Penn State honoring former coach Joe Paterno with new stadium museum years after his death, scandal
Penn State has found a new way to honor longtime football coach Joe Paterno after his death and tumultuous exit from the program.
The university announced on Tuesday that it is opening the “Paterno Family Football Experience Room” at Beaver Stadium this week. The “permanent museum experience” is meant to celebrate the Nittany Lions’ football history.
Among other things, the museum will include a Paterno exhibit, complete with his office desk and personal artifacts, an interactive football history of the program, trophies and more.
“Penn State Football’s history belongs to generations of student-athletes, coaches, staff and supporters who helped build this program,” athletic director Pat Kraft said in a statement. “This room gives us an opportunity to preserve that history, present it thoughtfully and create an experience that connects the proud tradition of Penn State Football with its future.”
Paterno spent decades as the head coach at Penn State. He won 409 games from 1966 to 2011, and seemingly always had the Nittany Lions in the national conversation. He is the sport’s all-time wins leader, too. But his career was largely overshadowed by scandal at the end, and Paterno died in 2012 just months after he was fired.
Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant coach under Paterno, was convicted on 45 counts of child sexual abuse in 2012. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison, though he is due in court next week for an evidentiary hearing that will review an accuser’s recanted testimony in his case.
A report later determined that several Penn State officials, including Paterno, knew of the allegations against Sandusky and failed to do enough to stop him. A man testified that he told Paterno as far back as 1976 of an allegation of abuse by Sandusky, the report determined that Paterno knew of a 1998 investigation into Sandusky, and a former assistant said he told Paterno in 2001 that he saw Sandusky abusing a boy in the team’s facilities. The Paterno family has since reached a settlement with the university to end all outstanding legal claims.
The museum will mark the first public memorial dedicated to Paterno since the university tore down his statue outside of the stadium in the sake of Sandusky’s crimes being brought to light.
Penn State will kick off the season, the first under new head coach Matt Campbell, on Saturday against Marshall.