Jay Paterno Discusses the Penn State Scandal and the Legacy of Joe Paterno

Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel

Jay Paterno, son of legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, shares his personal perspective on the 2011 scandal involving former as

Key takeaways

• Joe Paterno had no knowledge of the abuse allegations and was not involved in any cover-up.

Main topics

• The Penn State scandal and its impact on Joe Paterno's legacy

Notable quotes

They don't care. They're reacting to what drives the clicks. And Joe Paterno was driving the clicks at that point.

Conclusion

Jay Paterno's story underscores the importance of separating public narr

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) For nearly half a century, Joe Paterno was more than Penn State's legendary head football coach. He was the face of the university and the symbol of everything it believed it stood for. But in 2011, former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was arrested for sexually abusing young boys, and questions quickly turned into who at Penn State knew what and whether more should have been done. The story became Joe Paterno. knew what was going on, and there must have been a cover-up. Speaker 3 (0:27) They chose to name my dad anyway. So that really threw him in the middle of it. He became very central in the story, even though he wasn't central in the story. Speaker 2 (0:35) His son Jay was not watching this from the outside. He was inside the house, inside the actual program, and inside the family as the media storm closed in. Speaker 3 (0:45) There's a powerlessness that you feel when you're under siege. You are trying to scream truth among these tempest winds that are just drowning out everything. He said to us, he said, Jay, don't they know me? Don't they know my character? They don't know you. Speaker 1 (1:00) They Speaker 3 (1:00) don't care. They're reacting to what drives the clicks. And Joe Paterno was driving the clicks at that point. Speaker 1 (1:07) You know who I feel bad for? Joe Paterno. You Speaker 3 (1:09) know, Speaker 1 (1:09) to have evil like that in your midst and not even know Speaker 3 (1:12) about it. Uh-oh. Speaker 2 (1:14) Within days, Joe Paterno was fired. Within weeks, he was fighting something even bigger. Speaker 3 (1:19) My dad, um, that weekend... started to cough up some blood. He found lung cancer, which then killed him less than two months later. Speaker 2 (1:27) More than a decade later, Jay still believes one part of the story has never been told correctly. Speaker 3 (1:32) The idea that Joe was central to this, that, you know, he was somehow involved in a cover-up, there's absolutely no truth to it. The prosecutors in the case were on 60 Minutes and said... You believe Speaker 1 (1:42) that Coach Paterno was a part of the conspiracy to conceal, to cover up the crimes at Penn Speaker 3 (1:47) State? Speaker 1 (1:47) I do not, and I... I'm viewing this strictly on the evidence, not any kind of fealty to anybody. I did not find that evidence. Speaker 2 (1:57) Then came the statue. To some, taking it down was accountability. To others, it erased decades of what Penn State believed Joe Paterno stood for. Speaker 3 (2:06) You used to talk about two things. You used to talk about excellence and success. Success is how other people define you. Excellence was something internally. And as long as you maintain your own excellence, it didn't matter how the world judged you. Speaker 2 (2:16) And today, Jay Paterno is still at Penn State. even serving on the same board of trustees that once fired his father. Speaker 3 (2:23) I did serve with some of the people that were on the board the night that they fired my dad. And I made it very clear I was there to serve Penn State, not to try and relitigate what had happened. Speaker 2 (2:33) This is a conversation about football, family, reputation, and what happens when the story the world remembers isn't the one your family lived. Please enjoy my conversation with Jay Paterno. Speaker 2 (3:17) Jay, thank you so much for joining me today on Misunderstood. It's such an honor to meet you. Speaker 3 (3:21) Great to meet you and glad to be on. Speaker 2 (3:24) So I have a message from an old friend of yours, I guess. My ex-husband is Matt Hahn. Do you remember coaching him? Speaker 3 (3:32) Absolutely. I just saw him this fall. Speaker 2 (3:34) Okay, so we have a daughter. She's 13. Her name is Wyatt. Her goal in life is to play volleyball at Penn State. She has every piece of gear that says volleyball. She just played in a tournament this weekend where they were selling Penn State volleyball sweatshirts. And she also thought it was a cool honor that I was meeting you. So I just wanted to tell you that. Speaker 3 (3:55) I appreciate that. Thanks. Well, you'll have to get you guys up for a volleyball game because the head coach at Penn State I've known for 25, 30 years. They're very, very close friends. So you let me know. You let me know. Speaker 2 (4:07) I will. I will. So it's such an honor to have you here. You have a huge story. You, in your own right, I mean, all the things that you've done, the books you've written, you have a book that has come out recently that I want to get to. But I want to start at the beginning with where you came from, because you have been in a football family forever since the day you were born. Can you share with people the family that you grew up with? You have a younger brother, right, and a father and a mother, and you were born. in State College. Speaker 3 (4:36) Yeah, a long time ago, by the way. And we'll just leave it at that. But, you know, I grew up in State College. You know, my dad had come to Penn State in 1950 as an assistant coach. I met my mom in the early 60s when she was still a student. And they got married and they had five kids. I'm four out of five. Speaker 3 (4:59) And they, you know, I grew up around football all my life, grew up in this community all my life. And then when I was done, went to college at Penn State, played at Penn State. And then when I left Penn State, I left for five years and then came back and coached here for 17 years until a lot of things happened at once. And my life changed dramatically after that. But that's kind of where I'm at. And, you know, it was a great