Penn State's Joe Paterno Receives Curious All-Time Coach Ranking.
Penn StateDespite boasting the most wins in FBS history and two national titles, the legendary Nittany Lion icon lands surprisingly low on Sports Illustrated’s latest definitive coaching list. He played quarterback and cornerback at Brown from 1946 to 1949.
When he started at Penn State, the program was independent. The Nittany Lions had only appeared in two bowl games for the 1922 and 1947 seasons before Paterno's predecessor, Rip Engle, took PSU to four consecutive bowl games from 1959 to 1962.
Paterno built the program up, winning two national championships. In 1993, PSU joined the Big Ten conference.
Sports Illustrated placed Paterno on its list of all-time great college coaches. But SI ranked him at No. 12 , which might be surprising given all that he did with one program from 1966 to 2011.
KEY POINTS
- Penn State's Joe Paterno Receives Curious All-Time Coach Ranking.
- Former Penn State head coach Joe Paterno is one of the more interesting characters and studies in college football.
- Following his playing career, he became an assistant coach at Penn State in 1950.
- By 1996, he would earn the head coaching job of the Nittany Lions.