The Last of the College Football Titans

If you know anything about college football, you know that there are coaches, big coaches, and the collegiate trinity of coaches. This triad is composed of Paul "Bear" Bryant of the University of Alabama, Bobby Bowden of Florida State University, and Joe Paterno of Penn State University. On December 29, 1982, Paul "Bear" Bryant coached his last football game not only for the University of Alabama but also in his life. Less than one month leader, the winningest coach in college football history died. After the death of the Bear, Bowden and Paterno went on coaching at Florida State and Penn State respectively; Paterno even going on to eventually surpass Bryant in wins. 

The remaining two went unscathed by the times until the end of the previous decade. When hard times fell on Florida State's football program, fingers were pointed, and the blame eventually fell on head coach Bobby Bowden. After the 2009 season, Bowden "retired" after coaching Florida State for over 30 years. "JoePa" as he was often referred to, went on dominating the collegiate field, accumulating over 400 wins at Penn State. Over the horizon, however, a storm lurked.

On November 5, 2011, Jerry Sandusky, a former Defensive Coordinator under Paterno at Penn State, was arrested and charged with over 30 counts of various sexual crimes including the corruption of minors. Three days later, the Board of Trustees at Penn State turned down Joe Paterno's resignation in favor of relieving him of his coaching duties. On November 12, only four days after Paterno was fired, the Nittany Lions played their first game without Paterno as head coach since the 1965 season. Later that month, the Paterno family came out saying that the legendary coach was struggling with a treatable form of lung cancer, but he was hospitalized on January 13, 2012, due to complications form treatment. Paterno remained there until his death on January 22.

Unfortunately, the defamation to the Penn State community did not stop merely with Sandusky. It was soon revealed that Paterno and other high-ranking officials at Penn State had been made aware of what Sandusky had been doing, but, according to an investigation released in the summer of 2012, they had even exhausted efforts to cover it up.

January 22, 2012, we saw the death of the last great titan of college football, even though his legacy still remained.

But the destruction of the last great titan of the sport came with the investigation lead by former FBI Director Louis Freeh. 

The allusion of Bryant, Bowden, and Paterno of being the "Big Three" is even more appropriate after these findings. Like the three of Greek mythology, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, two maintained their status as Olympians (Bryant and Bowden) while the third (Paterno) fell from his standing and was cast out like a leper. 

What impact will this have on college football? Time will only tell. 

Will Penn State receive the death penalty like SMU? Time will only tell.

What we have learned from this, however, is that at large universities with big sports programs, athletic success is the main focus. 

And that is sad.