Joe Paterno Quotations

Believe deep down in your heart that you're destined to do great things.

What is a coach? We are teachers. Educators. We have the same obligations as all teachers, except we probably have more influence than anybody but their families. And, in a lot of cases, more than their families.

To teach an academic subject is certainly not easy, but compared to coaching, it is. We can say 'two plus two is four' to every kid and be sure that we are right. But in coaching, we have to literally get to the soul of the people we are dealing with.

When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellence becomes a reality.

Besides pride, loyalty, discipline, heart, and mind, confidence is the key to all the locks.

Publicity is like poison; it doesn't hurt unless you swallow it.

Losing a game is heartbreaking. Losing your sense of excellence or worth is a tragedy.

Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good.

You have to perform at a consistently higher level than others. That's the mark of a true professional.

Its the name on the front of the jersey that matters most, not the one on the back.

We shall act with good intentions, but at times we will be wrong. When we are, let us admit it and try to right the situation.

The minute you think you've got it made, disaster is just around the corner.

I don't think I deviated from what I'm all about and what I thought was important. Whether you want to call that a legacy, or whatever you want to call it.

It doesn't matter what people think of me. I've lived my life.

I've had a wonderful experience here at Penn State.

In every life, there have to be some shadows. Look at me. My life has been filled with sunshine. A beautiful and caring wife. Five healthy children. I got to do what I loved. How many people are that lucky?

My thing was play as hard as you can, don't be stupid, pay attention to details, and have enough guts in the clutch that you're not afraid to make a play. Some things I thought were important for a young man to know.

The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital.

Mostly I want to talk positive; I wanna talk about a bunch of great kids that I coached and made me look good and the university that I've seen grow from a cow college, which it was, only 12,000 people, and when I came here, we weren't at Pennsylvania State University, we were at Penn State College.

You need to play with supreme confidence, or else you'll lose again, and then losing becomes a habit.

The name on the front of the jersey is what really matters, not the name on the back.

I don't think it's fair to 12-, 13- and 14-year-olds to say 'Show us you're a winner right now!' Winning isn't everything. I'll never buy that thing that if a boy loses a football game, he's a loser in life.

I'm not as concerned about me. What's happened to me has been great. I got five great kids. Seventeen grandchildren.

Coaches have got to be given rank within the university so that you can't fire a coach unless you go through an academic committee, just as you would with a professor. If coaches are to have any stability and security, they need to be treated like an English professor.

Here, I have an opportunity to affect the lives of a lot of young people - and not just on my football team. I'm not kidding myself that that would be true at the professional level.

We have to realize a kid will love us one day and hate us the next. That cannot change who we are and what we are about.

When a kid plays football games before he attends a class, something is wrong.

There are certain situations I go over during the week. Jay will call certain plays in certain situations, and Galen will call most of the game with some input from Dick Anderson. When we get into certain situations, Galen turns it over to Jay and vice versa.

One play here or one play there and they could have had it, but we got it. It was a great football game with two teams playing as hard as they can play, and it came down to one play.

One play here, one play there and it could have gone the other way. But we got it, and I'll take it.

I feel for Paul. He's one of those kids that's never been hurt. He's not only a great player, but he's a great person.

He has not gotten quite the credit he should get because he literally has carried this football team. He's made some great drives for us and he's a heck of a player.

He has to hang on to the football, ... The one thing about Tony that I have always worried about is that he has a tendency to be careless with the football. He is a good back. If he pays attention to the little things and spends a little bit more time with tapes and watching blocking schemes and things like that he can be even better than just a good back. He has speed and he is strong. He's a 225-pound tailback.

He is a good football player. He is not a great football player. But the fact that he has gone through this I think has helped him with some other kids. He has been able to go to other kids and talk to them a little.

He's gonna go back with us. The doc wants to get an MRI on him, but he's got some ligament problems. They want to examine him more.

We made up our mind that we would put Devin Fentress over there so that we wouldn't have to be in a position where we couldn't use King exclusively on offense, ... If something happens over there, you run out of options sooner or later.

He could play, but the doctors think there could be some nerve damage if he bangs that elbow again. It's not worth the risk. He's too good of a football player with too much ahead of him to take that kind of chance. It's a big loss for us because he's one of the great players in America. He and Michael Robinson are probably the two guys who turned the program around. That and the fact that we're still playing good on defense.

It came down to one play. It could have gone the other way.

I thought we showed some greatness last night.

I thought the defense was absolutely superb, ... There was a lot of pressure. One mistake and it's the entire ballgame.

I think we're gonna be ready to play.

I said here are the two best players to ever play at Penn State.

I was thinking 'When are we going to get this thing over. I looked at my watch at one point and it was three hours past my bedtime and we were still playing.

We have to understand that if you are going to be really good, you can't make some little mistakes. When (quarterback) Michael Robinson got sacked and fumbled the ball (last Saturday against South Florida) without knowing there was a backside guy coming, we had a terrible job done by someone.

We came close to being an undefeated football team.

We didn't get the (defensive) lineup we thought we were going to get. It's a good thing that (Kelly) put it through, because he had to kick it.

You have to learn to pace yourself and learn what you do well.

You guys can pick on me all you want, but I don't pay any attention to you, because I don't have to. I don't give darn what you guys think, to be honest with you.

