recruiting bits may as well have been prerecorded routines. His three important aspects of the decision to attend Penn State were in the same order for Rich Mauti's parents as they were to him when his sons were recruited. First was education, second was college experience and third was football.
Nothing has changed.
"It's never wavered. That's been his way," Mauti said. "Incredibly, he's been able over the years to translate that into an incredibly successful football program. Again, there's so much beyond football. Football is so shallow relative to what this man has done. To call him a football coach is not justifiable. It really isn't."
During Paterno's time with the Lions, Penn State has had 47 Academic All-Americans in football, with 37 earning first team honors. The Lions' all-time total of 49 Academic All-America football players ranks third among all FBS institutions and leads all Big Ten institutions.
In the 25 years they have been eligible (all within Paterno's tenure), the Lions have been recognized by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) 21 times, including 2011, in their annual Academic Achievement Award survey. Only Note Dame and Virgina (22) have more honorable mention citations.
In 2011, the Lions also earned the top spot in the fifth-annual Academic BCS rankings, as determined by New America Foundation's Higher Ed Watch with 117 points, followed by Boise State (107), TCU (101) and Stanford (100).
During Paterno's tenure, the Lions have turned out highly successful physicians, cardiologists, orthopedic surgeons and lawyers. The coach was a part of molding young boys into high-profile business executives, real estate CEOs, politicians, professors, teachers and stockbrokers.
Had it not been for Paterno, Benjamin may not be in New Jersey practicing his 31st year of law. It took a suggestion from his coach for the then-senior to even look into law school.
Like Paterno's father questioned of him after his playing days were over, Benjamin was asked by Joe Paterno nearly the identical question Angelo Paterno posed to his son back in 1950.
"Joe said, 'Well, what are you going to do now?' " Benjamin remembers.
And after Benjamin stayed at Penn State for a year as a graduate assistant, like Angelo, Joe offered law school as an option to Benjamin.
But unlike Joe, his player took up the advice.
"When he talked to me about law, and the way you can apply so much of what you have learned as an English literature major in the practice of law, I had never thought about it before," Benjamin said. "No one in my family had ever gone into law, so he was kind of the person who steered me in that direction."
Still, it wasn't only the standout student Paterno focused on. If a player slacked off in the classroom, he didn't play. If during freshman year he skipped mandatory study hall, his uniform would stay clean. If a player was struggling to keep up with his studies, he'd be sure to get the tutoring he needed or else it meant the bench.
"His grand experiment worked," Mauti said. "You'll see it today, even this past year. Some kids got into academic troubles, and they just don't play. There's no gray area. You go to school. You're coming here to get an education."
When former players returned to Happy Valley to see a football game and got the chance to visit with Paterno, the coach would always remember what they were up to. He would ask Benjamin how his career in law was progressing.
"The fact that he remembered so many things about all of us was just unbelievable," Benjamin said. "He had such a mind. The fact that he could remember so much about literally thousands of people who went through Penn State playing for him was incredible."
He never forgot what was important. He never forgot what he preached and what he taught. He never forgot that all else came second to school.
"Education first" was the Joe Paterno mantra. And he lived by it.
"He talked on a daily basis about how everyday is a special day and go to class," Benjamin remembers. "He said, 'Look this is all there for you. It's up to you to seize it and make the most of it.' "
