Report: Group of Penn State trustees pushing to name football field after Joe Paterno
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A new report suggests that a group of trustees at Penn State University are pushing to name the school's football field at Beaver Stadium after longtime head coach Joe Paterno.
Spotlight PA reports that trustees along with representatives from the university have met twice to discuss the topic.
In private meetings, a group of Penn State trustees have argued for honoring Joe Paterno, who was fired in 2011 amid the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal, via @news4mass.https://t.co/lkTH30SiEC
— Spotlight PA (@SpotlightPA) February 15, 2024
Board members and officials are said to be reluctant to move forward with naming the field after Paterno, who was fired amid the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal that plagued the university.
Sandusky, who was an assistant coach on Paterno's staff, was convicted on dozens of child sex abuse counts in 2012 and was sentenced to serve up to 60 years behind bars.
Paterno won 409 games as he coached the school's football team for 45 years and was fired within days of Sandusky being indicted in November 2011.
He was never charged during the scandal that made national headlines and led to three school officials being charged and serving jail time.
He died of lung cancer several months after he was fired.
In the wake of Paterno's firing and his death, a statue of him outside Beaver Stadium was removed in 2012, the same year that the NCAA decided to vacate more than 100 wins from his record.
Those wins were restored in 2015 in a legal settlement.
Spotlight PA reports that Penn State's full board is scheduled to meet today but it's unclear if any discussions regarding the past meetings and the push to name the field after Paterno will be included as part of that meeting.