(The team doctors) think he's got some ligament problems, but they are going to wait and do an MRI on him as soon as they can and find out just how serious it may be. It's a tough break for him.

A couple of passes we thought we could develop downfield and we didn't get a chance to, because Mike had to run for his life a couple times.

Austin needed a game like that. He had lacked a little confidence ... we gotta get Scott in the game.

You're talking apples and oranges now. Cincinnati came up and beat us in '83. Cincinnati should have beaten Ohio State the year they won the national championship (2002).

They're unusual kids, ... They have an awful lot of poise. They are not hotshots. They like to play. They know their place. They have a little deference to the upperclassmen - in a nice way. They're just really good kids.

They took it. Nobody pouted. The captains got them together and all's well that ends well.

They have a great tailback, ... Last year they had two great tailbacks. They make up their minds they are going to run and intimidate you. When your offense (goes for over 550) yards against a team like Purdue, they are a heck of an offensive football team.

I told him we're too old for this. It's almost past my bedtime.

It's a little different when you are doing it in practice and when you are in a ballgame and want to get an extra yard and you get careless with the football... That should come with experience.

It's a little different what you are doing in practice and when you are in a ballgame and want to make an extra yard and you get a little bit careless with the football. That should come with experience.

Oh that (darn) horse. Are they (FSU officials) bringing that horse again? Is he going to be on our field? I'm going to make Bobby ride him, or at least clean up his dirt.

Oh that (darn) horse. Are (FSU officials) bringing that horse again? Is he going to be on our field? I'm going to make Bobby ride him, or at least clean up his dirt.

No, I was not aware of that. What was he doing out there? Can he swim?

It was a great football game. I'm glad we won, but we're very humbled. One play here, one play there and it could have turned out different.

After the second half, I won't be mentioned for that (Jets) job or any other in the country. I'll be lucky to keep my own job.

I'm fairly optimistic we're gonna be a decent football team.

I kept him out of the lineup because I felt he had to understand. I just felt, you've got to grow up.

I had a little (problem) with the university toward the end of last year and they were concerned about what was going to happen. I said, 'Look, everybody relax. If I can keep my staff together, we will surprise a lot of people. Everybody just relax.' Thank goodness I had enough clout that I could get them to relax.

I looked at my watch 12:30, quarter to one. I kept saying to myself, 'When are we going to get this thing over?

I don't think there's any football player who's done more to rejuvenate a squad than Michael Robinson has done. Michael Robinson is one of the greatest football players I've ever coached and I've coached a couple of pretty good ones.

I don't look at it as something personal. All I wanted to do was make sure everyone knew that we have a good football team.

The coaches thought he ought to have another shot, so I gave him another shot.

Sport is a product of human culture. America seems to need football at this state of our social development. When you get ninety million people watching a single game on television, it ... shows you that people need something to identify with.

The kids that were the victims ... I think we all ought to say a prayer for them,

Some things I thought were important for a young man to know.

When a kid plays football before he attends a class, something is wrong.

You must relate athletic experiences to life.

I stayed on the track I wanted to stay on. I don’t think I deviated from what I’m all about and what I thought was important. Whether you want to call that a legacy, or whatever you want to call it.

There's never been a greater game than football.

There has to be some self-denial.

My father said about money: 'You have to have some. But you don't have to have all of it. Just be honest with yourself.'

All coaches are thinking men, or else they wouldn't survive.

Connfidence, excellence becomes a reality.

You're only as happy as your least happy child.

I still haven't gotten that little something out of my system that I'm still not a kid going to a football game. I'm excited.

We play with enthusiasm and recklessness. We aren't afraid to lose. If we win, great; but win or lose, it is the competition that gives us pleasure.

Everybody likes to win. It sure beats the devil out of losing.

Right now I'm trying to figure out what I'm gonna do, 'cause I don't want to sit around on my backside all day. If I'm gonna do that I'll be a newspaper reporter.

I had a great bunch of kids. They all hung with us. The coaching staff hung with us. And we played tough every game. If you've got kids that want to play and react to you, it's fun. I'm having a good time.

In hindsight, I wish I had done more.

SMU: 'It's unbelievable to think that kind of corruption came right from the top of the power structure. The NCAA did what it had to do' in canceling SMU's 1988 football season.

Don't just stand back and play the way you're coached. A great player must rise to the occasion and turn the game around on his own.

Success is best measured by the achiever.

Failure is not getting beat. Failure is when you don't do a good job preparing.

You can't have a great university without a great library.

What counts in sports is not the victory, but the magnificence of the struggle.

A hard-fought, well-fought, hairline-close game is as classical in sports as tragedy is in the theater. Victory is contained within defeat, and defeat is contained within victory. That's the way it is in the best of games. What counts in sports is not the victory, but the magnificence of the struggle.

We need people who influence their peers and who cannot be detoured from their convictions by peers who do not have the courage to have any convictions.

If I had to do it over again, I'd probably play the game the same way.

My name, I have spent my whole life trying to make that name mean something. And now it's gone.

Keep hustling, something good will happen,

They ask me what I'd like written about me when I'm gone. I hope they write I made Penn State a better place, not just that I was a good football coach.