Amid the recent child molestation scandal at Penn State, and with the firing of head coach Joe Paterno, there is no doubt the coach’s legacy  is forever tainted.
But his impressive record is worth recalling. Paterno, 84, was in his 62nd season at Penn State. He has been head coach of the Nittany Lions for 42 years, making him the longest-serving head coach in the history of college football.
The other often-forgotten fact is that Paterno was a Penn State assistant for 15 years before taking the top job. All in all, he’s been coaching football in Happy Valley since 1950.
Paterno arrived at Penn State as an assistant coach in 1950. In 46 seasons at Penn State, Paterno has won 409 games, which is more than any other coach in the history of college football.
He has also coached five teams to undefeated seasons and won two national championships in 1982 and 1986. Paterno’s final record is 409-136-3.
With 24 bowl victories, coach Paterno has won more postseason games than any other coach in history. He also holds the record for having the most bowl appearances at 37.
Paterno’s overall postseason record of 24-12-1 gives him a winning percentage of 66.2, good for No. 3 all-time among coaches with at least 15 bowl visits. The Nittany Lions are 12-5 in contests that comprise the Bowl Championship Series.
Paterno is the only coach to win the four traditional New Year’s Day bowl games — the Rose, Sugar, Cotton and Orange bowls, and owns a 6-0 record in the Fiesta Bowl.
He was selected by the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame as the first active coach to receive its Distinguished American Award. Paterno also was the 1986 Sports Illustrated Sportsman-of-the-Year.
In January of 2002 Paterno became the first active coach in 20 years to receive the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award, the highest honor given by the American Football Coaches Association. As a four-time winner of the association’s Coach of the Year award, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007.
Paterno coached 78 first-team All-Americans, including winners of almost every major individual award.
At the two positions for which his Nittany Lions became most famous, running back John Cappelletti won the 1973 Heisman Trophy and linebackers LaVar Arrington and Paul Posluszny won the Butkus Award in 1999 and 2005.
He also coached the legendary Jack Hamm, possibly one of the best outside linebackers in NFL History. Other notable players that Paterno has coached are Matt Millen, Larry Johnson, Curt Warner (RB), Mike Munchak , and Richie Anderson.
Paterno has produced more than 350 players who went on to play in the NFL, 33 of whom were selected in the first round of the draft. He also was a part of the 16 Penn State players named Scholar-Athletes by the National Football Foundation.