Paterno Nears Another Milestone
In his 46th year as Penn State’s head coach, Joe Paterno has already won more football games than any coach in major (FBS) college football history. A win tomorrow at Northwestern would tie Paterno with legendary Grambling coach Eddie Robinson for the Division I record with 408 wins. “I got to know Eddie a little bit… and he was a delightful person and obviously did a fantastic job at Grambling,” Paterno says of the late Eddie Robinson.
The accolades may keep piling up for Penn State’s Hall of Fame coach, but Paterno likes to keep his focus on the field. That mindset seems to have rubbed off on his team too. “I don’t really think we think too much about the JoePa records,” says senior safety Drew Astorino of Edinboro, PA. “We just try to go out and get a win every single week.”
But even a win tomorrow wouldn’t get Paterno very close to the NCAA record for all divisions. John Gagliardi of Division III Saint John’s University in Minnesota has 480 wins to his credit. And Gagliardi, like Paterno, is still going.
