Joe Paterno Quotes

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

- Joe Paterno

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.

- Joe Paterno

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

- Joe Paterno

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

- Joe Paterno

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?

- Joe Paterno

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

- Joe Paterno

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.

- Joe Paterno

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

- Joe Paterno

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

- Joe Paterno

I really enjoyed coaching.

- Joe Paterno

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.

- Joe Paterno

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

- Joe Paterno

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.

- Joe Paterno

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

- Joe Paterno

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.

- Joe Paterno

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

- Joe Paterno

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

- Joe Paterno

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.

- Joe Paterno

You must relate athletic experiences to life.

- Joe Paterno

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.

- Joe Paterno

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

- Joe Paterno

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

- Joe Paterno

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

- Joe Paterno

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.

- Joe Paterno

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

- Joe Paterno

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

- Joe Paterno

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

- Joe Paterno

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

- Joe Paterno

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.

- Joe Paterno