upbringing, great way to live. you know, great childhood, have a lot of great memories and, you know, no regrets. Speaker 2 (5:32) When you were younger, did you want to play football professionally? Speaker 3 (5:36) Well, I wanted to, but I was also realistic that it wasn't, you know, there's this thing called talent that you got to have. And, you know, like I said, there were guys in quarterback that were bigger than I was, taller than I was, had a better arm than I did. And I kept saying, well, you know, geez, God, if you could just put my brain into one of those guys, you know. physique wise in terms of their ability to do certain things. But I knew I wanted to coach. So I stuck it out and and went on that path and then, you know, really enjoyed 22 years of college coaching. Speaker 2 (6:06) And what was childhood like growing up? I mean, your father was already a big name then, right? I mean, so did you grow up feeling like your dad was a hero, like everybody looked up to your family in general or what was your childhood like? Speaker 3 (6:20) Well, you know, it's hard to compare it to what it would be like for anybody else because it's the only thing I know. But I think, you know, with growing up, I think one of the things that's tough when you grow up with very visible and very successful parents is that, number one, people treat you differently because they want to be around certain things. So sometimes you get away with things or things in school that maybe you shouldn't have. Not that I was a bad kid, but I, you know, I was a little mischievous at times. But, you know. You didn't realize when you were young, you didn't realize that your father was any different. But then when you would go to places like Disneyland or amusement parks or the beach, whatever, and people would stop them. You know, when you're young, you just think, wow, my dad knows people everywhere. And as you get older, you realize it's more of a fame thing. And then you start to get a grasp for what that means. One of my best friends in kindergarten knew my dad's name was Joe and he had something to do with football, but he thought it was Joe Namath. Now he hadn't met him. So, but you know, you don't just, people treat you differently, but growing up in a town like State College, everybody kind of knew our family, knew my dad. So it wasn't a big deal. When I got to Penn State, a lot of people treated me a lot differently because they wanted to kind of be around it. Speaker 2 (7:34) So it's interesting because kids and parents, have interesting relationships, right? So everyone knew your father in a certain way, but as your father, how was he privately? Like, did you have a close relationship with him? Did he treat you like a coach would, you know, treat someone who was playing for him? Speaker 3 (7:54) We had a good relationship. And over the years, my dad was one of those guys that used to say to us, look, I'm not here to be, and my mom the same way, I'm not here to be your friend. I'm here to be your parent. And, you know, it's not important that you like me now. Speaker 2 (8:09) It's Speaker 3 (8:10) important that you're like me when you're 35 or 40 or whatever it is. And you have a family of your own. You understand how certain things have to get done. And you have the tools to deal with things and cope with things and be successful. So it wasn't like we sat around and, you know, it was chummy chummy all the time. He was one of those dads that sat you down at 16 and said, let's have your first beer, son. That was it was you don't drink till you're 21. It was pretty strict. But but as I got older. And then when I got, and, you know, we missed him, we missed a lot of time with him because his job had a lot of demands. Speaker 2 (8:44) Yeah. Speaker 3 (8:44) You know, he was essentially coaching a team with 100 guys, all of whom would need his time at times. So you lost out on some things. When I came back and got older and coached with him for 17 years, I think that's where we really developed the best relationship that we ever had because it was something that we had together. Speaker 2 (9:01) Right. Speaker 3 (9:01) And something that we shared. Speaker 2 (9:03) Right. And what was your relationship like with your, is it all boys? What's your, who are your siblings? Speaker 3 (9:09) Two, two, two. I have two sisters, two brothers, three boys and two girls. Speaker 2 (9:14) Okay. So, and did they all, I mean, were you guys all close as a family growing up? Yeah. I Speaker 3 (9:19) don't know Speaker 2 (9:19) anything about your background, so I'm just curious. Speaker 3 (9:21) I mean, we, you know, we, it was, you know, we would, my dad, no matter what time he got home from practice, my mom would hold dinner and we would eat dinner together. And we had my mom's. parents. My mom's dad was an architect. He had a round kitchen table. And my dad, their first Christmas, he said, what do you guys want for Christmas? And my dad said, I want that table. And so my grandfather made a table for him. So we would sit around the table, all seven of us, and we would discuss whatever was going on in the world. And we'd argue about things. And my dad would start debates and things. So that was every night of dinner. So my mom made sure that we all ate together every night. So we had that time together. And every night before bed, we would all pray together as when we were little kids. And so there were these things that were established rituals that were sacrosanct that you did not. If you were five minutes late for dinner, that was maybe the worst offense you could commit because it showed to my dad's mind, it was a disrespect for my mom's time and her effort in making dinner every night. So I mean, it was, so we had no choice but to be close to each other because we had, you know, we were around each other so much. Speaker 2 (10:29) Right. Amazing. OK, so how did you first get into coaching? I mean, you said you wanted to do it, but you said you stepped away for five years. What did you do in those five years? Speaker 3 (10:38) Well, I went to other schools. So I started at the University of Virginia. Speaker 2 (10:41) And Speaker 3 (10:42) then from there, I went to University of Connecticut and I was at James Madison University. So those those two years I was actually I think