In addition to his coaching records, Paterno's off-the-field endeavors are also impressive. Along with wife, Sue, in 1998 Paterno made a $3.5 million gift to Penn State to endow faculty positions and scholarships; he is the only college football coach to be named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year; and his emphasis on keeping the word "student" in student-athlete is evidenced by his 20 first team Academic All-Americans and 16 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winners.
"We try to remember football is part of life and not life itself."
"Kick the ball deep into the opponent's territory and scrap like hell to keep it there."
"I don't care if my players like me. I want them to like me when it's important they like me, when they're out in the world, raising families, using their degrees. I want them to like me when it hits them what I've been trying to say all these years."
"Football games are won or lost on five or six plays. The trouble is you never know when they're coming."
"A coach's first duty is to coach minds."
"You'd better start looking for a new coach because I'm getting out of here. I'll go nuts in this town." - said to Penn State head coach Rip Engle in 1950, soon after Paterno began working as a PSU assistant.
Quotations from Football Coach Quotes: The Wit, Wisdom and Winning Words of Leaders on the Gridiron by Larry Adler.
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