Thoughts on the Alabama Dynasty, Coach Saban, Paterno's Legacy

[NittanyLion15]

I'm not going to say that I'm not sick of the 10 year Alabama "dynasty", but I would be lying to myself if I said that I didn't have a tremendous amount of respect for Saban and the way he's done things with the programs that he has coached.

He runs a tight ship, and in a way I think Paterno would be proud of him for the way he runs his program. I had known what Urban Meyer had said when Paterno passed, however I wasn't really able to watch the news at the time, so I guess I missed some.

Enjoy..

Nick Saban:

"Our football program and our stadium is probably the largest window that anyone looks at in the state of Alabama and maybe the University of Alabama," he said. "And I just don't think there's any place for booing anywhere in college football, and that includes booing the other team. ..."

Penn State "is a class program with class people that have been there for 45 years and done wonderful things for college football, the game of football, and a lot of people over a 45-year period," Saban continued. "And I think it would be a (bleep) crying-(bleep) shame if we booed 'em when they come into the stadium like we did last week's team. I just don't understand that."

"Joe Paterno gave his life to college football. He gave his life to the players and college football.

"Not just at Penn State, but when I was the head coach at Michigan State, we had a player who could get a sixth year because of an injury, and Joe was the head of the committee. He got it done for the player, and that player actually ran a touchdown against them that could have cost them the game later that season.

"But never I never doubted with him that he was going to do what was best for college football, and the players that played it, and I think that should be his legacy. ...

"Probably as much as anything what we all try to get as coaches, a well-disciplined team that gives tremendous effort, plays physical, has the ability to execute down-in and down-out and play winning football. And when you played Joe's teams, that's exactly what you were playing against. They always had real good athletes, but to me it was the level they performed at that was indicative of the kind of program that he ran, the kind of influence that he had on the players. ...

"It's just too bad for everyone that someone who had done so much for college football, his legacy would really end. Maybe the message that everyone out there could learn from this is that assistant coaches, players, everybody involved in programs have a responsibility and obligation to do the right things for the institutions, because people remember Joe Paterno as part of this more than they do anyone else.

"That may be the shame of it all. Maybe he made a mistake in how he managed it, but really wasn't the guy who did the wrongdoing. But all of us need to understand that whatever profession we're in, sometimes the people in charge can really suffer just as much as the people who made the wrong choices and decisions."

Urban Meyer: "His legacy as a coach, as a winner and as a champion will carry on forever.”
Remembering Joe Paterno:

Steve Spurrier: South Carolina coach Spurrier had this to say:

"I have the utmost respect and admiration for Joe Paterno. I've coached around 300 college games and only once when I've met the other coach at midfield prior to the game have I asked a photographer to take a picture of me with the other coach. That happened in the Citrus Bowl after the '97 season when we were playing Penn State. I had one of our university photographers take the picture with me and Coach Paterno, and I still have that photo in the den at my house. That's the admiration I have for Joe Paterno.

"It was sad how it ended, but he was a great person and coach."

Alabama coach Nick Saban was interviewed by ESPN's "SportsCenter" about Paterno today, and this is a snippet of what he said:

"Joe Paterno gave his life to college football. He gave his life to the players and college football.

"Not just at Penn State, but when I was the head coach at Michigan State, we had a player who could get a sixth year because of an injury, and Joe was the head of the committee. He got it done for the player, and that player actually ran a touchdown against them that could have cost them the game later that season.

"But never I never doubted with him that he was going to do what was best for college football, and the players that played it, and I think that should be his legacy. ...

"Probably as much as anything what we all try to get as coaches, a well-disciplined team that gives tremendous effort, plays physical, has the ability to execute down-in and down-out and play winning football. And when you played Joe's teams, that's exactly what you were playing against. They always had real good athletes, but to me it was the level they performed at that was indicative of the kind of program that he ran, the kind of influence that he had on the players. ...

"It's just too bad for everyone that someone who had done so much for college football, his legacy would really end. Maybe the message that everyone out there could learn from this is that assistant coaches, players, everybody involved in programs have a responsibility and obligation to do the right things for the institutions, because people remember Joe Paterno as part of this more than they do anyone else.

"That may be the shame of it all. Maybe he made a mistake in how he managed it, but really wasn't the guy who did the wrongdoing. But all of us need to understand that whatever profession we're in, sometimes the people in charge can really suffer just as much as the people who made the wrong choices and decisions."

Bobby Bowden: Back when people still wrote letters...

Lloyd Carr:

The Freeh report’s conclusions about Paterno were very difficult to hear, Carr said.

“It’s really a hard issue for people who knew him from this standpoint: Nobody, nobody defends what happened to those kids,” Carr said. “And the jury spoke to that. But you know the environment is such that a lot of people find that very difficult to say anything positive, you know. And that was not the Joe Paterno I knew.”