With the announcement of the NCAA settlement on Friday, Joe Paterno is once again the king of college football when it comes to wins.
Joe Paterno was long considered the most respected coach in the history of the game of college football. For a time, he was also the winningest coach in the game. That was until the sanctions came down in 2012 in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child abuse sex scandal. Part of the ruling was that Paterno would lose his wins from 1998-2001, dropping him from the top of the list, where he was replaced by Florida State’s Bobby Bowden.
Well on Friday, a surprise announcement came from the NCAA that they had reached a lawsuit settlement that would see the $60 million they levied in fines to Penn State go to survivors of child sexual abuse.
However, sandwiched within that announcement from the NCAA was also the news that Penn State would also receive those wins from 1998-2001 back, putting Paterno back on top of the mountain that is wins in FBS college football history.
Joe Paterno, now officially in the NCAA record book with 409 wins, is college football's winningest coach once again.
— Onward State (@OnwardState) January 16, 2015
Word began to leak late last week that this might be happening, and the outrage was enormous then, and it’s grown even larger now that the act has been made official.
On the flip side to that, though, there are a large number of Penn State fans, as well as former players, that are ecstatic at the news that their beloved coach is on top once again. Former Penn State linebacker Michael Mauti is one of them.
#409
— Michael Mauti (@Michael_Mauti) January 16, 2015
There are definitely two sides of the fence to all of this, but whatever your feelings are, the ruling has come down and is final.
But, Penn State fans, don’t get ahead of yourselves and ask about the statue just yet.
No decision has been made on the restoration of the Joe Paterno statue and one is not imminent
— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) January 16, 2015
What are your thoughts on Paterno being awarded the wins back? Let us know in the comments below.
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