Joseph Vincent Paterno (born December 21, 1926, in Brooklyn, New York), nicknamed JoePa, is the head coach of Pennsylvania State University's college football team, a position he has held since 1966. Paterno has won more football games against teams currently in NCAA Division I-FBS (formerly Division I-A) than any other coach in history. He also has the most bowl game wins and more FBS undefeated seasons than any other coach in college football history.
Early life
Paterno grew up during the Depression. He nearly had to leave high school because the tuition of $20 a month was such a burden for his family. In 1944, Paterno graduated from Brooklyn Prep and headed to Brown University to study and play football. At Brown he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. There, he was a capable but unspectacular quarterback and also played cornerback. He currently still shares, along with Greg Parker, the Brown University record for career interceptions with 14. It was at Brown that he honed his skills as a leader, allowing him to go into coaching after graduation in 1950, joining Hall of Famer Rip Engle at Penn State as an assistant coach. Paterno thought his stint as an assistant coach would be brief, before going to law school. He never went to law school and instead became one of the most famous and recognizable coaches of any sport in the United States.
Records and accomplishments
At age 80, Paterno is coaching his 58th season at Pennsylvania State University as an assistant or head coach in 2007, holding the record for any football coach at any university. The 2007 season marks Joe Paterno’s 42nd season pacing the sidelines as head coach of the Nittany Lions, passing Amos Alonzo Stagg for the most years at a single institution.

Under Joe Paterno, Penn State has never been under NCAA probation, and has never been under any serious investigation for wrongdoing.
Career record
With Penn State's latest win over Indiana, Joe Paterno has a career record of 369 wins, 123 losses, and 3 ties. Based on the criteria used by the NCAA, this places him second to Florida State's Bobby Bowden for most victories by a Division I-A football coach. However, 49 of Bowden's 370 coaching victories came against schools that are not currently in Division I-A , while only 5 of Paterno's victories came against non-Division I-A schools , so that Paterno has 364 wins against teams currently in Division I-A while Bowden has only 321. Following a 3-overtime victory over FSU in the 2006 Orange Bowl, Paterno has a 7-1 all-time record against Bowden (6-0 against Bowden's West Virginia teams and 1-1 against Bowden's Florida State teams).

Head Coaching Record Penn State Nittany Lions (1966-present)
Year W L T Titles Bowl Game
1966 5 5 0
1967 8 2 1 Gator Bowl
1968 11 0 0 Orange Bowl
1969 11 0 0 Orange Bowl
1970 7 3 0
1971 11 1 0 Cotton Bowl
1972 10 2 0 Sugar Bowl
1973 12 0 0 Orange Bowl
1974 10 2 0 Cotton Bowl
1975 9 3 0 Sugar Bowl
1976 7 5 0 Gator Bowl
1977 11 1 0 Fiesta Bowl
1978 11 1 0 Sugar Bowl
1979 8 4 0 Liberty Bowl
1980 10 2 0 Fiesta Bowl
1981 10 2 0 Fiesta Bowl
1982 11 1 0 National Champions Sugar Bowl
1983 8 4 1 Aloha Bowl
1984 6 5 0
1985 11 1 0 Orange Bowl
1986 12 0 0 National Champions Fiesta Bowl
1987 8 4 0 Citrus Bowl
1988 5 6 0
1989 8 3 1 Holiday Bowl
1990 9 3 0 Blockbuster Bowl
1991 11 2 0 Fiesta Bowl
1992 7 5 0 Blockbuster Bowl
1993 10 2 0 Citrus Bowl
1994 12 0 0 Big Ten Champs Rose Bowl
1995 9 3 0 Outback Bowl
1996 11 2 0 Fiesta Bowl
1997 9 3 0 Citrus Bowl
1998 9 3 0 Outback Bowl
1999 10 3 0 Alamo Bowl
2000 5 7 0
2001 5 6 0
2002 9 4 0 Capital One Bowl
2003 3 9 0
2004 4 7 0
2005 11 1 0 Big Ten Champs Orange Bowl
2006 9 4 0 Outback Bowl
2007 6 2 0
Totals W L T
At Penn State (42 years) 369 123 3
Career (42 years) 368 123 3
Bowls and championships
Paterno holds more bowl victories (22) than any coach in history. He also tops the list of bowl appearances with 33. He has a bowl record of 22 wins, 10 losses, and 1 tie. Paterno is the only coach with the distinction of having won each of the current four major bowls—Rose, Orange, Fiesta, and Sugar—as well as the Cotton Bowl, at least once.

Overall, Paterno has led Penn State to two national championships (1982 and 1986) and five undefeated, untied seasons (1968, 1969, 1973, 1986, and 1994). Four of his unbeaten teams (1968, 1969, 1973, and 1994) won major bowl games and were not awarded a national championship.

Penn State under Paterno has won the Orange Bowl (1968, 1969, 1973, and 2005), the Cotton Bowl (1972 and 1974), the Fiesta Bowl (1977, 1980, 1981, 1986, 1991, and 1996), the Liberty Bowl (1979), the Sugar Bowl (1982), the Aloha Bowl (1983), the Holiday Bowl (1989), the Citrus Bowl (1993), the Rose Bowl (1994), the Outback Bowl (1995, 1998, and 2006) and the Alamo Bowl (1999).