you went to UNH, right? Speaker 2 (10:52) Yeah. Speaker 3 (10:53) Yeah, yeah, we were playing them when I was at JMU and UConn at that time. So that would have been 93 and 94. So, you know, I went away for five years. And then after those five years, there was an opening at Penn State. And the assistant coaches had gone to my dad and said, look, you ought to bring Jay back. And my dad felt like it would be good for me to leave before I came back. And I benefited from it incredibly, including meeting my wife at the University of Virginia as well. So a lot of good things came out of leaving. Speaker 2 (11:24) Oh, that's great. All right. So can you talk about your day-to-day role as a staff member when you were there? I mean, I want to get into, you know, 2011. But I want Speaker 3 (11:34) to Speaker 2 (11:34) talk about kind of where you were, what you were doing, what was the day-to-day, you know, what was it like being part of Penn State football? Speaker 3 (11:41) Well, it's really the year is really split into four different time segments. You know, so when you start like right now, season just ended. So from January into March, your winter workouts, you're looking at film from the previous year, you're recruiting the next guys. So you're on the road for a good chunk of that. But then when you come back in, you're looking at film and saying, where do we need to be better? Where were we good? doing all these kind of evaluations while you're also taking, you know, going out at 6 a.m. with your team and having them go through workouts, which every guy will tell you that's the worst part of the entire year, especially up north because you're getting up in the morning and you're walking from your dorm over and it's, you know, 6 a.m., it's cold, it's miserable, it's dark. Speaker 2 (12:23) And Speaker 3 (12:23) then you get into spring practice where you're actually on the field and you have the time to really try things out, evaluate guys, start to figure out who fits where. And then you get into the summer where you have high school football camps. Your players are working out with the strength staff. And you as a coach, you'll get like two weeks in there to kind of actually get away with your family and kind of reset, recharge, so to speak. And then you come back in August and you are in preseason camp. And it is football every day. You don't have a day off between the time you start up. usually 1st of August till the time the season ends. After Thanksgiving, you might have a day or two and then there's a bowl game. So you're worried about that. So you're in this day. It depends on which time of year you're in. But when you're in season, you're in there first thing in the morning and you are working on game plans and you're under a time constraint because that game is always looming and the clock is always ticking towards that game. You've got to get things done and ready so that when kickoff comes, you guys are prepared to play as well as they possibly can. Speaker 2 (13:26) Right. So we get into, I guess the year starts where some stuff happens at the beginning of the year, where your father ends up having a conversation in February. And by November, I think Jerry Sandusky is arrested. Obviously, I'm going to ask you if you remember this time in Speaker 1 (13:45) your Speaker 2 (13:45) life. Do you remember leading up to the arrest, though? Do you remember hearing about any of this at all in the background leading up to it? Speaker 3 (13:53) In terms of the investigation or things? Yeah. Well, it would have been, I think, November. He was arrested in November of 11. This would have been end of 2010. We were made aware, and some of us were actually questioned by investigators. It would have been early 2011 where... All of a sudden, we were aware there was a grand jury investigation that had been going on for multiple years. Speaker 2 (14:20) And Speaker 3 (14:21) that's the first we really heard about it. And at that point, I was aware that I was made aware my dad was going to have to go down to the grand jury, which he did. He fully cooperated with everything they wanted him to do. So we kind of got wind that there was an investigation going on. And then the story broke in March of 2011 that there was a grand jury investigation. And there was a discussion at that point among my brother and I and some other people with my dad about, you know, my dad had been given one report. He'd been in the grand jury for all of seven or eight minutes because he was that much of a tangent to this case. He received one report and followed the laws exactly as he was supposed to do. And we said, well, you should issue a statement basically making sure that that's clear here. And he said, I don't want to do that because that'll then force other people that maybe aren't in a position to issue statements about what they did. So he didn't want to preempt it or create problems for other people. And none of us thought it was, and the story kind of came and went within a day or two. So it was kind of, you know, in hindsight, we really should have. issued that statement because it would have cleared up his role for everybody right away. And Speaker 2 (15:37) when you say story, like, was this a national thing at this point that everyone's talking about? No. This was kind of within the area. Speaker 3 (15:44) The newspaper was out of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. So they had written a story that Jerry Sandusky was being investigated by a grand jury for these things. And no one really picked it up. And certainly we knew it was a serious investigation and we, no one. downplayed the seriousness of the allegations. But it seemed like, you know, okay, well, you know, Joe's, there's nothing as it relates to us. You know, Joe didn't commit any crimes. You know, he's not being charged or investigated for any crimes. So there's nothing really here. But the people that he reported it to, they may have been under investigation and that he wanted, he did not want to force them to have to issue statements in March because he worked for them. So he wanted to try and be fair to everybody involved. And like I said, in hindsight, that was probably a mistake. Speaker 2 (16:34) So from what I'm looking at here, it says that in February, your father had reported the