Joe Paterno broke down and cried the day after he was dismissed as Penn State’s coach, according to excerpts published by GQ from the biography Paterno written by Joe Posnanski.
Posnanski, a former writer for Sports Illustrated, spent the 2011 season with Paterno as the Jerry Sandusky scandal unfolded and the longtime Nittany Lions coach lost his job before succumbing to lung cancer in January.
The current issue of GQ includes some pertinent passages from the book, which will be available Tuesday.
Among them was the scene at Paterno’s house the day after he was fired by the Penn State board of trustees:
On Thursday, Paterno met with his coaches at his house. He sobbed uncontrollably. This was his bad day. Later, one of his former captains, Brandon Short, stopped by the house. When Brandon asked, “How are you doing, Coach?” Paterno answered, “I’m okay,” but the last syllable was shaky, muffled by crying, and then he broke down and said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself.” Nobody knew how to handle such emotion. Joe had always seemed invulnerable. On Thursday, though, he cried continually.
“My name,” he told Jay, “I have spent my whole life trying to make that name mean something. And now it’s gone.”
In another excerpt, Paterno’s son, Scott, reads the grand jury case against Sandusky for the first time:
Scott Paterno was the first in the family to understand that the Pennsylvania grand jury presentment that indicted Jerry Sandusky could end his father’s career. This wasn’t surprising; Scott tended to be the most realistic – or cynical, depending on who you asked – in the family. He had run for Congress and lost and along the way tasted the allure and nastiness of public life. He had worked as a lawyer and as a lobbyist. He would sometimes tell people, “Hey, don’t kid yourself, I’m the asshole of the family.” When Scott read the presentment, he called his father and said, “Dad, you have to face the possibility that you will never coach another game.”
— Maryland’s starting quarterback is out for the season.
C.J. Brown suffered a torn knee ligament in a non-contact drill during Tuesday night’s practice, the school announced Wednesday.
“I feel terrible for C.J.,” coach Randy Edsall said in a statement. “He’s worked incredibly hard to be the starting quarterback of this team. He’s stepped up and been a tremendous leader. We’ll do everything we can to make sure he gets the best treatment to help in his recovery.”
After former quarterback Danny O’Brien left to program for Wisconsin, the Terrapins were counting on Brown to carry the load this season. Brown is considered a stronger runner than O’Brien.
The job apparently now goes to true freshman Perry Hills.
— Longtime college football coach Bill Curry will retire after this season.
Curry, who is in his third year at FCS school Georgia State, wants to spend more time with his family after more than 20 years as a head coach, he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
This season will be Georgia State’s last in FCS before moving to FBS and the Sun Belt Conference. Curry, who turns 70 later this year, is the program’s first and only coach.
“I do want to finish this contract and I want to finish it well,” Curry said.
Curry was the coach at Georgia Tech from 1980 to 1986 and then at Alabama for three years, winning SEC coach of the year honors in 1989. He moved on to Kentucky from 1990 to 1996.
— Arkansas has hired a replacement for the job once held by the mistress of former coach Bobby Petrino.
–Nick Holt, a former defensive coordinator at Washington and USC, has replaced Jessica Dorrell, who resigned as on-campus recruiting coordinator after her affair with Petrino was revealed in the wake of his motorcycle crash in April. The fallout led to Petrino’s ouster.
Petrino’s replacement, John L. Smith, worked with Holt at Idaho and Louisville. More recently, Holt was the defensive coordinator at Washington from 2009 to 2011 and at Southern California from 2006 to 2008.
“Nick Holt is a tremendous addition to our program,” Smith said. “He will be able to come in here and fit well within our staff, and he brings a tremendous amount of football knowledge.”
Holt apparently will have no on-field coaching duties. His role will be to organize recruiting activities and monitor eligibility for incoming athletes.
Holt was fired by Washington coach Steve Sarkisian after the Huskies’ 67-56 loss to Baylor in the 2011 Alamo Bowl.