Since joining the Big Ten Conference in 1993, Penn State under Paterno has won the Big Ten football championships two times (1994 and 2005). Joe has had 21 finishes in the Top 10 national rankings.
Awards
Following the 1986 championship season, Paterno was the first college football coach named "Sportsman of the Year" by Sports Illustrated magazine. In 2005, following an 11-1 comeback season in which the Lions won a share of the Big Ten title and a BCS berth, Paterno was named the 2005 AP Coach of the Year, and the 2005 Walter Camp Coach of the Year.

* Amos Alonzo Stagg Award - 2002
* Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award - 1981, 2005
* Paul "Bear" Bryant Award - 1978, 1982, 1986
* The Home Depot Coach of the Year Award - 2005
* Walter Camp Coach of the Year - 1972, 1994, 2005

On May 16, 2006 Paterno was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame after the National Football Foundation decided to change its rules and allow any coach over the age of 75 to be eligible for the Hall of Fame instead of having to wait for an individual to be retired. However, on November 4, 2006, he was injured during a sideline collision that occurred during a game against Wisconsin. As a result of his injuries, he was unable to travel to the induction ceremonies in New York City and the National Football Foundation announced that he will instead be inducted as a part of the hall of fame class of 2007.
Officiating and instant replay
In 2002, Paterno chased down referee Dick Honig in a dead sprint following a 42-35 overtime home loss to Iowa. Paterno saw Tony Johnson catch a pass for a first down with both feet in bounds on the stadium's video replay board, but the play was ruled an incompletion; Penn State had rallied from a 35-13 deficit with 9 minutes left in the game to tie the score at 35, and were driving on their first possession in overtime for a touchdown to tie the game at 42. Penn State failed on fourth down and Iowa held on for the win.

Just weeks later, in the final minute of the Michigan game, the same wide receiver, Johnson, made a catch, which would have given Penn State a first down and put them in range for a game winning field goal. Although Johnson was ruled out of bounds, replays clearly showed that Johnson had both feet in bounds and the catch would have been complete.

In 2003, the Big Ten Conference became the first college football conference to adopt a form of instant replay. The previous two incidents, along with Paterno's public objections and statements, are often cited as catalysts for its adoption. Within the next year, almost all of the Division I-A conferences adopted a form of instant replay based on the Big Ten model.

As Penn State football struggled from 2001 to 2004, Paterno became the target of criticism from some Penn State faithful. Many in the media attributed Penn State's struggles to Paterno's advancing age, and contingents of fans and alumni began calling for his retirement. Paterno has rebuffed all of this and has stated he will fulfill his contract which expires in 2008. Paterno announced in a speech in Pittsburgh on May 12, 2005 that he would consider retirement if the 2005 football team had a disappointing season. "If we don't win some games, I've got to get my rear end out of here", Paterno said in a speech at the Duquesne Club. "Simple as that". However, Paterno turned the football team around in 2005, taking a share of the Big Ten title and gaining the team's first BCS bowl game bid in the Orange Bowl.
Stances on college football issues
Paterno has long been an advocate for some type of college football playoff system. The question has been posed to him frequently over the years, as only one of his five undefeated teams has been voted national champions.

Paterno believes that scholarship college athletes should receive a modest stipend, so that they have some spending money. As justification, Paterno points out that many scholarship athletes are from poor families and that other students have time to hold down a part-time job. On the other hand, busy practice and conditioning schedules prevent college athletes from working during the school year.

Paterno once believed that all true freshmen should be redshirted as allowed under NCAA rules. However, he now plays exceptionally talented true-freshmen so as not to be at a competitive disadvantage. In fact, some Penn State recruits, like recruits at many other schools, now graduate from high school a semester early so that they can enroll in college during the spring semester and participate in spring practice. Several team members from the recruiting class of 2005, including Justin King, Anthony Scirrotto and Derrick Williams all received considerable playing time as true freshmen during the 2005-2006 season.

Paterno has been an outspoken opponent of gambling on college sports. He would like to see an end put to legalized college sports gambling in Nevada.
Philanthropist and education
In addition to his legacy as a coach, Paterno is highly regarded for his contributions to academic life at Penn State. After the announcement of his hiring in 1966, Paterno set out to conduct what he called a "Grand Experiment" in melding athletics and academics in the collegiate environment, an idea that he had learned during his years at Brown. As a result, Penn State's players have consistently demonstrated above-average academic success compared to Division I-A schools nationwide. Over the past five years, the Nittany Lions' graduation rate as measured by the NCAA was the highest in the country three times, most recently exceeding the national average of 64 percent by 19 points.

Paterno is also renowned for his charitable contributions to academics at Penn State. He and his wife Sue have contributed over $4 million towards various departments and colleges, including support for the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center, which opened in 2003, and the Penn State All-Sports Museum, which opened in 2002. After helping raise over $13.5 million in funds for the 1997 expansion of Pattee Library, the University named the expansion Paterno Library in their honor.
Political interests
Paterno is a political conservative and a personal friend of former President George H.W. Bush, endorsing the then-candidate in a speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention. Paterno was also a close personal friend of the late President Gerald R. Ford. In 2004, his son Scott Paterno, an attorney, won the Republican primary for Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district but lost in the November general election to conservative Democratic incumbent Tim Holden