PATERNO'S STANDARDS BUILD GOOD WINNERS

The Issue: Coach Joe Paterno Takes Strong Disciplinary Action Against
Players For Offenses Off The Field.

Our Opinion: Keeping All-Around Expectations High For Players Sets
The Benchmark For College Athletics.

Joe Paterno knows what matters, and he s not afraid to stand up for
it. In a world increasingly bent on winning at any cost, he s proved
himself as a coach who keeps his priorities straight.

The longtime Penn State University head football coach showed his
stuff again recently when he suspended two players after police found
marijuana in their apartment. He also dismissed a team member who
was cited for driving without a license in an unrelated
incident. That player was charged with drunken driving in 2007.

All-Big Ten defensive end Maurice Evans and defensive tackle Abe
Koroma, both starters, had to watch the team s Sept. 6 game against
Oregon State on television. Two other players who lived in the same
apartment, tight end Andrew Quarless and cornerback A.J. Wallace,
were at the game, but Quarless sat it out while Wallace played sparingly.

Paterno, who refused to comment on the differing punishments doled
out to the players, also dismissed Willie Harriott. The reserve
cornerback, already facing a drunken-driving charge, was cited for
driving without a license.

Penn State President Graham Spanier threw his unqualified support
behind the disciplinary action, underscoring that, important as
football is to Penn State, it doesn t trump respect for basic values
and the goal of building good people, not just a winning team.

In an e-mailed response to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Spanier wrote,
"I support Coach Paterno s disciplinary actions with the members of
the football team, who not only broke team rules but who also
violated the expectations that Penn State has for its student-athletes.

"Character and social responsibility are important values at Penn
State that we will continue to emphasize," Spanier said. "We
continue to emphasize to our student-athletes the importance of their
citizenship, and I regret very much behaviors that could cast our
program in a negative light."

In an age when fans too often open the sports pages only to find the
scores and the action upstaged by scandals, when champions and
record-breakers are greeted with increased skepticism and scrutiny
instead of unqualified applause, Penn State s stance is good news all around.

In a sense, it s old news. Paterno has always shown himself ready
and able to discipline or cut loose players who slip up. For
example, after a number of players were involved in an off-campus
fracas a year ago last spring, some of them saw limited or no action
for a few games as a consequence, and the entire team was ordered to
help clean the stadium after home games for a while.

To Paterno s credit, the team complied to a man, working sometimes
until after midnight, until their coach stated they had learned their
lesson and released them from the extra duty. We doubt that anybody
will ever have to tell one of them that when a person makes a
mistake, others often pay the price.

Aware that his players failings are not unique to them, Paterno
combines discipline with forbearance. For example, he has more than
once referred to the need to be realistic about the prevalence of
underage drinking as something that affects his players peer group
and not just the team. Consistent with this, he has given players a
second chance where appropriate, along with the punishment for these
and other offenses.

The example is a wonderful one for those football programs that
prefer to look the other way, saying boys will be boys. By sticking
to core values, Paterno is telling all of us that men should be men,
in the best sense of the word. And when they are, everybody wins.